Figure 19.
Basket Weaves.
The greater part of the baskets are in the diagonal or twilled weave, in which each element of the weft passes over two or more warp elements. Variations are numerous, either to produce certain Page 423effects or to accommodate designs. Of these the most common are
| 1 under 2 over 2 etc. |
| 2 under 2 over 2 etc. |
| 2 under 4 over 4 etc. |
The weaver also frequently constructs the bottom with 2 over 4 under 4; then when the sides are made he changes to 1 over 2 under 2, until the center is reached; then 1 of the warp passes over 3 of the weft; for the balance the stitch is 1 over 2 under 2. This variation produces a chevron-like pattern which, in general, is known as binakol; but when it is desired to designate more closely, this name is applied to the weaving having an oblique effect ([Fig. 19], No. 5), while the horizontal is known as dinapálig ([Fig. 19], No. 6).
Types of Baskets:—Plates [LXVIII] and [LXIX] show the most common types of baskets made and used in this territory. Others of Igorot and Kalinga origin sometimes appear, but are seldom imitated by the local basket-makers.
Baskets 1 and 2 of Plate [LXVIII] are known as kaba, and are used principally to hold unthreshed rice, corn, and vegetables. Smaller baskets of the same form are for broken rice and cooked vegetables. The larger specimens are often made of rattan, while the smaller are usually of bamboo. Shallow bamboo baskets, pīdasen or alodan (Plate [LXIX], No. 2) are used as eating dishes for cooked rice.
Clothing is put away in covered oval or rectangular baskets, opīgan (Plate [LXIX], No. 4), while cotton is stored in long cylindrical baskets kolang (Plate [LXVIII], No. 3).
The pasikeng or lagpi(Plate [LXIX], No. 3), commonly called the “head basket,” is the chief basket of the men. It is made of rattan, and is supported on the back by means of bands which pass over the shoulders. In it are carried extra garments and all necessities for the trail. Recently some of the men have joined together two of these baskets by means of a wide, flat band, and this is fitted over the back of a horse or carabao,—an evident imitation of the saddle bags used by Spaniards and Americans. Men also carry small containers for their pipes and trinkets, or else make use of a traveling basket, such as is shown in Plate [LXIX], No. 5.
Rice winnowers and sieves (Plate [LVII]) and the fish-traps shown in [Fig. 13] conclude the list. No coiled baskets are made.
Aside from the decoration produced by variations in the weave, little ornamentation is found in the basketry from Abra, but the Tinguian of Ilocos Norte make and distribute large quantities of baskets with colored patterns. Colored vines are sometimes woven Page 424in, but the common method is to employ blackened bamboo, both in warp and weft.
The top of the basket is strengthened by two hoops of rattan or bamboo. One is placed outside, the other inside; on them is laid a small strip of the same material, and all three are sewed down by passing a thin strip of rattan through two holes punched in margin. This strip doubles on itself, encircles the rim, and after an interval again passes through two more holes, and so on around the entire basket. A square base, attached in the same manner as the rim, generally completes the basket. In the mountain districts near to Apayao, the bases of the smaller eating dishes are drawn in toward the center at four points, giving the effect of a four-pointed star.
Mats (ikamin).—Mats are used as beds, never as floor coverings. They are rectangular in form, usually about six feet long and three wide, and are undecorated. They are made from strips of pandanus in the laga weave (cf. p. 423).
Dyes.—In recent years analine dyes have come into favor in some villages, and a variety of colors appears in the articles made by their weavers, but the vegetable dyes used by the ancestors are still employed by most of the women. The commonest colors are blue, pink—“black red”—, red, and yellow.
Blue is ordinarily produced by placing the leaves and branches of the indigo plant, tayuni (Indigofera tinctoria)in water for a few days; then to boil them, together with a little lime. The thread is dipped in the liquid.
Pink is secured by crushing lynga (Sesamum indicum L.) seeds and boiling them in water. Threads are placed in this for five nights, while during the day they are dried in the sun. The root of the apatot (Morinda citrifolia or umbellata) is next crushed, and water is added. The threads are now transferred to this liquid, and for ten days and nights are alternately soaked and sunned. A copper color results, but this soon changes to pink. It is said that the apatot alone produces a red dye. It is also claimed that the seeds of the apang (Bixa Orellana L.) and of a variety of rattan, when boiled, give a permanent red.[17]
A yellow dye is produced by boiling the leaves of the Tamarindus indica L. in water until a strong liquor is obtained.
Bark head-bands are stained a purplish-red by applying a liquid Page 425secured through boiling kᴇlyan (Diospyros cunalon D.C.?) bark. For ceremonial purposes they are also colored yellow by applying the juice of the konig (Curcuma longa), but as this has a disagreeable odor, and the color is not permanent, it is not much used in every-day garments. Lemon juice is also applied to bark to give it a yellow hue.
Fish nets are colored brown by dipping them into a dye made by crushing the katakot vine in water, or by staining with the juice of the taotawa (Jatropha curcas L,).
The bamboo strips used in decorating basketry are blackened by holding them in the smoke of burning rice-straw. Black designs, such as appear in the ornamentation of lime holders and the like, are secured by rubbing oil and soot into incised lines, and then holding the object in the smoke of burning rice-straw.
Net Making.—Nets are used in fishing, in catching wild chickens and grasshoppers, and in hunting deer and pigs. The first three types are made of twine, but the fourth is of strong rope.
All net work is done by the man who, for this purpose, employs a mesh stick and a needle of bamboo or carabao horn ([Fig. 20]). The needle (No. 1) also serves as a shuttle, since it carries a considerable amount of thread between the tongue and notch. The size of the loop is determined by the width of the mesh stick or spreader (No. 2). The operator generally sits on a rice winnower or squats on the ground with a net suspended above him (Plate [LXX]). He forms the mesh by running the needle over and around the spreader, and up and through the loop above, thus forming a loop on the mesh stick. This is drawn tightly, the needle is again passed through, but without encircling the stick, and thus a knot is tied. This is repeated until a row of loops has been completed, when another series is started.