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Originally Posted by David
I am confused by what you call "mutih", firstly because it is the first i have heard of it and secondly because i do not know what you mean by "cream soap". I do, of course, get my blades "white" before i begin the staining processes. I am always interested in anything that can improve my results so maybe you could explain "mutih" further.  |
Please don't be confused with word of "mutih" in "fasting tradition" -- "pasa mutih" is only eating white rise -- without side-disk. But "mutih keris blade" is whitening-the-blade process (?). Of course, I don't create myself this mewarangi term. I think, every keris staining specialist in Solo, they know what "mutih bilah keris" (to make keris blade 'white', before staining process) is.
I am not a staining expert, though I can stain keris. But have no time to stain kerises by myself due to my limited free time. Usually I clean all of my keris blade, soak them in "blandongan" with coconut's water for couple of days. After one or two days, then I brush each blade with very soft tooth-brush, or other kind of soft brush with "air jeruk nipis" (squeezed lime juice) mixed with (Indonesian) cream-detergent (for instance, "Wing" cream detergent, or B 29) -- in the old days usually we used "buah kelerak" (certain fruit, traditionally used for cleaning batik clothes in Java -- some day I will photo this special fruit)... Just cleaning all the dirt, oil, and also rust from the blades, before the "mutih" the blade process.
To do the "mutih" the blade job, usually I mixed squeezed lime juice with cream detergent (this is of course, a contemporary way in Solo, Jogya, Jakarta and else where in Jawa) then brush and brush the blade again. Sometimes, I used the very soft ashes -- mixed with squeezed lime juice/cream detergent. Please, not to strong brushes with ashes... just to remove oil residue of the blade. The finishing process of "mutih" the keris blade is brush and brush the blade with squeezed lime juice only, until become "white".
To do the best "koloh" method staining job, you need to do the "mutih" process perfectly. Usually, I do this process by myself, then I give the further process of staining to some staining specialist -- in Jakarta, or in Yogyakarta and Solo.
Keris staining specialist in Solo, usually they have their formula of warangan fluid. Mixing warangan fluid, is also not as that simple. It needs month of making "warangan jadi" (ready to use warangan) -- in at least two different characteristic (sorry for explaining in English badly, David). Strong mixture -- in our colloquial slang, we call it "warangan galak" and the soft one as "warangan nom".
To make "warangan nom" become "warangan galak", then just put more crushed warangan, and also more lime-juice. The process sometimes take quite a long time...
Once again, I apologize, I can not explain to you clearly...
GANJAWULUNG