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| The Ikat Weaving Process- Sumba, Flores, Alor |
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16 Apr 2010 (142 days ago)
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The ikat making process is fascinating, even more so when you can see it in Sumba, Flores and Alor. Indonesia, the land of ikats! 'Ikat' means 'tie' and it is in effect a tie dying process where you wrap threads to block out areas in order to create a pattern in the warp of the fabric. On proceeding with the weaving process, as the weft threads are woven in, the pattern then emerges as the fabric is made.
There are plain ikats where just the warp is tie dyed but there are also double ikats where the weft is tie dyed as well to make a much more detailed patterned fabric, and of course, a much more valuable one. The ancient double ikats, of which there are very few surviving are incredibly beautiful and it is hard to believe that the old designers were so precise in their methods with such basic tools.
On Sumba today, beautiful ikats are being woven but they are not necessarily one of a kind pieces that have traditional value. Most ikats are being woven in order to sell on to the overseas or tourist market. They have become a commodity but that said, the skills of these designers and weavers is still very evident.
In Sumba you can still see women weavers sitting below their houses producing fabrics on back strap looms. Often the weaving frames are passed to them from ikat producers who dye the warp threads, stretch them on the frames and then deliver them to be woven. A wonderful rural 'factory' method that produces an ikat made by several people rather than just 1 artisan. This method also creates jobs- women at home set up their backstrap looms at very little cost and can earn money by just doing the weaving, at a piece work rate.
The only down side is that ikats are now a factory process and they have lost that traditional, ritualistic soul, and you will not always be buying a one off art piece. Personally I feel that the asking prices of a lot of the ikats are too high because of this factory process. It is disappointing to see a design you have bought, then repeated and hanging up from the hands of several sales people. There are of course smaller producers who do one off pieces and it is great to see the designs evolving with designs that are about current issues that affect people in Sumba. For example, you see quite a few ikats with Christian religious images, angels, Christ and crosses.
In Flores and Alor a lot more indigo is used, the ikats are blue based and more patterns rather than designs of creatures or animals. Ikats are worn by the locals here as part of their everyday dress. It is sewn into a long tube, stepped into, and draped over one shoulder. It looks like a toga and is very elegant. If the wearer is feeling chilly it is just pulled up around the neck and worn over other clothes. Men and women use ikats
More weavers are using synthetically dyed threads so ikats are looking less traditional, especially in the tourist markets where the colours can be quite psychedelic, but go to Kelimutu and the ikats for sale here have been worn, made with real indigo and have a more authentic feel about them.
Highlights are learning:
That backstrap looms in Sumba, Flores and Alor are common.
The red dye, a wonderful earthy colour, is pounded from the roots of the mengkudu tree (morinda citrifolia rubiaca family).
That the material used to tie off the threads are strips of the leaves from the pandanus plant.
That the locals can still be seen wearing their lovely ikats.
Once you get home, your ikat reminds you of your fantastic trip with Tiger Blue!
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