The Magical Skill of Ikat

The Telia Rumal is a double Ikat weave that originated in Chirala district of Andhra Pradesh. The word 'Ikat' is derived from the Malay-Indonesian word 'mang-ikat', which means to bind or knot, as the yarn that goes into the weave is tied and dyed before being woven. At its simplest, the craft of weaving the Ikat involves great mathematical skill.

The design for Ikat weaving is visualised in the weaver’s mind and then plotted on a graph. It is translated through a multi-stage process of precision resist tie and dyeing of the yarn itself before the  weaving of the product starts. 

Weavers, almost intuitively, calculate the number of threads required to make an inch of a woven fabric of a particular density using a specific thickness of yarn. This is how they arrive at the weight of yarn they will need to weave a warp of a particular length, given the specific set of variables of yarn, construction and desired end product. The resulting yarn will eventually look like this.

Once the warp threads are tied at set points, determined by the pattern and colour sequence of the design, rubber binds are wound tightly to reserve areas that are to be kept from absorbing the colour that the yarn is to be dyed in. To attain the complete dyed colour layout, the yarn undergoes a number of stages of dyeing and resist tying, and dyeing again.

The mastery of the craft is in visualising a design and translating it through abstraction to its constituent warp and weft elements. Once the warp is dyed and ready to be put on the loom, the weaver ties the weft threads according to the design and then dyes them.

Once the warp and weft are dyed, the weaver sets the loom and starts weaving. An ikat weaver can skilfully create 'single ikat', 'warp ikat', or 'double ikat' fabrics. Ikat weaving requires skill and precision. The more complex the design and the greater number of colours involved, the more demanding is the textile at each stage of its creation.