Gujarati Warp Ikat Resist Method: A Practitioner's Record and Translation into Cloth

Abstract

Ikat is a traditional form of yarn preparation for weaving that is practiced in many Asian and Central Asian countries as well as Central and South America and North Africa. Artisans bind selected sections of warp or weft threads before dyeing, in order to form patterns in the cloth as it is woven on the loom. “Warp ikat” describes the process of binding the warp in a patterned way to prevent selected areas from receiving dye prior to placing the warp on the loom to weave. Similarly “weft ikat” is woven from resist-bound dyed weft threads, and “double ikat” is woven from both warp and weft-bound dyed threads. In 2009, a Fulbright senior research award enabled me to document warp resist binding in the village of Somasar, in the Surendranagar region of Gujarat, India. Master Weaver Vaghela Vitthalbhai allowed me to observe, photograph and video him at work, from winding the warp yarn, to folding it in preparation for binding, to transferring it to the binding frame and binding the warp threads according to my paper design. Over a period of weeks and repeated visits, I developed a clear idea of the exacting process that only the master weaver fully comprehends. This paper describes in detail, from an artist's perspective, the Gujarati method for warp resist and discusses subsequent studio application. Video documents and photographic records have been a valuable asset in reconstructing the process.

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