Wwoven fabric is a fabric made by inserting weft threads horizontally on ordinary lungin threads and determining them beforehand. Ikat cloth is one of the wealth of NTT whose manufacturing techniques have been passed down from generation to generation. This cloth is thought to have existed since the 3rd century AD, when the kingdom was present in NTT.
The presence of this cloth is believed to go hand in hand with the development of cultural arts. According to research, the ancestors of East Nusa Tenggara who came from the Astromelanesoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Eropoid races, had inhabited the island since 3,500 years ago.
For the people of East Nusa Tenggara, this can be a sign that a woman is ready to get married. So it is not surprising that many women in this province have weaving skills. NTT ikat cloth has many functions, such as clothing, dowry, indication of social status, transaction tools, a form of appreciation for guests, and at funerals.
Although ikat fabrics can be found in almost all of the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara, each region has a different motif. For example, in East Sumba there is a skull motif, and Maumere has a rain, trees, and fanfare motif. There are also other motifs that display the diversity of flora, fauna, and legends.
The high price is directly proportional to the quality of the fabric, the motif, and the complexity of the manufacture. The process of making cloth can even take up to months, because there are several stages that must be passed. In the first stage, the weaver has to spin cotton which is taken directly from the cotton tree. This spinning uses traditional tools and later the resulting yarn is not too fine, and creates an asymmetrical pattern on the ikat fabric. This is one of the unique woven fabrics typical of NTT.
After the spinning process, the yarn is dipped in a colorful solution. Traditional coloring usually uses ru dao leaves (indigo color), ka'bo tree roots (red color), turmeric (yellow color), and so on. The traditional dyeing process can be done many times and can take weeks to get a good color.
Along with the times, some craftsmen began to use chemical dyes which are considered to have a more varied color range, are more practical, and do not fade easily.
After the colors and threads have dried, the threads are then recorded on a traditional weaving machine called Lana Her'ru. The process of tying and forming patterns that require the precision and creativity of the weavers. What distinguishes the process of making NTT woven fabrics from other things is that the lungin thread becomes a regional thread that is vertically in the machine.
While the feed will be inserted horizontally. The important thing that should not be missed is the manufacture of ikat cloth, the craftsmen will meditate and pray to get an idea of the motif to be made, before being given in weaving, and kept away from the weaving process.
If in the past the use of ikat cloth was limited to scarves, blankets, and clothes, now its use is increasingly varied. Besides being used as clothing, such as shirts, jackets, dresses, or clothes, ikat fabrics are also used for various accessories such as wallets, shoes, bracelets, rings, pencil cases, and so on. The price is quite high. A piece of woven cloth is priced from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions.