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STYLE
The earliest examples of imagery
within the Telia Rumal tradition, from the 19th century, used
simple geometric designs able to be created by simple repetitive
resist tying. Small squares, crosses and dots were well suited
to the technique of tying resist areas. requiring limited tying
to create the motifs. Some of these designs were created in
warp ikat, some in weft ikat, and only a few in double ikat.
The complexity of having both warp and weft containing design
elements that must interlock increased the difficulty of achieving
design alignment by many fold.
Curved lines were introduced requiring
much more intricate and time consuming tying. Eventually simple
motifs such as flowers, birds, lions, stars, moons, depending
on the market, began to be integrated into the ikat. These were
now all developed in the double ikat technique. A growing Arab
market required Muslim symbolism such as the stars and moon.
Hindu imagery such as the lion, parrot, and peacock were in
demand in the local market.
As weavers skills increased, the
desire to create more complex imagery led to the development
of 'modern' designs featuring planes, clocks, and even gramophones.
No matter what the central design units contained, the border
format remained the same, consisting of eight inches of either
red or black with white dividing stripes and white edge. This
gave the unifying look to the entire group of rumals styles.
The amount of time required to prepare
these designs, to complete the dye process and to weave the
cloth could add up to six to eight weeks depending on the complexity.
Each warp yielded only eighth rumals. However often eight lengths
would be prepared at a time
In this day of industrialization,
mechanization is making traditional practices involving vast
amounts of time uneconomical. What can be done to adapt this
practice to the twenty-first century? Where to from here? Let's
look at
conclusions
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detail simple motif
detail of double ikat crosses
floral motif
airplanes & clocks
click on thumbnails
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