Glorious Mud Dye

The Morilotong textile symbolizes duality or heaven and earth. Humans live between these worlds. The primary ikat motif is called Tobo means carving and sepu refers to the betelnut bag carried by women that contains the lime, betelnut and sirih leaf for chewing betel. It is polite to always have betelnut offered between both the host and visitor. The tobo sepu motif is also found on the walls of the traditional rice barn.

Morilotong is the name for the black and white architectural ceremonial hanging used by the To Mangki Karataun ethnic group of central Sulawesi. The threads are soaked in a tannin from a Homolanthus sp tree, dyed in iron rich mud and then washed repeatedly in the river to achieve the distinct and clear white. This cloth predates the sekomandi textile which uses red and blue dyes. Threads of Life works to sustain all traditional weaving and natural dye techniques made by generations gone before while maintaining healthy eco-systems.

A cloth like this black and white ikat, mud dyed textile from Sulawesi will take up to 4 months to complete with a single woman overseeing all aspects of the work, tying motifs Into threads from memory, dying the threads and weaving. All while she continues to take care of her family and work in the fields to bring home food. The sale of these textiles represents a significant source of income for these weavers.

This textile is lovely on as a wall hanging or used as throw on the bed or over a couch.

Information about the makers will be supplied with each cloth.
Warp ikat, two panels stitched together, open fringe, commercial cotton, natural dyes. Ikat tied, dyed and woven in Mamuju, Sulawesi, 2024. Size 186 x 123 cm / 73 x 48.5 in