The Balinese Cloths Geringsing

 The geringsing is considered sacred throughout Bali and has always been very rare and expensive. Many stories have been told about it - human blood is said to be needed in order to acquire its deep rich color. Older items sometimes come up for sale but are inevitably damaged. If you want to buy a geringsing, tenganan is the worst place to start, s the villagers here would never sell you their sacred cloth. What is available is usually bought from outside to be sold at outrageous prices to unsuspecting tourists. 

A number of places specialist in ne ikat cloths. Singaraja in north Bali is renowned as home of the best ikat. Gianyae has many ikat factories with hundreds of women still weaving by hand. Sediman, on the way to Besakih Temple, also has famous factory. if you are looking for a bargain, try Denpasar market. Nowadays, ikat is rarely made from woven silk but from cotton or rayon. Colors are usually very bright and many of the motifs are new. To test the quality, find out if the colors run or the cloth shrinks.

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See also other Balinese Textiles : Balinese Cloth Ikat  Balinese Cloth Geringsing Balinese Cloth Songket Balinese Cloth Prada  Balinese Cloth Pelangi Balinese Cloth Batik

The Balinese Cloths Ikat

Some of the best known traditional Balinese cloths include ikat (a Malay word meaning to tie or bind), an ancient technique where a motif is dyed into the threads of ikat, two of which are found in Bali. The first kind is "warp ikat", usually woven in silk. Found in many parts of Bali, it is usually used to make saput, outer sarongs, or the scarves worn on ceremonial occasions. The Indian patola textiles have influenced the designs and motifs, which the Balinese have redesigned with more abstract patterns, creating new variations.

Certainly the most famous ikt in Bali is the geringsing, only woven in a tiny village of Bali Aga called Tenganan. Here the ikat pattern is created in both the warp and welt threads. This process, known as "double ikat", is difficult, requiring both expertise and patience to align the two patterns.

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See also other Balinese Textiles : Balinese Cloth Ikat  Balinese Cloth Geringsing Balinese Cloth Songket Balinese Cloth Prada  Balinese Cloth Pelangi Balinese Cloth Batik

Gringsing Woven Cloth - a Balinese heritage

Gringsing woven cloth is a handmade woven cloth originating from Tenganan village, Karangasem Regency, eastside of Bali island. This Gringsing cloth is made out of natural dyes which may take months even years to develop the cloth. The word Gringsing is derived from two words Gring which means not and sakit which means pain so the word Gringsing has a meaning "no pain", that is why Gringsing cloth is used on ritual ceremonies it is believed that when using the cloth, there wont be any pain and would be protected from evil spirits. The original Gringsing cloth can only be found in Tenganan village, it is also said that this kind of weaving technique can only be done by three countries in the world, they are Japan, india and Indonesia (Tenganan).

The colors of the thread are all from natural coloring. The red color originates from the roots of Mengkudu (noni fruit) trees, yellow from candle nut oil and black color is made from the mixture of indigo and red taum grass. First, the thread is soaked in a candle nut oil, minimal for 40 days, it may also be soaked for more than a year because the thread would have a better quality when it is soaked longer. The candle nut oil is exchanged every 24-29 days. After the thread is soaked, it would be dyed with natural coloring, when all the threads are dyed, the weaving process (without machine) starts which takes about one week for a small piece and 2 months for a large size.

Gringsing woven cloth is different to any other woven cloth, it shows stronger color as it gets older due to the natural process. One piece of a small sized Gringsing cloth is priced about Rp. 1 million and for the larged sized cloth is priced between Rp 5 million to Rp 30 million each. Many foreign tourists come to Tenganan village to see the process of making this Gringsing woven cloth.

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