2015 • Number 4 • Agung 11 Teacher-weavers showing students how to tie the warp for the dye-resist process (left). The expert weavers of the community tapped to train new weavers and holding a kinutiyyan (below). /Photos by John Paul T. Orallo
There are only twenty-eight Ifugao ikat hand-weavers in Banaue, according to the Lugo, Amaganad and Banaue Tie-Dye Weavers Association (LABTDWA). To these, six more were added recently as the community organization, which was formed in 2009 to revive, popularize and promote the Ifugao ikat, held a training on ikat and weaving as one of its steps to transfer the traditional practice to other members of the Ifugao community. The ikat is a dyeing technique that uses the resist dyeing process on the yarns before weaving and dyeing the fabric. It is practiced in many parts of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines where it is practiced by the Ifugao as well as the T’boli and Blaan in the south, among
others. The ikat training was held from May 20 to June 5, 2015, at the sitio of South Pungot in Amganad, Banaue, Ifugao, spearheaded by LABTDWA. The trainees were 47-year-old Norma Aligwa, 56-year-old Rosa Lumidao, Jacinta Angayon, 55-year-old Adela Angayon, 56-year-old Mary Gumunut, and Alice Bulawan, the youngest at 25 years old. With just two of them able to finish college, these women earn by weaving, farming and sewing. They were taught one-toone by master weavers for one month. The five expert ikat weavers were Dudduli Dumangeng, Analiza Kangngitit, Alicia Nadiahon, Benita Balangto, Virginia Cabbi-
gat and Felisa Dulnuan. Dudduli, the oldest of the group at 92, learned the ikat technique and weaving from another veteran weaver, Kahimgan Palatih. On the other hand, 57-yearold Nadiahon learned from Dudduli, while 62-year-old Balangto, 58-year-old Cabbigat and 53-year-old Dulnuan were taught by another late master, Kittayan Niploy. Kangngitit is the youngest among them at 39. These experts taught the trainees the different steps in dyeing and weaving including winding, warping, separation of thread, framing, tying, dyeing, drying, untying and the actual weaving. The LABTDWA has six backstrap looms, which are being used by the weavers and were used for the training. They also planted pandan and bulubulu, from which they extract the dyes. There are plans to improve the LABTDWA headquarters and training area such as concretization and the setting up of a drying area for the dyed textiles, and members are seeking assistance from the local government. The organization will next conduct a training on the making of the kinutiyyan and inladdang (blanket) which would take a month to finish.— Report by John Paul T. Orallo
A Training on the Ifugao Ikat Banaue Weavers Endeavor to Enliven Traditional Textile Weaving