Wood Carving

WOOD CARVING

Wood carving,like stone carving, has traditionally featured largely in temple and palacearchitecture with little freestanding 'sculpture' work produced commercially.Immaculately carved demons and mythical beings decorate pillars, door panels,lintels and window shutters with the aim of protecting the buildings fromevil intruders. Scenes of legendary figures placed within floral decorset a more pleasant and educational tone. When producing tools and objectsfor everyday use, sculptors had a much freer hand in choosing subject matter.With the arrival of European influences, wood carving started to developalong more innovative and commercial lines.

 Althoughthere have been noteworthy carvers, for example; I Nyoman Cokot, Ida BagusNyana and Ketut Nongos, artistic integrity has suffered as a result ofthe whole villages specialize in producing certain styles of work. Thevillage of Mas near Ubud is probably the best known for its carvings offemale figures, Buddhas, characters from Hindu epics and the traditionalTopeng and Wayang Wong masks.

Textiles

TEXTILES

One ofthe most striking things about Bali is the rich variety of cloths and materialsthat are to be seen in thousands of shops throughout the island. Howeveronly a small proportion of these are indigenous to Bali. The myriad ofbatik clothes and sarongs available everywhere, are mainly imported fromJava and a large proportion of the woven cloths (ikat) found in and aroundKuta / Legian area are imported from the islands of Sumba & Flores.However Bali does have a very rich textile industry of its own. The beautifulSongket fabrics worn by performers of traditional dance are a good example.

 In Songket,gold and silver threads are woven into the cloth to create complex motifsof birds, butterflies and flowers. Sometimes they use so much gold &silver that the underlying cloth is barely visible.
Endek, orweft ikat is another common method used in Bali. In weft ikat weaving,the weft threads are dyed to create the design and then woven with plainwarp threads. These cloths are recognizable by their abstract designs andbright colors.
 
Althoughby far the least common form of weaving to be seen in Bali, Geringsing,or double-ikat, is perhaps the most sought after. With this technique,both the warp and weft threads are dyed to their final designs before beingwoven together. With the exception of certain areas in India and Japan,this weaving technique can only be found in the small village of Bali Again Tenganan, East Bali.
 
If you wouldlike to see ikat being woven visit the Cili Weaving Center, Jalan CiungWanara, Gianyar.