SERANGAN VILLAGE
Serangan Village, Visiting the Home of the Keris-carvers
Visiting Serangan village makes you admire the greatness of keris more; traditional weapons that at the same time function as handicrafts that the world has acknowledged them as one of the greatest cultural products. You can see the activities of the keris-carvers; a very important profession in the keris making but it is often overseen since people too admire the empu or the keris-smiths.
You can reach Serangan village from the Great Post Office cross road by heading westwards or you turn right if you are from Malioboro street. You will come to this village after passing by 2 traffic lights and you turn left to an alley behind Serangan terminal complex. You can also go by taxi or public bus, line 9 and 12, if you do not drive your own vehicle.
If you come to the houses of the keris-carvers, you will see directly the process of decorating the keris with carvings and various accessories. The decorating process usually begins with melting the decorating raw materials, either silver or gold. Then, the melted material is plated to the surface of the keris and is carved according to the expected motifs.
In order to make the keris stable while being carved, asphalt that is burnt before is used as the base holder to make the keris sticks to it firmly. This firm holder is needed since the process of carving or decorating can take until 2 months time. The carving is done in a unique way by using very traditional equipments, namely a hammer and various shapes of carving nails.
The carvers usually decorate keris with decoration motifs that were developed during the triumphant of Javanese Kingdom, from Majapahit to Mataram. Flower motifs are often used to symbolize the triumphant of a kingdom and the long dragon motif is used to symbolize the power to extend the colony areas. By far, there are no new motifs innovated by the carvers.
In addition to using very simple instruments, the process of carving keris is not started by drawing pattern on the keris surface. The carvers only look at the sketches drawn on papers. This is another excellence of this carving process because there is no room for faults to occur during the process. Once a carver makes a mistake, the valuable keris may become meaningless.
In addition to observing the carving process, you can also order keris with certain decorations as you like. If you want it, you can also bring your keris to be decorated. In order to get good quality of the decoration, you should also pay equal value. For a fine golden keris, it costs you at least 10 million Indonesian Rupiah.
Though expensive, you will not be disappointed with the result. The decoration of the carvers in Serangan village has been famous in foreign countries as well. The carvings by Prawirodiprojo, for example, have penetrated the markets in Germany, Netherlands, Australia and United States of America. When you put your order for keris, you only have to be patient because you have to wait months to get it on your hands because of the long making-process.
Visiting Serangan village makes you admire the greatness of keris more; traditional weapons that at the same time function as handicrafts that the world has acknowledged them as one of the greatest cultural products. You can see the activities of the keris-carvers; a very important profession in the keris making but it is often overseen since people too admire the empu or the keris-smiths.
You can reach Serangan village from the Great Post Office cross road by heading westwards or you turn right if you are from Malioboro street. You will come to this village after passing by 2 traffic lights and you turn left to an alley behind Serangan terminal complex. You can also go by taxi or public bus, line 9 and 12, if you do not drive your own vehicle.
If you come to the houses of the keris-carvers, you will see directly the process of decorating the keris with carvings and various accessories. The decorating process usually begins with melting the decorating raw materials, either silver or gold. Then, the melted material is plated to the surface of the keris and is carved according to the expected motifs.
In order to make the keris stable while being carved, asphalt that is burnt before is used as the base holder to make the keris sticks to it firmly. This firm holder is needed since the process of carving or decorating can take until 2 months time. The carving is done in a unique way by using very traditional equipments, namely a hammer and various shapes of carving nails.
The carvers usually decorate keris with decoration motifs that were developed during the triumphant of Javanese Kingdom, from Majapahit to Mataram. Flower motifs are often used to symbolize the triumphant of a kingdom and the long dragon motif is used to symbolize the power to extend the colony areas. By far, there are no new motifs innovated by the carvers.
In addition to using very simple instruments, the process of carving keris is not started by drawing pattern on the keris surface. The carvers only look at the sketches drawn on papers. This is another excellence of this carving process because there is no room for faults to occur during the process. Once a carver makes a mistake, the valuable keris may become meaningless.
In addition to observing the carving process, you can also order keris with certain decorations as you like. If you want it, you can also bring your keris to be decorated. In order to get good quality of the decoration, you should also pay equal value. For a fine golden keris, it costs you at least 10 million Indonesian Rupiah.
Though expensive, you will not be disappointed with the result. The decoration of the carvers in Serangan village has been famous in foreign countries as well. The carvings by Prawirodiprojo, for example, have penetrated the markets in Germany, Netherlands, Australia and United States of America. When you put your order for keris, you only have to be patient because you have to wait months to get it on your hands because of the long making-process.
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