I did it Mom!

 As many of you know my mother is the most amazing quilter.  She has an eye for color fabrics and her precision makes for excellent quilts.  When she heard I was coming to Bali, she told me of the amazing batik quilting fabric made here.  My mother rarely ask for something but she actually asked if I would try to get her some fabric while here.  A simple enough request. 

I was happy to be able to get something she really wants. So I began looking around for the specific type of batik she wanted.  What I learned is that most of the batiks in Bali are actually from Java.  I looked in all the local shops and markets to no avail.  I went to fabric row in Denpasar where there are 50 shops on the street all selling lovely fabric but I didn't see what I was looking for.  I did get a few wonderful sarong for myself.  I didn't see what my mother wanted anywhere.  Finally I did see it in a shop window in Ubud. YEAH.  A very very fancy shop that makes shirts to order.  She had tons on beautiful fabrics exactly as my mother wanted.  I went in with Heather (the Austrailan volunteer who speaks Indonesian) I explained my story in broken Indonesian and English while she smiled and nodded along.  She offered me some premade men's shirts for $40.  So I had Heather explain again.  I asked could I buy a piece or even a scrap. No.  In the end all we got out of her was they design and make the fabric in Denpasar which is like saying try the shop in San Francisco.  But Heather managed to sneak snap some shots of the fabric for our research.  We asked the staff at Bumi Sehat- same answer Denpasar.   Well now Heather was feeling as determined as me.  We went home and began the google search.  I can google anything and find incredible information. This was a challenging google.  After much searching many different ways we found Bali Batik Product.  As you can see from the very fancy website they discuss an online showroom as an alternative to coming to Bali.  But we were in Bali no?  We could go to the Bali showroom.  Using Google maps we found the location.  The directions were a few pages long in Bahasa- Heather felt confident.  We called to confirm the hours and ask if we could have a tour.  We jumped on my wagon like scooter and made our way to Denpasar-one hour away.

Heather with directions- ready to roll

asking for directions

Well we were guided by a spirit above and without consulting the directions we made it all the way to Denpasar and ended up on a road on the directions sheet.  With this success we were even higher!  We were only 3 turns away.  Tricky turns.  We stopped 4 times for help.  Our first indication of that this was not a big place was the fact that none of the locals knew what we were talking about.

local kids cheering us on

the final road to the showroom

 

Each stop for directions was more and more remote.  We had definitely left the tourist area long ago.  How great.  This showroom would be authentic.  We left the paved road and began down a pot holed filled trail.  At first there were some fancy building and I kept looking for  a sign for Batik.  Then with help we made the last turn into a small river.

The batik factory was at the end of this river.  As we arrived the rain began to come down in sheets.  It took us a moment to stop laughing and ask where we could buy fabric.  We were met with confused looks (and smiles it is Bali).  Eventually we made our way into a small dingy office.  I could see samples of the fabrics I wanted for my mother.  Heather explained our mission and the kind woman replied we could indeed buy some fabric as long as we got 50 meters. If we wanted less we could go to fabric row in Denpasar.   Well this was a bit more than we wanted.  My mom wanted a ½ meter.  So Heather appealed again telling our story and adventure.  She got a few laughs and in the end she agreed we could buy a minimum of 3 meters.   SUCCESS.  Could we also have a tour?  No they didn’t do tours.  In fact we found out they had never had tourist come to the factory at all.  We were the first!

the fabric that we couldn't buy just beyond our reach

Then we made our way to the showroom.  First past the man stamping the fabric. 

hand stamping the fabric with hot wax

the brass stamps were hanging everywhere.

the fire that kept the wax melted in 55 gallon metal drums

where they rinse the fabrics to get rid of extra dye.

THE SHOWROOM!  WOW

Heather looking for the best batik 

cutting our choices

After such success we decided to go to the big market in Denpasar.  It is like Mall of America Bali style.  3 stories of market place with amazing prices.  A guy at the facotory gave us direction but  no street names.  But we didn’t need no stinkin directions we were on fire.  We could not be stopped.  Off we went and indeed we made our way to the market guided by angels.

Denpasar Market

mall of Bali

Within a half hour we found everything we wanted and headed back to the bike.  Laughing and joking all the way, we started down fabric row where we had parked and then about 5 stores in I saw Bali Batik.  We found the “store in Denpasar”  Of course we had to go in a tell them of our adventure and buy a more fabric- can you have too much?  The entire day unfolded with total ease and perfection.  We celebrated the ride home in dumping rain. 

Oh the store in Denpasar they all kept talking about!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MOM!!

Erin in very classy rain gear driving home