In Seraya, a fishing village on Bali's east coast, weaving has been the main income for women for many generations. In the early days women were not allowed to get married before they knew the skills of weaving. We went to Seraya to meet up with a group of weavers and learn the traditional process of natural dyeing. As English is poorly spoken in the area, we were grateful to have Gus, our personal interpreter, helping us to communicate with the women.
"Natural Dyers' and Weavers' Cooperative of Seraya" a privately run weaving and natural dyeing studio and the base for the local weaving cooperative within the village, involving about 200 women. The unique weaving technique for the area is called '' rang rang" and done in a back strap loom. Most of the women do the weaving at home and get paid a set price per textile. For the young women working in the weaving studio however, the social aspect is important "Work is much more fun when done together". The skills and patience of these girls was admirable, but we were sad to find out that most of them choose weaving instead of further studies in order to support their families...
The alchemy of natural dyeing is a truly fascinating process resulting in beautiful muted silk and cotton threads. The work involved from planting trees, to picking and preparing leaves, seeds and roots to the actual dyeing is a time demanding process based on old recipes. Besides, compared to chemical dyes, natural colouring can never be fully controlled and often results in colour variations - which makes it more challenging. Getting insight into the natural way of dyeing gave us an even greater admiration for the work and effort put into every single textile.
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