Pha Hol in the pattern of See Lai (4 patterns)

Group of arts and crafts Type of Handicraft

Pha Hol in the pattern of See Lai (4 patterns) uses three twill woven technique and 1 hua of ‘Madmee pattern’ (A total of 21 lams that have been tied and dyed call 1 hua.) into 4 patterns in the entire fabric. It is used as ‘Pha Noong’ – lower garment for women. The pattern of See Lai (from Joei upward) consists of:

  1. Ha Pranad pattern. The original Mudmee pattern is woven into 5 shuttles without any supplement patterns.
  2. Kotchakit pattern It is a traditional pattern of ‘Pha Noong’ for men. According to Surin rituals, this fabric pattern is woven into a cloth to cover the Bai Sri before ordaining. When the ceremony is over, the monk’s mother can further possess this cloth to wear. The original Mudmee pattern is woven without any supplement patterns.
  3. Pha Hol Sottri (Hol Saraei) Its pattern is exactly following that of the original Pha Hol.
    It is woven in a herringbone pattern inserted between the pattern of Hol Phu Chai –wrapping cloth for men (Hol Proh), which is a dissolved pattern weaving to create a new pattern of ‘Pha Noong’ for women.
  4. Tang pattern (stripe pattern) 21 lams of Mudmee pattern is woven in order to make a stripe pattern.
    At the end of the fabric, ‘Joei’ (Fabric patterns woven before weaving the actual piece) is started to weave into Mudmee pattern, which is the unique Surin weaving style.
Types :
Textile
Culture :
Thai-Khmer culture
Dimension :
1 meter wide, 2 meters long.
Source :
กลุ่มมัดหมี่โฮลโบราณย้อมสีธรรมชาติ ตำบลเขวาสินรินทร์ อำเภอเขวาสินรินทร์ จังหวัดสุรินทร์
Medium :
1. Mai noi (Tiny silk yarn) 2. Natural dyeing color - Black color from rambutan peel and mud - Red color from stick lac - Yellow color from Garcinia (gamboge) bark and Cockspur thorn tree - Blue color from Indigo 3. Natural mordant substances for ty-dyeing process - Lodh tree leaves, butterfly tree leaves, tamarind tree leaves as mordants for red pigment - Alum as mordant for yellow pigment - tamarind and alkaline water for indigo blue pigment 4. Rice flour 5. Arrowroot flour 6.Vegetable oil 7. Plastic rope
Date :
2566
Information

Technique : Mudmee fabric weaving using the natural dye colors
Making process (in detail) :

  1. Patten design
    Kru Surachote recreated the new weaving technique of Pha Hol Sottri by applying 1 pattern (1 hua) of the original pattern from the Hol Khmer fabric pattern into the new fabric workpiece which harmoniously combines 4 patterns within. Each pattern possesses an individual weaving technique out of a single 1 hua (21 lams of tie-dyed silk yarns). The weaving process starts from writing the pattern, derived from the original Hol Sottri pattern, on the graph paper to be used as a model for the Mudmee process.
  2. Warp silk yarn dyeing
    “Hol” in Khmer-Surin language specifically refers to Pha noong (lower garment) created from the tie-dyed weft silk yarns but the mono-color warp silk yarns. For Pha Hol, the warp silk yarns are dyed in a single black color from rambutan peels and mud. The warp silk yarn dyeing process is as follow:
  • Mince approximately 8 kilograms of rambutan peels (per 1 kilogram of silk yarn). Then boil with water for 2 hours, in the ratio of fresh rambutan peels: 1 / water: 2, to extract the dyeing color until it turns dark brown.
  • Dye the bleached and cleaned Mai Noi (tiny silk yarns) in hot water with the extracted color from rambutan for about 2 hours.
  • Rinse the dyed Mai Noi and desiccate.
  • Dye Mai Noi with mud for 7-8 hours until the yarns turn black. Rinse all the silk yarns from mud and twitch on the rail for further sun-dry process.
  • Boil rice flour and arrowroot flour with little vegetable oil to make the yarns smooth and glossy. Stir well then leave to cool it down. Cover the completely sun-dried Mai Noi with the mixed solutions, twist until it is damp, twitch on the rail until it is completely dry.
  • Spin the finished dyed Mai noi into the tube for warp weaving. The warp weaving of Pha Hol requires 1 Kilogram of Mai Noi to gets the finished 1 meter wide and 14-meter long Pha Hol fabric.
  1. Weft silk yarn preparing
    Pha Hol fabric is woven by using various colors of the weft threads in each line. “Mudmee” technique is used to create patterns on the fabric. The different colored wefts are made by tie-dyeing each group of silk (so called ‘lam’) according to the drawn graph. The silk yarn preparing of Pha Hol in the pattern of See Lai (4 patterns) weaving precisely follows the original Hol Sottri process per these following steps:
    1.) Khon Mee : Divide the bleached silk yarns into groups for tie-dyeing process, called “Khon Mee”. it is to circle the silk yarns around Lak Khon Mee (a stick) to the left and right to the specified number of silk yarns. Then tie the silk yarns into 1 lam (81 silk yarns) and further tie the next lam until it reaches the desired numbers. The original Pha Hol pattern requires 21 lams (1 hua) of weft yarns whereas each lam of weft yarns is woven separately from one another.
    2.) Mudmee : Tie the silk yarns according to the designed pattern in the graph paper by using the non-absorbing to color materials such as banana rope or plastic rope to cover the dye color from the tied yarn area. Where the natural silk yarn color is needed, the area is covered and the further resist-dyeing follows the same process for red, yellow, green, blue or black.
  2. Weft silk yarn dyeing
    The natural dyeing colors are used for each lam of weft silk yarn dyeing, resulting in the beautiful patterns on the woven fabric. 3 rounds of dyeing are required for Hol cloth making, which create 5 main colors:  red, yellow, green, blue and black per these following processes:
    1) Red pigment dyeing (Stick lac) : The first weft silk yarn dyeing to dye the silk yarns in red.
  • Soak silk yarns in alum water for 1 night. In the meantime, prepare lac water.
  • Prepare lac water; a dark red color requires 6 - 7 kilograms of lac per 1 hua (105 lams) of Sompak Poom Mudmee yarns. A lighter red color requires less Lac weight accordingly.
  • How to extract lac water: Wash 7 kilograms of stick lac in clean water and leave to drain. Gradually ground the lac with a mortar and pour the grounded lac in a jar. Boil some lac water with 20 liters of water, add Lodh tree leaves, butterfly tree leaves, tamarind tree leaves (as mordants for red pigment). Boil well until the leaves turns pale to get the dark red pigment dyeing color.
  • Soak the Mudmee yarns in alum water and leave to dry. Pour finished lac dyeing in a container and soak the dried yarns into the container. Massage the yarns with pestle until they are completely dyed red.
  • Boil Mudmee yarns in the dyeing lac water pot until the water is less condensed then aerate the yarns. 3 times more of the dyeing process above is required for more pigment of red.
  • Rinse Mudmee yarns with water and soak in alum water. Then rinse well many times to get the desired red pigment. Twist and dry on the rail. The silk yarn in the first dyeing process is red while the tied area is natural silk yarn color
    2) Yellow pigment dyeing (Garcinia bark and Cockspur thorn tree): This is the second weft silk yarn dyeing process. First of all, “Obb Mee” (Lom in Khmer language) is done to wrap the weft area designed to be revealed or concealed with plastic rope. For yellow pigment dyeing, the area of natural white silk yarns is untied; indigo blue pigment, concealed; whereas red pigment, wrapped. After Obb Mee process, the yellow pigment dyeing continues per these processes:
  • Chop 10 kilograms of Garcinia bark into pieces. Then gradually boil with water until it turns white as milk. Pour in a container and re-boil until it is dissolved into desired amount of liquid.
  • Chop 5 kilograms of Cockspur thorn tree. Then gradually boil with water until it turns dark yellow. Pour in a container.
  • Boil 20 liters of Garcinia bark water with 2 tablespoons of alum. Then soak Mudmee silk yarns and boil until the water is less condensed. Rinse well and sun-dry. Next, redo the dyeing process by boiling the first dyed silk yarns into 10 liters of Garcinia bark water, 5 liters of Cockspur thorn tree water and 2 tablespoons of alum. Then rinse until the silk yarns are dyed at the desired pigment.
    3) Blue pigment dyeing (Indigo) : This is the last weft silk yarn dyeing process. First of all, remove all plastic rope which obviously reveals the patterns on the dyed yarns. “Obb Mee” process continues for the last time to wrap the weft area designed to be revealed or concealed with plastic rope. For indigo blue pigment dyeing, the area of natural white silk yarns is untied; green pigment, yellow area is untied; black pigment, red area is untied; yellow pigment, yellow area is concealed; red pigment, red area is concealed; whereas white pigment, white area is concealed. Then blue pigment dyeing continues per following processes:
    - “Kor More Khram” technique, the ancient method of dyeing process centennially inherited from the ancestors, is started to prepare indigo blue pigment dyeing. 2 kilograms of indigo element and 2 liters of alkaline water are mixed in the clay container. “Jok Khram” process is regularly done 2 times a day in the morning and evening, that is to scoop up the dyeing liquid to a height of approximately 1 foot and pour back into the container for 4-5 times. Observe the color, smell and bubbles. If it bubbles quickly, add a little alkaline solution. If the bubble is dim and durable, the proportion is just right. On day 3, boil 100 grams of tamarind and 1 liter of water set aside to cool it down. Then mix into the dyeing container to help accelerate the pigment creation. Apply “Jok Khram” process daily and observe the solution until it turns to be blue-green color, light fragrance and blue bubbles. Later, the solution becomes green-yellow or green as banana leaf, condense, dark blue glossy and durable bubbles. It takes approximately 7 days for the indigo blue dyeing solution to perfectly set. Each container of indigo blue dyeing solution can dye only for 2 times, in the morning and evening. Therefore, many containers are prepared to enable several times of dyeing daily. While each container can be used for 2-3 service years.
    - Created by Kru Surachote, the special dyeing technique is applied by leaving the dyeing container in the morning sunlight and manage the dyeing process in the late morning to enhance dyeing adhesion capacity.
    - After the second dyeing process, soak the finished silk yarns in the dyeing container and massage until indigo blue is dyed over the yarns thoroughly.
    - Sun-dry the yarns on the ground covered with coconut leaves. When exposed to the air, Indigo pigment will darken in 2-3 minutes. Repeat the dyeing process several times until the desired pigment is attained.
    - Rinse well the dyed silk yarns. Remove all the ropes and soak the yarns in the alum solution. Rinse again several times until the desired indigo pigment is attained. Twist and dry on the rail.
  1. Containing silk yarns into the shuttles
    After 3 times of weft yarn dyeing, it results in 6 dyeing pigments: white from natural color of silk yarn, red from stick lac, yellow from Garcinia (gamboge) bark and Cockspur thorn tree, blue color from indigo, green from red and yellow pigments, black (shade of tamarind seed) from red and indigo pigments.
    The color shades of dyeing pigment from natural substances vary at each time which is deemed a charming natural characteristic. Reel 1 hua of finished dyed silk yarns into a bobbin, in total 21 bobbins. Normally, it can be woven into 1 pattern of fabric. However, Pha Hol in the pattern of See Lai consists of 4 patterns all through the entire fabric out of 1 hua of the weft yarns.
  2. Setting warp yarns into the beater (Fun wee)
    Set the black-dyed warp yarns into the beater (Fun wee) for 42 lobs (40 warp yarns for 1 lob; in total 1,680 warp yarns for 42 lobs) Three twill woven technique is used (resulting in the spiral pattern) Nip the warp yarns off and reel into a bobbin at the other end. Adjust the warps into order and put into the loom.
  3. Weaving
    Manage the warp yarns in the heddle. Have the weft yarns spout back and forth to be woven in the beater and repeat until the woven dense fabric is perfectly completed. Reel and adjust the finished woven fabric in the fabric tube.
    The weaving process of Pha Hol Sottri in the pattern of See Lai is exceptional; Kru Surachote recreates the new pattern from the original Pha Hol, or 1 hua of the silk yarns. The 4 different patterns are woven all through a fabric by skillfully having the shuttle moved back and forth.




KeywordsPha Som Pak PoomPha HolPha Hol ProhPha Hoi SaraelPha Lai YangKon MeeMudmeeTong PhaChor Taeng TongSang Wian
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กลุ่มมัดหมี่โฮลโบราณย้อมสีธรรมชาติ ตำบลเขวาสินรินทร์ อำเภอเขวาสินรินทร์ จังหวัดสุรินทร์
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