English: SEA-DAYAK WOMAN (SARAWAK BORNEO)

With rawai or brass corset, silver tiara and shell ornaments. She is preparing a warp of cotton thread for dyeing.

The Sea-Dayak woman weave from cotton thread of their own manufacture a strong cloth with a two- or three-colour design in it, the designs being produced by what is known as a " stop-out" process. The warp threads are stretched on a frame, and bundles of the threads are tied up here and there with strips of palm-leaf, the position of these tied-up bundles depending on the character of the desired design. The warp is then dipped into a red dye, and on removal from it the palm-leaf strips are cut off, and the design appears in the natural colour of the thread against a red background, or vice versa, according as the" stopping-out" has been arranged. If a third colour is required, the palm-leaf strips are not cut off on removal from the red dye, but more arc added, and the warp goes then into a blue dye, which, of course, acts only on the uncovered portions of the warp threads. Finally, the warp is stretched on a simple loom, and an undyed weft is woven in. The illustration on p. 175 shows a woman tying up the warp-threads; frames holding the unwoven fabric in various stages are in the background: the woman wears a petticoat of cloth of her own manufacture.