The number of visits in the tourism sector in recent years has made many tourist destinations in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, especially natural tourism, to thrive. One of the tourist destinations that are currently viral is the Becici Peak in Dlingo, Bantul Regency. Unfortunately, there is no realization of the 7th Sapta Pesona in the area, namely Memories in the form of non-food products. This problem was addressed by two lecturers from the English Education Study Program of UMY, Puthut Ardianto and Mariska Intan Sari, who both initiated a signature souvenir from Dlingo in the form of an ecoprint.

“Why did we choose Ecoprint? Because Dlingo has an abundance of natural resources. These natural resources are the main elements of ecoprint production. That’s why we chose to hold a signature souvenir program in the form of ecoprint,” said Puthut as the head of the program, on Wednesday. (11/11).

To be able to produce this ecoprint souvenir product, Mariska and her team have carried out six training programs which were carried out with 22 people from villages in Dlingo District from February to June 2020. Participants were trained starting from the main fabric care (treatment) which included scouring and mordanting, then printing and finally pattern and color locking. “The women participating in this ecoprint training already have a positive mindset, so we (the implementation team) had an easy time transferring our knowledge to them. In addition, participants also have high motivation to learn new things so that it is quite easy for mentors to learn together.” said Mariska as a member of the executive team.

During the pandemic, the training continues online via a Whatsapp group. The participants were quite enthusiastic about trying out the direct practice of making ecoprint fabrics, guided by a remote mentor. Koniah, one of the trainees said that this training was very beneficial for them because in addition to gaining new knowledge, they also gained skills that could support their family income.