Saturday, January 9, 2010

Indonesian Textile Stamp

My dear friend Krista gave me the most beautiful present for my birthday - it is an old Indonesian textile printing stamp.
The pattern is made from flat strips of copper to form the outside edges, and hundreds of tiny pin like strips of copper to fill each shape. It is so intricate, and very delicate, apparantly it would have been used in the 1940's somewhere in Indonesia. It would have traditionally been used to dip into hot wax, print onto fabric and then the bolts of fabric would have been dyed, leaving the waxed pattern behind. In other words, batik.
I'm very tempted to try printing with it myself, but am so scared that the paint and water would damage its already flaking edges. It makes a beautiful ornament just as is, propped on it's handle.

3 comments:

becka said...

Oh wow, that is fantastic! What an incredible gift, I can imagine the temptation of wanting to print with it! You're right though, it really is just beautiful to look at.

Thanks so much for your lovely comment on my blog, it was so great to hear from you!

Julie said...

I just bought three of these large stamps at a local estate auction. Mine are all three a very detailed floral pattern. I love the bird on yours!

I just think yours and mine are all gorgeous! I don't know anything about them, but I bought them for resale just because I thought they were so unusual and beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful stamps! Thank you for sharing.

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