All have a long history and despite the introduction of factory produced textiles, are still being hand produced and worn in these communities.
Batik
Batik, a wax-resist dyed cloth, exists in China, Japan, India, Thailand, Laos, Africa and many other places, but it is from the islands of Java where it emerged as one of Indonesia's great art forms. Although it is an ancient tradition, the first mention was in records in 1518.
A simple tool called a canting (pronounced “chahnting”), which works like a fountain pen, is used to draw designs in liquid wax on the cloth. The fabric, usually cotton, is dipped in dye which is absorbed by the unwaxed areas. The wax is removed by boiling the cloth, and can be waxed and dyed again to give several coloured patterns.
A faster method is to use a printing block, or cap (pronounced “chahp”), made by soldiering copper shapes into the chosen design, rather like an old fashioned flat iron. The block is dipped in the wax then stamped on the cloth. Both the canting and the cap are collectable in their own right. Geometric or floral designs, symbols of religion or social status appear on the cloth used for clothing or furnishings. Many colours are used, though blue, red and brown predominate, but sometimes the batik is enriched with gold leaf.
Ikat
Ikat, literally `tied strings', is fabric made by a different process of resist dyeing. The warp or weft threads of silk and cotton, or occasionally both warp and weft, are bound in selected areas with dye-resistant material, such as pieces of palm leaf, before being immersed in a dye bath.
The uncovered threads absorb the dye, and more colours can be added by rearranging the covered areas before dyeing. The threads are arranged before being fixed to the loom. Where the colours meet, or the undyed threads meets colour, the random blurred patterns give the cloth its distinctive look.
The cloth is used for clothing such as wrap around skirts or sarongs and rectangular shoulder or waist cloths, and for ceremonial use such as gifts for weddings or as burial cloths. The different areas of Indonesia produce distinctive patterns, and other Asian countries who use this technique in weaving are India, Thailand, Laos and Japan.
Songet
Songet is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is a fabric produced by supplementary weft technique whereby the additional weft threads are often of silver or gold, used with rich colours such as purple, yellow, blue and black. The textiles, some of which have complex patterns, are mostly used for important ceremonial rituals of birth, marriage and death.
Pelangi
Pelangi or tie-dyeing is popular in Indonesia and elsewhere. It is produced when pieces of cloth are tied tightly with yarn so that only the areas not bound will take the dye. In its most basic form this produces a simple white circle against a dyed background, but complex stitching, known as tritik, can obtain more interesting patterns.
Further reading on South East Asian Textiles
Inger McCabe Elliot, Batik - Fabled Cloth of Java, pub. Clarkson Potter Inc, New York, 1984;
Silvia Fraser-Lu, Indonesian Batik: Processes, Patterns and Places, Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1991;
John Gillow, Traditional Indonesian Textiles, Thames & Hudson, London, 1992.
Valery Garrett - I was born in England but I’ve lived in Hong Kong for over thirty years. At first I worked as a fashion designer for some large ...
