Today is the final day we spend with the ikat weavers. Last night we met with the heads of each of the groups to brief them on how we felt the project had gone and from this to give them “homework” to weave more trials.
The areas that we worked with for the ikat were, Ende, famous for using quite masculine African colours, Sumba, an island where they specialise in more graphic motifs such as people or animals, Kefa, who are known for their brighter colours and also mixing techniques of ikat, jacquard and buna, a kind of embroidery and finally Rote, who use very bold motifs and strong colour. These particular groups were chosen as they were the most open to developing their fabrics.
I feel like the weavers are starting to like me!!! I think we managed to convince them that if the new qualities they are producing look and feel better then Oscar will pay a higher price for them. It also helped that I bought a few pieces of ikat from them, I’m getting quite a collection now, its very addictive. Just when you think you couldn’t possibly need any more, someone brings out something even more beautiful and you just have to buy it.
Antique Ende ikats for sale
Before we said goodbye, the weavers from Rote let me try out their loom, very difficult, requiring good posture, strong arms and small feet as my toes poked through the warp!!
We then managed to squeeze in a quick visit to a small local weaving community. I was amazed to see that here they were weaving ikat in the weft, something that I had never seen before. They make the ikat warp in the same way as before, but then wind it onto spools for weft yarn and weave it on a large hand loom. Its much quicker than the traditional weft ikat and amazingly the pattern is not distorted, but the colour lacks the intensity of the warp ikats so it is less popular.
Also had time to stop off at a local ikat shop, the prices in Nusa Tenggara are much cheaper than Jakarta and the shops usually have a much better selection
Sumba ikat in the local shop
Just as we were leaving we found out our flight back to Jakarta was delayed so Reggy, Oscars mother recommended heading to the beach to drink coconut juice before we left , you just can’t do that kind of thing at Heathrow! When our plane finally arrived, there was a stopover half way through the flight in Bali, you get the option to stay on the flight for 30 mins or get out. Ever the opportunist Reggy decided we should get out and grab a quick foot massage in the airport, it was so good we narrowly missed boarding our flight and to my embarassment had an announcement asking for "Miss Laura" to go immediately to the gate!
Kupang Beach
Eating fresh coconut, looks better than it tastes.
Arrived back in Jakarta late, very excited as tomorrow I get a lie in and a day off!!
No comments:
Post a Comment