jewelry for dresses

Offering the elegance of Denpasar handicrafts, Balinese designer Galuh Kenanga presents this beautifully feminine kimono jacket. Crafted of rayon, the brown kimono is decorated with bamboo motifs in light blue and purple. The motifs are applied using the batik technique, where a wax resist is stamped onto the fabric before it is dyed. Tassels complete the open jacket at each end.

Galuh Kenanga designs a set of three contoured face masks for comfort and fit. Crafted of Bali's legendary hand-stamped batik in blues, turquoise and purple tones, each one has two layers of fabric. All are washable and reusable, and feature elastic to loop over the ears.

Java's Wahyu Sulistiani designs a versatile travel set that includes a jewelry roll, a cosmetics bag and a toiletry bag. Working with batik techniques on cotton, Sulistiani selects the parang sekar pisang motif in a palette of red, blue, green and cream hues. The parang sekar pisang blends two legendary motifs, the parang or dagger, once reserved for Javanese sultans, and the sekar pisang or banana flower.

The jewelry roll is decorated with tassels; the cosmetics bag features two pockets, and the toiletries bag has one.

From Gunadi, these decorative bowls showcase the ancient Javanese art of batik. Three centerpieces in graduated sizes are carved from native wadang wood. The motif is called truntum, and represents the jasmine bud. This motif is usually worn by the parents of the bride and groom, as its meaning is "to guide."

The set is for decorative use only.

This wood batik jewelry box features a red background with a motif of elongated scrolls set on a diagonal called parang. This motif represents a knife, dagger, and blade, and in days gone by, its use was the exclusive property of the Javanese courts of Surakarta and Jogyakarta. Gunadi, a Javanese artisan, meticulously crafts the jewelry chest by hand with three drawers to keep things organized.

Seated on a tiger, Shiva lifts a hand in blessing. Regarded as the celestial overlord of deliverance through destruction, Shiva has his customary trident by his side as a show of divinity. The hissing cobra that slithers around his head symbolizes his potent divine destructivity, and his matted hair is thought to contain the flow of the Ganges River. Shiva is one of the most complex gods of India, embodying seemingly contradictory qualities. He is both the destroyer and the restorer, the great ascetic and the symbol of sensuality, the benevolent herdsman of souls and the wrathful avenger. Unaffected by the whims of the world, he is innocent and guileless, pure of mind and heart. He does not adorn his body with jewels or flowers — he mats his hair and dresses in animal hide.

Ida Bagus Lawa Bargawa is a master of the batik technique, sketching the figures by hand and applying the wax resist freehand, which requires great skill. A different dye bath is required for each separate color in his elegant and complex batik "painting."