%2c_Central_Sulawesi_(Celebes)%2c_Rongkong%2c_Toraja%2c_cotton_with_ikat_paterns.jpg) | |
| Material | cotton,silk,silk cotton |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Southeast Asia (Austronesian andDaic-speaking peoples) |
Ikat (literally "to bind" inMalayo-Polynesian languages) is a dyeing technique fromSoutheast Asia used to pattern textiles that employsresist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric. InSoutheast Asia, where it is the most widespread,ikat weaving traditions can be divided into two general groups of related traditions. The first is found amongDaic-speaking peoples (Laos, northernVietnam, andHainan). The second, larger group is found among theAustronesian peoples (Indonesia,Philippines,Malaysia,Brunei, andTimor-Leste) and spread via theAustronesian expansion to as far asMadagascar. It is most prominently associated with the textile traditions of Indonesia in modern times, from where the termikat originates.[1] Similar unrelated dyeing and weaving techniques that developed independently are also present in other regions of the world, includingIndia,Central Asia,Japan (where it is calledkasuri), Africa, and theAmericas.
Inikat, the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a tight wrapping applied in the desired pattern. The yarns are then dyed. The bindings may then be altered to create a new pattern and the yarns dyed again with another colour. This process may be repeated multiple times to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When the dyeing is finished all the bindings are removed and the yarns are woven into cloth. In other resist-dyeing techniques such astie-dye andbatik the resist is applied to the woven cloth, whereas inikat the resist is applied to the yarns before they are woven into cloth. Because the surface design is created in the yarns rather than on the finished cloth, inikat both fabric faces are patterned.Ikat can be classified into three general types: warpikat and weftikat, in which thewarp and weft yarns are dyed, respectively; and doubleikat, where both the warp and weft yarns are dyed.
A characteristic ofikat textiles is an apparent "blurriness" to the design. The blurriness is a result of the extreme difficulty the weaver has lining up the dyed yarns so that the pattern comes out perfectly in the finished cloth. The blurriness can be reduced by using finer yarns or by the skill of the craftsperson.Ikat with little blurriness, multiple colours and complicated patterns are more difficult to create and therefore often more expensive. However, the blurriness that is so characteristic ofikat is often prized by textile collectors.
Ikat is anIndonesian word, which depending on context, can be thenouns:cord,thread,knot, or bundle,[2] also the finishedikat fabric, as well as theverbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the termikatan is a noun for bond or tie.[3] It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in variousIndonesian languages fromSumatra,Borneo,Java,Bali,Sulawesi,Sumba,Flores andTimor. Thus, the name of the finishedikat woven fabric originates from thetali (threads, ropes) beingikat (tied, bound, knotted) before they are being put incelupan (dyed by way of dipping), thenberjalin (woven, intertwined) resulting in aberjalin ikat- reduced toikat.
The introduction of the termikat into European language is attributed to Rouffaer.[4]Ikat is now a generic English loanword used to describe the process and the cloth itself regardless of where the fabric was produced or how it is patterned.
InIndonesian, the plural ofikat remainsikat. While in English, a suffix plural 's' is commonly added, as inikats. However, these terms are interchangeable and both are correct.
Warpikat traditions in Southeast Asia are believed to have originated inNeolithic weaving traditions (older than at least 6000BP) somewhere in mainland Asia, and is associated with theAustronesian andDaic-speaking peoples. This is based on a 2012 comparative study on loom technologies, textile patterns, and linguistics. It was spread outwards along with theAustronesian expansion tomaritime Southeast Asia, reaching as far asMadagascar by the 1st millennium BC.[1][6]
Previously,ikat traditions were suggested by some authors to be originally acquired by Austronesians from contact with theDong Son culture ofVietnam, but this was deemed unlikely in a 2012 study.[1]
Elsewhere, particularly inIndia andCentral Asia, very similar traditions have also developed that are also known as "ikat". These likely developed independently.[1][7]Uyghurs call itatlas (IPA [ɛtlɛs]) and use it only for woman's clothing. The historical record indicates that there were 27 types of atlas duringQing Chinese occupation. Now there are only four types of Uyghur atlas remaining:qara-atlas, a blackikat used for older women's clothing;khoja'e-atlas, a yellow, blue, or purpleikat used for married women;qizil-atlas, a redikat used for girls; andYarkent-atlas, akhan or royal atlas. Yarkent-atlas has more diverse styles; during theYarkent Khanate (1514–1705), there were ten different styles of Yarkent-atlas.[8]
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Inwarpikat it is only the warp yarns that are dyed using theikat technique. The weft yarns are dyed a solid colour. Theikat pattern is clearly visible in the warp yarns wound onto the loom even before the weft is woven in. Warpikat is, amongst others, produced in Indonesia; more specifically inKalimantan,Sulawesi, andSumatra by respectively theDayaks,Torajans andBataks.[9][full citation needed]
Inweftikat it is the weaving of weft yarn that carries the dyed patterns. Therefore, the pattern only appears as the weaving proceeds. Weftikats are much slower to weave than warpikat because the weft yarns must be carefully adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to maintain the clarity of the design.
Doubleikat is a technique in which both warp and the weft are resist-dyed prior to weaving. Obviously it is the most difficult to make and the most expensive. Doubleikat is only produced in three countries: India, Japan andIndonesia. The doubleikat made inPatan, Gujarat in India is the most complicated. Called "patola", it is made using finesilk yarns and many colours. It may be patterned with a small motif that is repeated many times across the length of a six-meter sari. Sometimes the Patan doubleikat is pictorial with no repeats across its length. That is, each small design element in each colour was individually tied in the warp and weft yarns. It's an extraordinary achievement in the textile arts. These much sought after textiles were traded by the Dutch East Indies company for exclusive spice trading rights with the sultanates of Indonesia. The doubleikat woven in the smallBali Aga village,Tenganan in east Bali[10] inIndonesia reflects the influence of these prized textiles. Some of the Tenganan doubleikat motifs are taken directly from thepatola tradition. In India, doubleikat is also woven in Puttapaka,Nalgonda district, and is calledPuttapaka Saree.[11] In Japan, doubleikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is calledtate-yoko gasuri.[12]
Ikat is a resist dyeing technique common to many world cultures. It is probably one of the oldest forms of textile decoration. However, it is most prevalent in Indonesia,India andJapan. InSouth America,Central andNorth America,ikat is still common inArgentina,Bolivia,Ecuador,Guatemala andMexico, respectively.
In the 19th century, theSilk Road desert oases ofBukhara,Samarkand,Hotan andKashgar (in what is nowUzbekistan andXinjiang inCentral Asia) were famous for their fine silk Uzbek/Uyghurikat.
India, Japan, Indonesia and many otherSoutheast Asian nations includingCambodia,Myanmar,Philippines andThailand have weaving cultures with long histories ofikat resist dyeing.
Doubleikat textiles are still found in India, Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia,ikat textiles are produced throughout the islands from Sumatra in the west to Timor in the east and Kalimantan and Sulawesi in the north.Ikat is also found in Iran, where the Persian name isdaraee.Daraee means wealth, and this fabric is often included in a bride's dowry during wedding ceremonies; the people who bought these fabrics were rich.
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Ikat created bydyeing the warps (warpikat) is simpler to make than either weftikat or doubleikat. First the yarns--cotton,silk,wool or other fibres—are wound onto a tying frame. Then they are separated into bundles. As the binding process is very labor-intensive an effort is made to reduce the work to a minimum by folding the thread bundles like in paper dolls and binding a basicikat motif (BIM) that will be repeated like in paper dolls when the threads are unfolded for weaving after the dyeing is completed. The thread bundles may be folded around a vertical and/or horizontal axis. The bundles may be covered with wax, as inbatik. (However, in making batik, the crafts person applies the resist to the finished cloth rather than to the yarns to be woven.) The warp yarns are then wrapped tightly with thread or some other dye-resistant material with the desired pattern so as to prevent unwanted dye penetration. The procedure is repeated, according to the number of colours required to complete the design. Multiple coloration is common, requiring multiple rounds of tying and dyeing. After the dyeing is finished the bindings are removed and the threads are wound onto the loom as the warp (longitudinal yarns). The threads are adjusted to precisely align the motifs and thin bamboo strips are lashed to the threads to prevent them from tangling or slipping out of alignment during weaving.
Someikat traditions, such as Central Asia's, embrace a blurred aesthetic in the design. Other traditions favour a more precise and more difficult to achieve alignment of theikat yarns. South American and Indonesianikat are known for a high degree of warp alignment. Weavers carefully adjust the warp threads when they are placed on the loom so the patterns appear clearly. Thin strips of bamboo are then lashed to the warps to maintain the pattern alignment during weaving.
Patterns are visible in the warp threads even before the weft, a plain colored thread, is woven in. Some warpikat traditions are designed with vertical-axis symmetry or have a "mirror-image" running along their long centre line. That is, whatever pattern or design is woven on the right is duplicated on the left in reverse order about a central warp thread group. Patterns can be created in the vertical, horizontal or diagonal.
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Weftikat (endek in Bali) uses resist-dyeing for theweft yarns. The movement of the weft yarns in the weaving process means precisely delineated patterns are more difficult to achieve. The weft yarn must be adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to preserve the clarity of the patterns.
Nevertheless, highly skilled artisans can produce precise weftikat. Japanese weavers produce very accurate indigo and white weftikat with small scale motifs in cotton. Weavers inOdisha, India have replicated fine patterns in weftikat. In Thailand, weavers make silk sarongs depicting birds and complex geometrical designs in seven-colour weftikat.
In some precise weftikat traditions (Gujarat, India), two artisans weave the cloth: one passes the shuttle and the other adjusts the way the yarn lies in the shed.
As the weft is a continuous strand, aberrations or variations in the weaving tension are cumulative. Some weftikat traditions incorporate this affect into their aesthetic. Patterns become transformed by the weaving process into irregular and erratic designs. Guatemalanikat is well-noted for its beautiful "blurs."
Doubleikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving.[14] Some sources use the term doubleikat only when the warp and weft patterning overlap to form common, identical motifs. If they do not, the result is referred to as compoundikat.[15]
This form of weaving requires the most skill for precise patterns to be woven and is considered the premiere form ofikat. The amount of labour and skill required also make it the most expensive, and many poor quality cloths flood the tourist markets. Indian and Indonesian examples typify highly precise doubleikat. Especially prized are the doubleikats woven in silk known in India aspatola (singular:patolu). These are fromKhambat, Gujarat. During the colonial era, Dutch merchants usedpatola as prestigious trade cloths during the peak of the spice trade.[16]
In Indonesia, doubleikat is only woven in theBali Aga village ofTenganan. These cloths have high spiritual significance. In Tenganan they are still worn for specific ceremonies. Outside Tenganan,geringsing are treasured as they are purported to have magical powers.[10]
The doubleikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is calledtate-yokogasuri.[12]
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Pochampally Saree, a variety from the small village of Andhra Pradesh in Nalgonda district, India, are silk saris woven in the doubleikat.[11]
ThePuttapaka Saree[17] is made in Puttapaka village, Samsthan Narayanpuram mandal in Nalgonda district, India. It is known for its unique style of silk saris. The symmetric design is over 200 years old. Theikat is warp-based. The Puttapaka Saree is a doubleikat.
Before the weaving is done, a manual winding of yarn, calledasu, needs to be performed. This process takes up to five hours per sari and is usually done by the womenfolk, who suffer physical strain through constantly moving their hands back and forth over 9000 times for each sari. In 1999 a young weaver, C. Mallesham, developed a machine which automatedasu, thus developing a technological solution for a decades-old problem.[18]
Ōshimaikat is a uniquely Japaneseikat. InAmami Ōshima, the warp and weft threads are both used as warp to weave stiff fabric, upon which the thread for theikat weaving is spot-dyed. Then the mats are unravelled and the dyed thread is woven into Ōshima cloth.[citation needed]
The Ōshima process is duplicated in Java and Bali, and was reserved for ruling royalty, notablyKlungkung andUbud: most especially thedodot cloth semi-cummerbund of Javanese court attire.[citation needed]
TheCambodianikat is a weftikat woven of silk on a multi-shaft loom with an uneventwill weave, which results in the weft threads showing more prominently on the front of the fabric than the back.[19][20]
By the 19th century, Cambodianikat was considered among the finest textiles of the world. When the King of Thailand came to the USA in 1856, he brought fine Cambodianikat cloth as a gift for PresidentFranklin Pierce.[21] The most intricately patterned of the Cambodian fabrics are thesampot hol — skirts worn by the women — and thepidans — wall hangings used to decorate the pagoda or the home for special ceremonies.
Unfortunately, Cambodian culture suffered massive disruption and destruction during the mid-20th century Indochina wars but most especially during theKhmer Rouge regime. Most weavers were killed and the whole art of Cambodianikat was in danger of disappearing. Kikuo Morimoto[22] is a prominent pioneer in re-introducingikat to Cambodia. In 1995, he moved from Japan and located one or two elderly weavers and Khmer Rouge survivors who knew the art and have taught it to a new generation.
In Thailand, the local weftikat type of woven cloth is known asmatmi (also spelled 'mudmee' or 'mudmi').[23] Traditional Mudmi cloth was woven for daily use among the nobility. Other uses included ceremonial costumes. Warpikat in cotton is also produced by the Karen and Lawa tribal peoples in northern Thailand.
This type of cloth is the favourite silk item woven byKhmer people living in southernIsan, mainly inSurin,Sisaket andBuriram provinces.[24]
In Iran,ikat, known by the namedarayee, has been woven in different areas. InYazd, there are some workshops that produce it. It is said that this kind of cloth historically used to be included in a bride's dowry. In popular culture, a quote states that people who bought this type of cloth were wealthy.[25]
Ikat patterns are common among theAndes peoples, and native people ofArgentina,Bolivia, Brazil,Chile,Colombia,Ecuador,Guatemala, Mexico,Peru, andVenezuela. TheMapuche shawl or poncho of theHuaso cowboys of Chile is perhaps the item best known in the West. Wool andcabuya fibre are the most commonly used.
The Mexicanrebozos can be made from silk, wool or cotton and are frequentlyikat dyed. These shawls are seen as a part of the Mexican national identity and most women own at least one.
Latin Americanikat (Jaspe, as it is known toMaya weavers) textiles are commonly woven on a back-straploom. Pre-dyedwarp threads are a common item in traditional markets- saving the weaver much mess, expense, time and labour.[26][27] A Latin American innovation which may also be employed elsewhere is to employ a round stick around which warp threads are wrapped in groups, thus allowing more precise control of the desired design.[26] The "corte" is the typical wrap-skirt used worn by Guatemalan women.
InIndia,Ikat art has been present for thousands of years. In some parts of India,ikat processed cloth such as saree and kurtis are very popular, along with bedsheets, door screens, and towels.[citation needed]
Ikat is a common weaving technique inUzbek culture. The Uzbekikat, locally referred to asabrbandi, is distinguished by its bold and flamboyant patterns. The history of the Uzbekikat dates back to the 19th century, when it was mastered by the Uzbeks. Since then, it has become an integral part of their cultural identity and an important aspect of traditional clothing.[28]
As of 2010, the government of the Republic of Indonesia announced it would pursue UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage accreditation for itsikat weaving, along withsongket andgamelan, having successfully attained this UNESCO recognition for itswayang,batik and thekris.[29]
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