Tags: Cottage Industries, Livelihood Programs
By Anna Valmero
KORONADAL, SOUTH COTABATO – Using a more efficient, environment friendly and cost-effective natural dyeing method, the T’boli women of Lake Sebu are learning how to add color into weaving the traditional tinalak clothing.
The Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), an agency under the Department of Science and Technology, conducted a series of training with the T’Bolis on natural dyeing methods to improve the their craft.
“Through these technology interventions, we can see how science and technology can boost and nurture the rich cultural traditions of our indigenous people as well as contribute to the improvement of their lives and yet, still remain true to their traditions,” said PTRI director Carlos Tomboc.
The tinalak is a sacred fabric woven from abaca and is unique to the T’boli tribe of Southern Mindanao. It is considered a totem reflecting their craftsmanship and individuality.
Alongside the growth of tourism in Lake Sebu and South Cotabato, the tinalak has become a primary commodity that has wide applications from fashion accents to furniture design.
Previously, some weavers used synthetic dyes to speed up the process of dyeing and went into mass production of the fabric. This produced poor quality fibers and endangered the tribe’s health due to improper use and disposal of synthetic dyes.
Based on the assessment of PTRI, members of the Lake Sebu Indigenous Women Weavers Association, Inc. (LASIWWAI) lack a systematic dyeing procedure, which often compromised the quality of the dyed fibers and decreased their productivity.
The T’bolis were introduced to the process of fiber pre-treatment, a crucial step of cleaning the abaca fiber through bleaching to remove wax, dirt, gums and other impurities. The process rendered a whiter tinalak with improved capacity to absorb natural dyes and colorants, including pastel dye colors.
PTRI also taught the weavers of “mordanting” the abaca fibers to increase the dye’s colorfastness and decrease the dyeing time by about a hundredfold. The traditional dyeing process, which could stretch on for weeks, can now be done in a few hours.
The weavers are also trained to extract from other sources of natural dyes such as achuete, sibukao, yellow ginger, talisay, mahogany and loco roots to produce the color orange, fuchsia, yellow, black, brown and red, respectively, according to PTRI scientist Julius Leaño.
The natural dyes are environment friendly and do not pose any threat especially to the life-sustaining rivers of the Lemkwa Village, said Leaño. The T’bolis, particularly the men, are now cultivating dye-yielding plants to ensure sustainable supply.
The technology intervention also lowered the weavers’ exposure to health hazards from synthetic dyes and provided additional value to their tinalak fibers.
Through the Non-Timber Forest Products – Task Force (NTFP-TF), a network of Philippine grassroots-based organizations addressing the livelihood needs of upland forest people, PTRI and DOST Region IX, various products of LASIWWAI are now being exported in various countries all over the world.
Get more information about Non-Timber Forest Products – Task Force
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