|
The Indonesian word ikat, which means to tie
or bind is also used as the name of the material made by this process. |
| The making
of an Ikat cloth is a long and painstaking process which requires an extreme
amount of skill. |
| The
intricate pattern is tie-dyed before the material is woven. All of the
dyes used in the process of creating good ikat are natural, although today
unless you buy ikat from people you are sure are trustworthy
you may get chemically dyed materials. I personally like to go to little
villages and buy ikat from the villagers themselves. I not only know that
I'm getting a superior product but I also cut out the middleman so both
the village and myself get a better deal. |
| Ikat cloth is
almost always made of cotton, still hand spun, although today some are
made with factory produced threads Dyes are traditionally handmade from
local plants and minerals and these give ikat it's characteristically
earthy brown, red, yellow and orange tones as well as the blue of indigo. |
| Traditionally
the making of ikat belongs to the women of the village. They produce the
dyes, and they plant, harvest, spin, dye and weave the cotton. Spinning is
done with a spindle or sometimes a simple spinning wheel. The thread is
strengthened by immersion in stiffening baths. The product made in this
way is thicker and rougher then machine-spun cotton. |
| Traditional
dyes are made from natural sources: Blue from the Indigo plant,
the bright rust color from the bark and roots of the kumbu tree.
Purple or brown can be produced by dying the material a deep blue then
over dying it with Kumbu. |
| Each time the
threads are dipped in dye to receive color they are bound together (ikatted)
before hand with dye-resistant fiber. A separate tying and dying process
is carried out for each color and also for over dying of each color.
Remember this is done to create a pattern on the final product and there
is where the skill and expertise come in. After dying, the cloth is woven
on a simple hand loom. |
| There is a
defined schedule of work for the traditional production of ikat. On Sumba
the thread is spun between July and October, and the patterns bound
between September and December. After the rain ends in April, the blue and
komba dying is carried out. In August the weaving starts - more then a
year after the work on the thread began. |
| Ikat
probably came to Indonesia over 2000 years ago bought by migrants bring
the Dongson culture from Southern China and Vietnam. |