Ikat Dyeing and Weaving
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Introduction
Ikat is the method of weaving that uses a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye on either the warp or weft fibers.
Ikat is a derivate of the Malay word 'Mengikat', meaning 'to tie' or 'to bind'. This technique entails binding (resisting) and dyeing the warps or wefts before weaving.
Bundles of threads are meticulously arranged to a prepared design and bound with impermeable yarn or rubber bands so that as the yarn is dyed with a range of colors, the areas protected from each dye are resists in succession.
Ikat in the World
Ikat is practiced in many ways across the globe- Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico in Central and South America,
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 Patola  Marking out the weft threads for tying, before dyeing, in Pochampali, Andhra Pradesh  Weft Ikat of Bali  Detail of single-ikat silk sari, probably from Pochampali, Andhra pradesh  'telia rumal' double-ikat cloths from Puttapaka village, near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
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Uzbekistan, Spain,Japan, many South-East Asian nations such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand, India.
Double ikat is still widespread in Guatemala, India, Japan and Indonesia: specifically: Bali, Java, Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sumatra.
In India, the cloths produced by the method are called by different names ‘tie and dye’, ‘patola’ ‘bandha’ and ‘telia rumal’, in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
Ikat weaving styles vary widely. Many design motifs may have ethnic, ritual or symbolic meaning or have been developed for export trade. Traditionally, ikat are symbols of status, wealth, power and prestige. Because of the time and skill involved in weaving ikat, some cultures believe the cloth is imbued with magical powers.
Process
In Ikat weaving, a design is visualized on a graph paper keeping in mind the warp and weft. The design is then transferred on the warp and weft. The warp and weft threads are carefully measured, tied and placed in the dye solution. If different colors are required, then the ties are removed and the warp is retied and dyed again to create layers of color.
The parts of the yarns that are tied and protected are dye resistant, thereby giving the craftsman to create multi layered and multi textured textiles of varied sizes through exposing the yarn to multiple dye baths.
The bundles are then woven through the addition of design either at the warp or the weft or in both.
Great care must be taken in tying resist areas with water repellent material such as bicycle inner tubes cut into strips. Also, care must be taken in putting the warp on the loom, keeping all the threads in position is necessary for the design to work. The natural movement during weaving gives Ikat designs a feathered edge which characterizes this technique.
Types of Ikat Weaving
Warp Ikat
After the yarn bundles are dyed, they are tied on to the longitudinal – warped strings of the loom. Guatemalan, South American and Indonesian Ikat are known for its fineness that it resembles a printed textile.
The entire beauty of the textile lies in the deftness of the weaver selecting the heddle and manually picking up warp threads before passing the shuttle through the resultant "mini- shed".
Weft Ikat
In the Weft Ikat, resist- dye is used in the weft alone. Because of the variance in color in the weft, the precision in the delineated patterns are very difficult to weave. This precision is the required attribute of the skillful weaver.
Weft Ikat is used more when pattern precision is a lesser concern in the overall resultant fabric, thereby transforming into a hand quality irregular and erratic designs. A beautiful example is that of a Gautemalan Ikat and Japanese Kasuri Ikat.
Double Ikat
In the Double Ikat, both the Warp and Weft are dyed together. This form of the Ikat requires the most precision and hand skill. Pochampalli in Andhra Pradesh, India and Patan in Gujarat, Tenganan Pegeringsingan in north-east Bali (the Geringsing Cloth) weave the finest Double Ikats.
Motifs
The artistic excellence of Ikat also lies in the inspiring motifs from religious mythologies to everyday encounters, regional motifs, other mythological characters, flowers, animals, birds and human figures.
Patola designs include elements like "Bhat", "narikunj", "paan", "phulwadi", "chowkdi", "raas", "chhabdi", "choktha", "navratana", "paanchphul", "sarvariya", "laheriya" etc.
Material
Pure Silk and Natural dyes were used to make traditional Ikat. Now, of course, synthetic and chemical colors have given way to the age old traditions. But since the past 20 years, the importance of the eco friendly natural and vegetable dyes is getting in vogue with vegetable materials like Turmeric, Marigold Flower, Onion Skin, Pomegranate Rinds, Madder, Lac, Catechu, Cochineal, Indigo along with different mordants like alum, tinchloride, ferrous sulphate, copper sulphate, Tennic Acid, Oxalic Acid, Potassium Dichromate.
Images sourced from the book 'Traditional Indian Textiles'; John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard, Thames and Hudson, 1991 |
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