PALU'E IKAT Weaving Tradition Supporting the
Weaving Tradition The Palu’e (ata Lu’a) are an Austronesian ethnic-linguistic group, who inhabit the small volcanic island Palu’e near the Flores north coast in eastern Indonesia. Natural colouring began to disappear from Palu'e Island in the late 1970s. Recently there have been efforts to revive it through documentation, as well as all the traditional weaving designs, and the results of the documentation are redistributed to the weavers. Only a handful of weavers still dye with indigo, including the signature overdye recipe for black. Palu'e ikat weaving is warp ikat, continuous and warp faced, woven with the ancient but versatile back strap loom. The Palu'e weaving of today is loyal to the old format. The oldest Palu'e fabrics in museums or collections, like in the image below, are nearly identical to present-day ones of the type, Wua wela.
Longge stretching and drying the threads oiled with local almond and walnuts, which is a must to make the Morinda dye bind (pre-mordanting).
Stippling Colours and colouring In the arts ‘stipple’ refers to the practise of marking a surface with numerous small dots. In Palu’e warp ikat it means the decoration of the cloth’s surface with thousands of small geometrically aligned ‘ikat dots’ , each consisting of four to six warp threads woven with at least two threads of weft so that they appear round. Stippling is common in ikat but it is unusual to create composite motifs of stipples. The Palu’e colours are red on a black surface, with the motifs undyed, white, sometimes exchanged with yellow, or the ikat bundles are manipulated so that the red water enters and creates a shade on the whites. Black is nearly impossible to achieve with only indigo (Indigo tinctoria), which is used for blue. The method to achieve black is unique, the already dark blue indigo dyed yarn is overdyed with a mix of plants, leaves, and ash water, as shown below. This natural black colour often retains a slight blue sheen, or it is the weft threads that are left dark blue. For the different shades of red there are several methods, including the use of the mentioned overdye. On the shawls, the red is mostly based on the Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia). Some of the shawls are left blue, some black, combined with shades of red, from slightly orange to pink, to wine red, so there are variations for different tastes or moods (see last page). The patterns of the shawls are all based on the patterns of the sarongs.
Palu'e Cabu songgo sarong cloth. Natural dyes. By Longge Warene. Stefan & Magnus Danerek Collection.
Palu'e ikat shawl. Bhejo. Hewuli community. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 975.000 Palu'e ikat shawl. Nae. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 877.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Wua wela. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 975.000 Palu'e ikat shawl. Cabu songgo. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 845.000
Palu'e ikat shawl. Bhejo. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Nae. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Witi mata. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Bhejo. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500
Palu'e ikat shawl. Loka. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 877.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Cabu songgo. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 910.000 Palu'e ikat shawl. Bhejo. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Nae. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 942.500
Palu'e ikat shawl. Wua wela. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Wua wela. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Wua wela. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 1.267.500 Palu'e ikat shawl. Nae. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 890.500
Palu'e ikat sarong. Sika dobho. Hewuli. Cotton. Natural dyes. 66 x 170 cm. Price: 3.770.000 Collector's item. Palu'e ikat sarong. Wua wela. Made in old 'asymmetric' style (main bands do not mirror each other, full range of motifs). Copied from over century-old sarong (Pusaka Collection 305, with courtesy). Made only by Mama Longge, master artisan. Kéli, Palu'e Island. Made with two different fine yarns. Natural dyes. 65 x 150 cm. Price: 11.375.000 Palu'e ikat sarong cloth (unsewn). Sa loi. Kéli, Palu'e Island. Mama Adha, dyes by Longge. Tencel eco-yarn. Natural dyes. Price: 4.225.000 Ikat blanket (or shawl or sarong. 250 x 75 cm). Gecko motif (Sikka motif). Cotton. Natural dyes. Price: 2.470.000
Ikat shawl. Sikka motif. Cotton. Natural dyes. 26 x 170 cm. Price: 910.000 Kenda. 'Crazy weave' (anyam gila, threestrand). Palu'e lontar basket for storing cloth. Rectangular shape from 'hexagonal' technique. Rarely made. Can be stuffed over its height. No image. 43 x 29 x 24 cm. Pre-order. 1.170.000 Palu'e ikat sarong cloth (unsewn). Sika dobho. Hewuli. Tencel ecoyarn. Natural dyes. 75 x 284 cm. Price: 3.770.000