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Blayu Village, from Mengwi you may cross the range to the coast of North Bali. A left turn off the main road leads to Blayu where the women are weavers. The clicking of bamboo looms resound, as locally dyed threads are interwoven in webs of gold embroidery to fashion ceremonial cloths worn during festival. A sarong two meters long takes three weeks to a month to weave, depending upon the intricacy of the design. The Balinese clean such cloth by dusting it and letting it dry in the sun, since it is not washable. In the past, girls were weaving with their mothers by the time they were ten years old. Nowadays, they are away at school and the ancient Balinese craft is left to their elders. The sarongs the Balinese wear everyday are batiks from Java and cloths woven in Balinese factories. BM the demand for songkets (the cloths with interwoven gold thread) for festival and ceremonial use is still sufficient to keep busy the women of Blayu and several other villagesls. |