Bali Textiles- The Buying Guide

Balifornian Tours can take you to some of the best shopping spots on the island.  We avoid turist traps to get you the best prices on authentic goods and services.  The tour will often pay for itself with the savings.  Being native Balinese Maryam has relationships with artists of all kinds.  Contact us for more details and inquire about one of our famous shopping tours.

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by baliblog

Everyone who visits Bali inevitably leaves with one kind of souvenir; it could be a T-shirt or some strange looking phallic symbol. However, for that special souvenir, and one that is everlasting, look at the options of purchasing a piece of textile. I don’t mean your wrap-around sarong but a hand-woven or loom created piece.

Don’t restrict your choice of textile to just Bali. Seek out those pieces made in Java, Lombok or Sumbawa. In fact, on the island you will be able to find quite a few of these pieces. Indonesians are renowned the world over for their textiles. Balinese traditional textiles are much more than simply decorative pieces of cloth. In Bali, the Balinese produce textiles for a variety of markets and, one of them the tourist trade.

Various forms of cloth are produced on the island of Bali and each one beautiful in its own right. Batik is a textile is manufactured mainly in factories these days but there are some smaller places in the outer lying villages where the batik process is still as it has been for centuries.

The two main styles of Batik are batik tulis and batik cap. The art of Balinese textile decoration is best expressed in skirt, chest and head cloths. There are three main categories of Balinese textile and these are Prada, Songket and Ikat.

The main batik manufacturing town on Bali is at Gianyar where many factories can be found and visited. Be warned though, the price you pay at the factory is inflated and you would be better of checking the street prices in markets such as Sukawati first. Be warned though that purchasing traditional cloth in the markets along the tourist strip will not give you the quality you will find in the places of origin. There are other traditional weavers in other places across Bali that weave stunning pieces of cloth and it is to these places you should visit.

Grinsing is one of the rarest weaving techniques practiced and you will find this textile in the traditional village of Tenganan, East Bali. Gringsing is also known as the ‘flame cloth’ and in this elaborate dyeing process both the warp and weft threads are carefully bound before dyeing. This creates numerous patterns that once finished seemingly fit together perfectly and harmoniously.

Tenganan is the only place in the world where the double-ikat process is practised. There are not many women left in Tenganan who know this practice of weaving but it is being handed down to the next generation. To weave a piece of gringsing could take up to three days but the finished product is superb. When you visit the village you are welcome to have a look at this weaving process and of course for a fee!.

Endek is a tie-dyed woven textile popular with most Balinese. Wooden hand-operated looms are used in the process of the weft-ikat method. This is where sections of the cloth are tied and then wrapped before immersing them into tubs of dye. The basic designs are irregular and soft wavy patterns. Also created are diamond designs and a zigzagging pattern. Endek is a versatile cloth for the Balinese because it can be worn for both daily use and ceremonial purposes.

Songket is a brocaded silk that has interweaving patterns of silver and gold thread and is classified as the ceremonial dress of all Balinese. Worn mainly on religious occasions, it is also worn to weddings, tooth filings and other important ritual events. The cloth is tapestry in appearance and has various motifs including wayang figures, birds, butterflies, flowers and leaves. The process of weaving is done on back-strap looms. Because of its thread and quality it is generally accepted that it is a wealthy man’s cloth.

Interestingly, the kain songket is bought in two pieces and then sewn together. The men wear the songket saput. This is a narrow piece of cloth worn over a sarung. Together with a songket udeng or head band this is for more formal and ceremonial occasions.

Decorated with silver or gold thread, kain prada is a lustrous fabric woven of cotton or silk. A ceremonial cloth, it is generally two meters in length and can take up as long as three months to weave from start to finish. Various patterns include lotus blossoms with swastikas as border decorations. These are however the most common motifs.



Balifornian Tours announces amazing new tours

Exciting new tours announced from Balifornian Tours- Go to http://www.balifornian.com/destinations/  for more information. 

The new tours include...

Kalimantan and Borneo- Including the Orangutans!

Discover Central Kalimantan, visit the Orangutan National Park / Tanjung Puting National Park. See the Orang Utan ( Pongo pygmeus ) and other wildlife; agile gibbons, black handed gibbons (hylobates agilis), gray gibbons, proboscis monkeys, crab-eating macagues, larges dragonflies, a several large birds such as hornbilis, eagles & kingfishers

Tana Toraja - Experience increadible culture and mindblowing rituals.  

This unique tour to one of Indonesia most mysterious places can also be combined with any Bali tour. 

Bright green rice terraces, tall limestone outcrops and bamboo graves are set against a backdrop of blue misty mountains. Traditional Tongkonan houses stand proudly in this setting. These intricately decorated houses with upward-sloping roofs are the center of all Aluktodolo ( Torajan religion before the coming of missionaries; the ancestors belief ) rites; from storing the harvest in the carved rice barns, "alang", to slaughtering sacred water buffaloes at a week or more-funeral ceremonies. Tana Toraja's beauty is also reflected in its people. Although they are devoutly Christian ( there are small number of Moslems especially in the southern area), they combine this religious belief with magic and mysticism. Secure in their ethnic identity, they welcome visitors to witness their ceremonies.

The land of the Toraja people, many notionally Christian but most in practice animist, is above all famed for their spectacular (and rather gruesome) burial rites. After a person's death, the body is kept — often for several years — while money is saved to pay for the actual funeral ceremony, known as tomate. During the festival, which may last up to a week, ritual dances and buffalo fights are held, and buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered to ferry the soul of the deceased to the afterlife (puya). The deceased is then finally buried either in a small cave, often with a tau-tau effigy placed in front, inside a hollow tree or even left exposed to the elements in a bamboo frame hanging from a cliff.

Tana Toraja has unique culture set in stunning scenery. Globalisation and tourism may have impact, but if you venture away from the tarmac roads you will find soon a way of life that has not changed much in the last 100 years.(Wiki)

Komodo- This boat tours stops at some remote islands with great opportunities for snorkling and diving and culminates with an up close and personal trek with The Komodo Dragons.  The tour starts from Lombok with a half-day tour to visit traditional Lombok villages and it’s peoples’ daily life.  We will also stop in Lombok’s main pottery making village on the way to the harbor. With a newly designed boat, we will explore the beauty of The amazing Sumbawa coast with its beautiful small islands including the well known Komodo Island.  Then we are off to Labuan Bajo in Flores. On the way back, we will have a chance to visit Rinca, Moyo, and Keramat Island. We will then make our return to Lombok.

Yogyakarta 

Yogyakarta is one of the last intact Javanese Empires in all of Indonesia, with the Sultanate still holds jurisdiction. The Sultan's Palace is the hub of Yogyakarta's traditional life and, despite the advance of modernity, still emanates the spirit of refinement, which has been the hallmark of Yogya's culture for centuries. Yogya is center of Javanese arts and culture, as well as a historically rich and important city.

Yogyakarta is the gateway to reach the world famous "Borobudur" Buddhist temple, which is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Borobudur was built by Sanmaratungga in the 8th century, and was revealed by Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles in 1814. The temple was found in ruined condition and was buried. After the independent (1945), the Indonesian Government gave the restoration of Borobudur high priority, invited archaeological mission and in 1955 requested UNESCO's assistance.

Papua New Guinea (formely Irian Jaya)

Papua New Guinea or Irian Jaya is one of the world's most remote regions and contains some of the most interesting and protected cultures one can find.  Balifornian Tours unique access to this region will make your trip infinitely easier and more rewarding.

West Papua Package Tours (Formerly Irian Jaya)

The cultures of the Papua tribes are fascinating. The island's terrain is rough, mountainous, and covered by rain forest. Communications between villages are by narrow foot paths.  Nowadays Irian Jaya is divided into 2 Provinces: Papua Barat and Papua Timur. Sorong is the capital city of Papua Barat, while Jayapura, the capital of East Papua province, is five hours by plane from Bali. Daily flights connect these two cities via Ujungpandang or Biak. From Jayapura or Sentani, a tour to the hinterland is possible. A police permit is required in order to visit Irian Jaya. We can arrange this for you in Jayapura.

Other tours include Sulawesi, Lombok, Sumatra and many other exotic locations.