Sekomandi Ikat (Tie) Weaving

Sekomandi’ is one of the oldest ikat weaving motifs in Indonesia, a typical woven fabric of the Rongkong – Seko and Kalumpang regions. Sekomandi’ comes from two words, namely “Seko” which means brotherhood or kinship or family clump, and “Mandi'” which means strong or close. So that Sekomandi’ can be interpreted as “a strong and close bond of brotherhood or kinship”.

Based on the data obtained from speech, the story/legend of one of the weavers who still carry out and preserve the Sekomandi’ Weaving in Kalumpang, states that Sekomandi’ was originally discovered by an ancestor of the Kalumpang people from Lebani Hamlet named “Undai Kasalle” who was hunting in the forest. While hunting in the forest, Undai Kasalle’s dog stopped at the mouth of a cave and ran into the cave. Seeing this, Undai Kasalle entered the cave and found a large leaf that at first glance looked like a large snake with a strange motif. Then the leaf was brought home and shown to his wife, immediately his wife fell unconscious and fell into a trance. In that unconscious state, Undai Kasalle’s wife got “Inspiration” on how to make Sekomandi’ Weaving. After awakening, Undai Kasalle’s wife began to do what she was inspired to do, she started spinning yarn from cotton and then made dye from a mixture of several kinds of plants, then soaked the yarn in dye for a few days. This trance incident was repeated several times until a Sekomandi Weaving was created.

Sekomandi’ is still traditionally made by craftsmen using yarn spun from cotton and natural dyes from a mixture of ingredients such as candlenut, noni root, tarum leaves, galangal, turmeric, whiting, areca nut, ash from pallin wood and several other ingredients. forest wood. The most characteristic of the dye used is chili, so that in the manufacture of dye until the resulting fabric still feels warm from the chili.

The process of making Sekomandi’ woven fabric consists of several stages, namely: 

1. Yarn Spinning Process
   This process begins with cleaning the cotton from seeds and dirt that sticks, then it is spun to form fine and clean strands of yarn.
2. Yarn Basic Dyeing Process
   After spinning the cotton into yarn, the yarn is then dyed into dye for a few days and then the yarn is stretched. This coloring process takes about a month until the desired color is obtained.
3. Ikat (Tie) Process
   After obtaining colored threads, the threads are then tied into groups of about 10 (ten) strands of thread each. Then the thread begins to be shaped according to the desired pattern or motif by using a thread binding technique on a tool called “Kaliuran” made of wood or bamboo. The function of Kaliuran is to hold the thread at the time of binding so that the thread remains neat after being tied according to the motif or pattern of the fabric.
4. Motive Coloring Process
   After the process of making the motif by ikat (tied), then the process of dyeing the thread into natural dyes is carried out. This coloring process takes about a month until the desired color is obtained.
5. Weaving Process
   Weaving is the last process of making Sekomandi’, where after the threads are tied and form a motif, then the threads are woven to form the Sekomandi’ cloth. This weaving process can take several months or even a year, depending on the level of difficulty and the desired width of the fabric.

Source:
http://ivantandeanpaewa.blogspot.com/2016/08/tenun-ikat-sekomandi_74.html