Monday, October 3, 2011 - Threads of Life in the afternoon.

This afternoon we visited a cultural centre called Threads of Life.  This organization has preserved the heritage of the ikat weaving and batik processes evident in Bali.  It is also their mandate to help fibre artists to be sustainable with their materials and to receive a fair price for their work.  William Ingram, originally from England, began this organization in the early 1990's.  William led us in a discussion of the history of fibre arts traditions in the Indonesian region.  His discussion was always accompanied by examples of the fabrics.

William Ingram holding a piece of woven cloth, explaining the history of the weaving traditions.

The first fibres were made out of tree bark.  The bark would be repeatedly pounded and soaked with water, until the fibres were felted together.  Here is an example in which the process is just begun.  Other fibres which were used include banana fibre - abaca, nettle fibre - rami, and any other fibres that have good strong fibres, such as pineapple and later cotton.

Early fabrics were woven on a back loom in the shape of a tube.  A back loom would have one end of the loom behind the weavers back and the other in from of them attached to a stationary frame.  In this way the weavers body would keep the warp threads tight as she wove the weft fibres. Here is a sample of locally grown, carded, spun and woven fabric.  The centre area where they cannot weave because it gets too tight to continue (about 5cm or so) is hidden underneath the tube of fabric in this picture.

William explained the significance of trade routes and symbols on the fabrics.  And how these symbols were revised and altered as time went on.  Some of the basic traditions are still kept (for the most part).  For example, borders at the bottom and sides.  Central motifs signifying the cultural group from which the cloth comes from, etc.

The large central motif here is the bigger dark diamonds with cream geometric design.  This motif represents the controlling region that this trade cloth comes from.  The smaller diamonds represent the other communities that support this central region.  Early textiles would have been important for clothing, offerings, gifts, funeral shrouds, and trading.  Anthropologists know that trading did occur from Indonesian islands as early as 1700BC, as they have found traces of nutmeg and cloves (originally only found on these Indonesian islands) in Mesopotamia and other distant areas.

Natural dyes are used to dye the threads.  Indigo is used to get blue.  The more submersions into the vat of dye the darker the colour.  Indigo dye material is available in the rainy season.  Morinda, the red dye is only available in the dry season and requires some other chemicals (mordants) to get it to adhere to the fibres, complicating the process.  (Morinda requires fatty acid and aluminum molecules to bind the colour to the fibre.  First the fibre is soaked in candle nut oil, during this time one end the fatty acid molecule of the oil binds to the fibres.  The other end of the fatty acid molecule has three binding sites and this is where the aluminum molecules bind to the fibre later when the dye is added.)  After the fibre is soaked in oil it can sit aging (oxidizing) for many years.  In some cultures, grandmothers would prepare fibres to be used by future generations, leaving the fibres decades before they would finally be dyed and woven!

Here is an example of the bundle of fibres being tied before they are dyed.  Notice that the weaving pattern has to be kept in mind at this point because the tyed areas will remain undyed.  Of course the colours on the thread will ultimately create the pattern.  Such a time consuming and complicated process!!

Single ikat is when the weaver dyes the warp threads only.  Double ikat weaving is when the weaver dyes both the warp and weft fibres; doubly tricky!!

Here are the warp thread all tied and ready to be dyed in the first dye colour - indigo.  (Behind is William Ingram.)

The set of threads on the right have been dyed in indigo a few times, note the royal blue colour.  The set of threads on the left have been dyed many times, note the dark black/blue colour.  If in the final weaving the weaver would like the royal blue colour, s/he must put on additional ties half way through  the indigo dying process.  Notice the earthenware vessel at the bottom of the picture, this is the vat they would use to dye the threads in.  The entire set of threads is immersed in the solution.

 Here is an example of a final product.  Note the creamy white is the area of the threads that didn't get dyed at all.  (Also the area that is eventually died red needs to be tied, it cannot have indigo on it; it eventually will be dyed red.)  The first colour to be dyed is the royal blue, then the dark blue.  Any areas that need to be dyed red, the tying knots are now removed, exposing white areas of thread and the entire set of warp threads are soaked in oil, then dyed red.  At this time any areas that were dark blue, now turn a dark brown black from the addition of the red colour.  The threads are now unknotted and ready to be woven on a loom.  (If this piece is to be double ikat the entire process would have to be completed for the weft fibres too!!  So you can see that a truly fair price for ikat weavings is very high.  If you find cheaper priced ikat it is probably produced under unfair labour practices!