Exploration of Renewable Natural Pigments for Coloring Batik Fabrics

UNESCO's recognition of Indonesian textiles (batik) as a cultural heritage provides wider opportunities for the batik industry. Batik has become a clothing trend in Indonesia recently, particularly for women. In the past, natural pigments derived from plant-biomass wastes had been widely used for coloring purposes (e.g. fabrics/batik), before finally getting pushed aside by the imported synthetic/inorganic pigments. Thorough attempts to revive the use of such natural pigments then deserve carrying out. Relevantly, conducting storage of liquid/wet or dry natural coloring pigments, extracted from wood wastes; and use of fixatives for batik fabrics intended to impart fabric-color variations. Wood wastes (i.e. leaves and barks) were obtained from nine plant species (Acacia mangium Willd, Avicenia marina L, Caesalpinia sappan L, Ceriop tagal Perr. CB. Rob, Pelthophorum ferruginum Benth, Rhyzophora mucronata Lamk, Tectona grandis Linn.f., Terminalia catappa L and Xylocarpus granatum KD Koenig.), prevalently growing on plain/lowland areas; and their wood portions commonly utilized by wood industries, which generate similar wastes enormously. The pigments in liquid/wet and then in dry forms were produced from those wastes. The production process of pigments adopted traditions by local batik crafters in Bogor. Variations occurring in fabric colors could be due to fixatives, i.e. lime, ferrous sulphate, tunjung (FeSO4); and nine various wastes. All of the natural coloring pigments applied to fabrics, compared to those of corresponding initially produced pigments. Color performances of bark extracts at fabrics with ferrosulfat fixative brought about strong grey colors, and with lime fixative produced brown colors. Coloring of fabrics using leaf waste extracts with ferro-sulfat fixative aptly exhibited greenish grey; while with lime fixative became reddish brown. Testing results on the leaching resistance of pigment-colored and fixative-treated fabrics against rubbing and exposure to sunlight revealed a very good category (4-5), but against detergent, washing was very low (2-3). Thus, it can be concluded that utilization of biomass plant wastes (e.g. wood residues, leaves, and barks) into natural traditional pigments could also bring in economic gains/benefits, such as lowering the dependency on imported synthetic coloring pigments, thereby saving the country’s finance and creating money/ finance sources.