This is the second part of How to Make Sumba Ikat Woven Fabric. If you haven’t read the first part, please read it here.
How to Make Sumba Ikat Woven Fabric part 2
6. Span
Biara
Separates each liran (stream) that was previously merged into one (when coloring).
Walah
Spread the hiamba on the wanggi (bamboo structure) and straighten the thread position to match the desired motif image.
Tidy Up
The hiamba that has been spread out in the wanggi, trimmed the position of each karandi to form the desired motif.
Karandi
Re-tie the karandi on a piece of bamboo, so that the thread does not shift before and is being woven.
Kanji (Kawu)
The process of applying starch to the hiamba so that the fabric is stiff when woven. After that, the hiamba is dried in the sun to dry.
Kawari
Strands of yarn after starching will stick to each other. This stage aims to separate each karandi attached by hand.
Hira
The process of separating strands of yarn that are still attached at the top and bottom.
Hura
Separate each strand of thread that is attached by inserting a thin bamboo stick with a pointed tip between the strands of thread. Then it ends by inserting a long piece of bamboo, as a tool to make pawunang.
Pawunang
Make a guiding thread that will be used to insert the wunang wood during the weaving process.
7. Weaving
Hawulur
The weft yarn for weaving is prepared by winding it on a stick called a pamawang.
Pababat
The insertion of a thin piece of bamboo (kambilla patu) between the threads is a sign of the start of the weaving process.
Weaving
The weaving process is only done by women. Usually, it takes about 2 days to weave 1 liran (if it is done intensively) or 4-5 days (if it is done while taking care of the family).
Katahu
At this stage, the weaving process ends with the marking of the wunang rope being cut.
8. Sew
This stage is specifically for making cloth hinggi, where two liran cloth with the same motif are sewn into a sheet of hinggi. Or to unite the edges of the sarong (lau). There are 3 types of sewing techniques, namely: fishbone, uttu tepu, and uttu hiru.
9. Kabakil
At this stage, the cloth is brought to the kabakil craftsmen in Pameti Mahu, not far from the airport. Here the ends of the fabric (top and bottom) in the form of strands of thread, are covered with lurik woven horizontally. For the kabakil process, usually the owner of the cloth (from the PLH group) brings their own yarn which has been dyed with natural dyes.
10. Twist
This activity is usually carried out by men. At this stage, each tassel on the cloth is trimmed by twisting it by hand. After that, using a wood called wari, tassels that have been twisted, smoothed. This process is called wari rumata.
*The Kabakil and Plintir stages can be replaced with the HIRU technique sewing
See the video:
Source & photo: Report on the 2016 East Sumba Ikat Weaving Exploration Journey