Ikat
Ikat is a dyeing technique from Southeast Asia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric. In Southeast Asia, where it is the most widespread, ikat weaving traditions can be divided into two general groups of related traditions. The first is found among Daic-speaking peoples. The second, larger group is found among the Austronesian peoples and spread via the Austronesian expansion to as far as Madagascar. It is most prominently associated with the textile traditions of Indonesia in modern times, from where the term ikat originates. Similar unrelated dyeing and weaving techniques that developed independently are also present in other regions of the world, including India, Central Asia, Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Africa, and the Americas.
In ikat, 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 as tie-dye and batik the resist is applied to the woven cloth, whereas in ikat 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, in ikat both fabric faces are patterned. Ikat can be classified into three general types: warp ikat or weft ikat, in which either the warp or weft yarns are dyed, respectively; and double ikat, where both the warp and weft yarns are dyed.
A characteristic of ikat 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 of ikat is often prized by textile collectors.
Etymology
Ikat is a Malay word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in various Indonesian languages fromSumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Sumba, Flores, Timor, and Maluku. Thus, the name of the finished ikat woven fabric originates from the tali being ikat before they are being put in celupan, then berjalin resulting in a berjalin ikat- reduced to ikat.
The introduction of the term ikat into European language is attributed to Rouffaer. 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.
In Indonesian, the plural of ikat remains ikat. While in English, a suffix plural 's' is commonly added, as in ikats. However, these terms are interchangeable and both are correct.
History
Warp ikat traditions in Southeast Asia are believed to have originated in Neolithic weaving traditions somewhere in mainland Asia, and is associated with the Austronesian and Daic-speaking peoples. This is based on a 2012 comparative study on loom technologies, textile patterns, and linguistics. These traditions spread outwards along with the Austronesian expansion to maritime Southeast Asia, reaching as far as Madagascar by the 1st millennium BC.Previously, ikat traditions were suggested by some authors to be originally acquired by Austronesians from contact with the Dong Son culture of Vietnam, but this was deemed unlikely in a 2012 study.
Elsewhere, particularly in India and Central Asia, very similar traditions have also developed that are also known as "ikat". These likely developed independently. Uyghurs call it atlas and use it only for woman's clothing. The historical record indicates that there were 27 types of atlas during Qing Chinese occupation. Now there are only four types of Uyghur atlas remaining: qara-atlas, a black ikat used for older women's clothing; khoja'e-atlas, a yellow, blue, or purple ikat used for married women; qizil-atlas, a red ikat used for girls; and Yarkent-atlas, a khan or royal atlas. Yarkent-atlas has more diverse styles; during the Yarkent Khanate, there were ten different styles of Yarkent-atlas.
Types
In warp ikat it is only the warp yarns that are dyed using the ikat technique. The weft yarns are dyed a solid colour. The ikat pattern is clearly visible in the warp yarns wound onto the loom even before the weft is woven in. Warp ikat is, amongst others, produced in Indonesia; more specifically in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra by respectively the Dayaks, Torajans and Bataks.In weft ikat it is the weaving of weft yarn that carries the dyed patterns. Therefore, the pattern only appears as the weaving proceeds. Weft ikats are much slower to weave than warp ikat because the weft yarns must be carefully adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to maintain the clarity of the design.
Double ikat 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. Double ikat is only produced in three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia. The double ikat made in Patan, Gujarat in India is the most complicated. Called "patola", it is made using fine silk 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 double ikat 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 double ikat woven in the small Bali Aga village, Tenganan in east Bali in Indonesia reflects the influence of these prized textiles. Some of the Tenganan double ikat motifs are taken directly from the patola tradition. In India, double ikat is also woven in Puttapaka, Nalgonda district, and is called Puttapaka Saree. In Ryukyu Islands, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Distribution
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 and Japan. In South America, Central and North America, ikat is still common in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico, respectively.In the 19th century, the Silk Road desert oases of Bukhara, Samarkand, Hotan and Kashgar were famous for their fine silk Uzbek/Uyghur ikat.
India, Japan, Indonesia and many other Southeast Asian nations including Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand have weaving cultures with long histories of ikat resist dyeing.
Double ikat 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 and New Guinea in the east and Kalimantan and Sulawesi in the north. Ikat is also found in Iran, where the Persian name is daraee. 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.
Production
Warp ''ikat''
Ikat created by dyeing the warps is simpler to make than either weft ikat or double ikat. 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 basic ikat motif 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 in batik. 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. 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.Some ikat 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 the ikat yarns. South American and Indonesian ikat 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 warp ikat 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.