Editing Flores (section)

==== Dyes ====

The dyes used are essentially [[Indigo dye|indigo]], [[turmeric]]{{efn|
[[Turmeric]]: ''wuné'' in [[Ngadha language]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kikusawa|first1=Ritsuko|last2=Reid|first2=Lawrence A.|date=January 2007|chapter=25. Proto who utilized turmeric, and how?|editor-last1=Siegel|editor-first1=Jeff|editor-last2=Lynch|editor-first2=John|editor-last3=Eades|editor-first3=Diana|title=Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley|series=Creole Language Library 30|pages=341–354 (see p. 343)|url=http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/Combined%20Files/A67.%202007.%20Kikusawa%20and%20Reid--Turmeric..pdf}}</ref>
}} and morinda.{{sfn|Hamilton|1994}} [[Lamaholot people]] use maize starch to size the yarn before dying.{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=15}}

; Blue (indigo)

[[indigo]] grows in the temperate zones at middle elevations;<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/>
It is the most commonly used plant base for blues and black dyes. Bar a few exceptions, it is always used in ikat.{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=15}}

; Red (morinda and others)

''[[Morinda citrifolia]]'' (''mengkudu'',<ref name="texttrip">{{cite web|title=Flores ikat – its all about the villages|website=asiatextilejourney.wordpress.com|date=December 2015|url=https://asiatextilejourney.wordpress.com/tag/ende/|access-date=2024-06-20}}</ref> ''keloré'' in [[Lamalera language|Lamalera]]{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=28}}), extensively used in the archipelago as a source of red dye, does not grow well on Flores and, according to Hoopen, is scarcely used here.<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/> But its use is reported in N'Dona (just east of Ende), where it is mixed with various [[mordant]]s including [[Aleurites moluccanus|candlenut]] (''kemiri'', very oily nut).<ref name="texttrip"/> Barnes also reports its use in the villages of Ili Mandiri, East Flores<ref name="barnes31">{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Ruth|year=1989|title=Ikat Textiles of Lamalera: A Study of an Eastern Indonesian Weaving Tradition|type=Studies in South Asian culture, vol. XIV|publisher=E.J. Brill|pages=31|isbn=90-04-08753-2|issn=0169-9865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt77EAAAQBAJ&dq=what+is+%22kajo+kuma%22&pg=PA31}}</ref> – and describes at length the arduous process for its preparation and application.{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=28}} Close by, weavers from the village of Larantuka may use the tree called ''gemoli'' for red dye.<ref name="barnes31"/>

Powdered leaves of a plant (tree?) called "lobah" are used in N'Dona (east of Ende) to obtain bright reds.<ref name="texttrip"/>

; Yellow (turmeric, mango and others)

Yellow translates as ''kuma''.<ref name="barnes31"/>
In the [[Sikka Regency|Sikka area]], [[turmeric]] was used for producing yellow monochrome warp stripes, as well as orange or green stripes by overdyeing with either morinda or indigo; sometimes mango bark was used for that purpose.<ref name="yellow">{{cite web|title=Yellow dyes|website=asiantextilestudies.com|url=http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/yellow.html|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref> <br>
At Doka<ref name="dokamap">{{cite web|title=Doka (Bola district), map|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sanggar+Doka+Tawa+Tana+-+Desa+Wisata+Umauta/@-8.7127642,122.307397,16.04z/data=!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x2dad2190b9d59f9f:0xa85b3c83f6076567!2sBola,+Kabupaten+de+Sikka,+Nusa+Tenggara+oriental,+Indon%C3%A9sie!3b1!8m2!3d-8.744265!4d122.2997081!16s%2Fg%2F121ln153!3m5!1s0x2dad210d99bd461d:0xf4ab010632bf67c5!8m2!3d-8.7143687!4d122.3092659!16s%2Fg%2F11fwdv8xln?entry=ttu}}</ref> 
in the 'Iwang Geté or Krowé{{efn|name="krowe"|
Iwangeté or Iwang Geté is a small region in [[Sikka Regency|Sikka regency]], that encompasses the villages of 
Watublapi (Hewokloang district),<ref>{{cite web|title=Watublapi (Hewokloang district), map, with Héwokloang to the west|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sanggar+Budaya+Tenun+Bliran+Sina+-+Watublapi/@-8.7007277,122.3106116,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2dad1f9b22619e13:0xc81deaff7fbe7d22!8m2!3d-8.700733!4d122.3131865!16s%2Fg%2F11f0kwrr9t?entry=ttu}}</ref> 
Héwokloang, 
Kloangpopot (Doreng district),<ref>{{cite web|title=Klo'angpopot, Doreng district, Sikka regency|website=m.nomor.net|url=https://m.nomor.net/_kodepos.php?_i=desa-kodepos&sby=010000&BK_HP=Laptop&_en=ENGLISH&daerah=Desa-Doreng-Kab.-Sikka&jobs=Kloangpopot|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kloangpopot (Doreng district), map|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kloangpopot/@-8.712828,122.352609,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2dad21c34d6ff0f3:0x59502f201439b4e2!8m2!3d-8.7128333!4d122.3551839!16s%2Fg%2F11p_0cvsjg?entry=ttu}}</ref> 
Hale (Mapitara district),
Hebingare,<ref name="krowe">{{cite web|title=Ikat from Krowe, Indonesia|website=ikat.us|publisher=Pusaka Collection, Online Museum of Indonesian ikat textiles|url=https://ikat.us/ikat_flores%20group_krowe.php|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref> and
Doka (Bola district<ref name="dokamap"/>).<ref name="yellow"/>
Krowe is another name for this area, although neither names are quite accurate.<ref name="krowe"/>
}} region, a more durable deep mustard yellow is produced from turmeric, [[Mangifera indica|mango]] bark, ''[[Morinda citrifolia]]'' (''mengkudu'') tree [[Bark (botany)|bark]] (not root), [[jackfruit]] bark and powdered [[Lime (material)|lime]] (''kapur sireh''). Dyers of that region also mix turmeric with mango bark.{{efn|Textiles from [[Palu'e|Palu’é island]] have narrow yellow-orange warp stripes dyed with a mixture of [[turmeric]], [[Betel|betel pepper]], [[areca nut]] and [[Lime (material)|lime]].<ref name="yellow"/>}}<ref name="yellow"/> Another yellow was obtained from a combination of mango bark and morinda, without the addition of oil or loba.{{efn|The combination of mango bark and morinda, without oil or loba, was used in Flores and in Solor.<ref name="yellow"/>}}<ref name="yellow"/> <br>
At Ile Mandiri (East Flores regency) and Loba Tobi{{efn|name=lewotobi|
Loba Tobi or Lewotobi are common names for the district of Ilé Bura; ''tobi'' is the local Lamaholot name for the tamarind tree.<ref name="lewo">{{cite web|title=Lewotobi textiles|website=asiantextilestudies.com|url=http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/lewotobi.html|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref>
}} 
a beautiful yellow dye was obtained by boiling the wood chips of the 'yellowwood' tree, known locally as ''kajo kuma''.<ref name="yellow"/> <br>
[[Manggarai people|Manggarai]] used to export ''Arcangelisia flava'' (''kayu kuning''<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Setyowati|first1=Rini|last2=Sudarsono|last3=Setyowati|first3=E. P|date=2014|title=The effect of water-soluble stem extract "Kayu Kuning" (''Arcangelisia flava'' L. Merr) on the growth inhibition of ''Candida albicans'' ATCC 10231 and ''Trichophyton mentagrophytes'' in vitro|journal=Biology, Medicine, & Natural Product Chemistry|volume=3|issue=1|pages=15–19|doi=10.14421/biomedich.2014.31.15-19|issn=2089-6514|url=https://www.sciencebiology.org/index.php/BIOMEDICH/article/download/13/2|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref>) to Java for the yellows in batik.<ref name="yellow"/>
Another export (from Flores and [[Adonara]]) in the same domain was a hardwood tree called ''kajo kuma'', literally 'yellow wood', which gives a yellow dye.<ref name="yellow"/> In the 1980s it was still brought to Lembata for that purpose.{{efn|The dye from ''kajo kuma'' was obtained by soaking fine wood chips in cold water without the addition of lime. Several immersions were required to produce the right shade. It is not clear whether this ''kajo kuma'' was ''laban'' or some other dyewood.<ref name="yellow"/>}}<ref name="barnes31"/> <br>
''[[Vitex pinnata|laban]]'' as a dye is hardly used any longer in the Lesser Sunda Islands.<ref name="yellow"/>

; Green colour

In some regions of Flores such as East Flores and Ende, green is hardly found in any textile.<ref name="green"/> Green warp stripes are most likely to be found in textiles produced in the area of Sikka Natar, and from [[Lamalera language|Lamalera]] on [[Lembata|Lembata island]].<ref name="green"/> <br>
It is produced almost exclusively by applying alternatively blue and yellow dyes, but in [[Lamalera language|Lamalera]] region it is obtained by crushing leaves and using the green juice thus produced{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=15}} – notably from ''[[Annona squamosa]]'' (''dolima'').<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Robert Harrison|year=1996|title=Sea Hunters of Indonesia: Fishers and Weavers of Lamalera|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|pages=368|isbn=978-0-19-828070-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4TR6q_hPM18C&dq=tree+%22gemoli%22+-bolgheri+-guado&pg=PA368}}</ref> <br>
At Nita Kloang in the region of Krowé{{efn|name="krowe"}} (Sikka regency) a green dye is made from the edible leaves of the Indian Coral tree (''dadap''), which may include such species as ''Erythrina variegata'', ''[[Erythrina subumbrans|E. subumbrans]]'', ''E. indica'' and ''[[Erythrina fusca|E. fuspa]]''). The tree is used as a shade plant for cocoa and coffee plants. For the dye, the leaves are crushed with turmeric root and powdered [[Lime (material)|lime]].<ref name="green"/>

; Synthetic dyes

The earliest [[Aniline#Uses|aniline dyes]] may have reached Indonesia in the 1880s, and brought to Flores by the Dutch steamers that serviced [[Ende (town)|Ende]] and [[Larantuka]].<ref name="green"/> Up to the 1920s, they were likely only blue, red and magenta rather than green.{{efn|In 1923, almost two-thirds of the 672 tons of aniline dyes imported into the Netherlands East Indies consisted of synthetic indigo. The remaining synthetic dyes would have been mostly purple, red, orange and yellow. Even today the number of homogeneous green dyes and pigments remains significantly less than that of any other major colour.<ref name="green"/>}}<ref name="green"/> <br>
It is impossible to say how quickly synthetic greens were incorporated into Lesser Sunda Island weavings. Any green that was included in early weavings from around the turn of the century is likely to have faded to blue or brown by now (Brackman 2009, 61). Certainly by the 1950s and 1960s more modern lightfast synthetic greens were being used in the stripes in Sikkanese sarongs. They continue to be used in this way today without undermining the regions traditional textile culture.<ref name="green"/>
As of 2016, most areas of Flores still retain a degree of their former textile culture{{efn|Other areas that have retained a degree of their former textile culture are [[Lembata]], [[Savu]] and [[East Sumba Regency|East Sumba]].<ref name="green"/>}} and still use synthetic green only sparingly, compared to other places that are losing or have lost their textile culture, such as Manggarai and Ngada.{{efn|Other regions that are in the process of losing or have already lost their textile culture are [[Bali]], [[Sumbawa]], [[Solor]], [[Adonara]], [[Alor Island|Alor]], [[Rote Island|Roti]] and [[West Sumba Regency|West Sumba]].<ref name="green"/>}}<ref name="green"/> In Sikka, it seems that chemical green has been frequently used since at least the 1960s and probably earlier.<ref name="green">{{cite web|title=Green dyes|website=asiantextilestudies.com|date=2016|url=http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/green.html#i|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref>