A Textile Tour of Tribal Weaving in Indonesia

“The most exciting textile tour you are ever likely to find – the trip of a lifetime!” This is the lead sentence for the Tribal Weaving of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia that hooked me this past May. Did it hook you? Indonesia has been at the top of my textile travel list since I bought my very first collectible piece in my twenties–a ceremonial sarong in deep indigo and morinda with silk-weft brocading. I didn’t know much about it until this trip. But thanks to the knowledge of British textile experts and tour leaders, David and Sue Richardson, and the visits with so many weavers, I do now.

Ikat cloth being woven on backstrap loom in west Timor.

Where we lived for twelve days–the sailing vessel, the Ombak Putih, at full sail.

A cultural performance in Namata village on Sabu island. These floral sarongs are indeed ikat woven.

On the remote islands of Flores, Lembata, Alor, Timor, Savu, and Sumba, women still spin their own cotton, prepare their own natural dyes of indigo and morinda, and weave on traditional back-tension looms. There will be more blogs to come about the tour days of adventurous boat travel with visits to eighteen weaving villages. But for now, feast on some images and sign up for the 2017 tour. These distant and culturally-rich islands offer some of the most diverse ikat textiles in the world. Given the encroachment of the modern world, the question of how long they will be sustained remains– maybe a generation.

Greetings
Every village welcomed us in their own special way.

Our greeting of song and dance by the Helong tribe in in west Timor.

Greetings by ikat-clad horsemen on Savu.

Awaiting the arrival of our boat on Savu island.

Music and dance was common, as were cultural performances.

A cultural performance demonstrating the steps of weaving (spinning and dyeing) by young women and children of Bama village in east Flores. (Here they are demonstrating carding cotton.)

The young women of the whaling village of Lamalera in Lembata greet us with a cultural performance–they are carrying their spinning and weaving tools in their baskets. Note the ikat whale design woven into the bottom of the sarong.

The lego-lego circle dance, a dance of unity, in Takpala village on Alor Island.

Spinning, Natural Dyeing, and Weaving
The common elements for the weaving villages was the handspinning of cotton, natural dyeing with indigo and morinda root, and the laborious process of ikat weaving. I never tired of the demonstrations.

One of many ways of spinning cotton in Bama village, east Flores. Note the carded punis in her lap of her exquisite handwoven sarong.

An indigo dyer and handspinner from Mawa on Flores island.

Handspun cotton undyed and dyed in various colors of morinda and indigo. The spindles whorls are vertebrae from the whaling village of Lamalera.

The handspinning of cotton was a process in itself. Not all weavers still do handspinning, as they can buy commercial cotton thread now. For you spinners, here’s a niddy noddy treat.

Winding the spun cotton onto a niddy noddy. Plus spinning cotton with some ground support.

The Lamalera niddy noddy is the smallest one we encountered.

And this niddy noddy in the Bama village was the largest.

After spinning, and other steps in between, starts the intricate process of preparing the warp for ikat dyeing, followed by natural dyeing, then untying the resist wraps.

A cotton warp is tied with blue and pink resist wraps and ready for dyeing.

The women of the Dokar village of Maumere in east Flores demonstrating their indigo dye process.

An ikat bundle being dyed in morinda. The morinda root is on the left. The large stone vessel on the right is where the root is pounded in prep for dyeing.

Young girls learn the ikat process of dyeing and weaving among the Padero.

Just one of the many involved steps of preparing the warp for ikat weaving. Here the threads have been unwrapped after dyeing.

Every tied resist thread also has to be removed.

And the end results are stunning ikat weavings.

The laborious and complex ikat of Sumba.

Ikat weaving underway among the Amarasi tribe of west Timor.

Textiles await us in the Pedaro village on Sabu island.

Not Just Textiles
This tour isn’t all textiles. The traditional and cultural exchanges were beyond memorable. As was the natural environs of every island.

Even in the traditional village of Gurusina, textiles are woven, displayed, and ready for purchase.

Another view of the traditional village of Gurusina with megalithic altars.

Ah yes, the Komodo dragon.

But, for me, the beauty of the people and richness of culture was worth its weight in textile gold.

Young girls in traditional sarongs from Jontona in Lembata.

Children of the Amarasi tribe in west Timor Island wearing traditional ikat sarong skirts and school clothing.

Me (seated) and Sue Richardson wearing some of our woven wealth.

If you’re interested in other textile travel ClothRoads has a curated list here.

If you’ve enjoyed this armchair journey, share it on to others. We and the artisans thank you.