The ikat, this technique for a long time used in the world, is still practised today.

One found it in Asia, of Turkey in Japan , the Filipino Islands , in New Guinea and Melanesia in more rudimentary form. Known in Arabia, North Africa, Western Africa, in many areas of Central America and Latin America, of Mexico jusqu `in Argentina . In XIIIème century, colonizing Arabic of Mallorca (Balearic Islands Spain) manufactured the ikat (lenguas) and it is perhaps starting from this island that the technique was spread in all Europe . . Known in Spain , France , Italy , Switzerland , Germany , Scandinavia and even England .

But it is as possible as each culture, like the culture Indonésiens, discovered it in an autonomous way.

The ikat is a technique of dyeing “in reserve”. Saja ikat wants to say to attach, to bind. The ikat differs from the other techniques “in reserve” by this essential characteristic that the fabric is not dyed. The wire of the screen and the chain are dyed before weaving, together or separately.

For this work, one installs all wire of the screen side by side on a framework of the dimension of the part to be carried out. The wire are divided into packages of six, eight or even of ten, according to the reason which one plans to carry out

Thus putting “in reserve”, one makes use of fibres of the sheets of palm gebando (or other similar matters) impermeable to the dyeing, to attach together the packages of wire, which are then dyed.

They repeats the operation as much there are different colours. Once the packages of demolished wire, They fixes them on the weaving loom.

The ikats with the chain are generally in cotton, more rarely out of silk. The ikats with silk or cotton screen are less frequent.

The doubles ikat (of which the screen and the chain are tinted) are them, exceptional. They finds doubles ikat out of cotton in Bali in the village of mountain of Tengganan Pageringsingan (orang asli) originating in the place. In java and Japan , such Saitam and Nagoji. They weaves silk ikats in India in the state of Gujarat and on the Japanese island of Oshima.