|
|
How Our Products Are Made -
Environmentally Friendly Natural Raw Materials
Abaca - Bamboo - Bariw - Buri - Nito Forest Vine - Piña – Raffia
Abaca
Abaca fibre is extracted from the stalk of the abaca plant, a variety of the banana plant, the musa textiles, which is known worldwide as Manila hemp. The abaca plant takes about 18 months to 2 years to mature and become ready for fibre processing. Subsequent harvests are done at 3-4 months interval as longer than this would yield fibre of inferior quality. The processing of abaca fibre is presently done by hand, by extracting the fibres from the trunk of the plant.
The trunk of the mature abaca plant is cut from the base above the root to the top just below the leaves and then peeled of its outer skin and then it is placed in to a hand extraction machine that is made up of a wooden plank and serrated knives. The clamped trunk is hand pulled through this contraption to remove the fleshy resinous material from the fibres. The fibres are then sun dried to whiten the fibres and once dried they are grouped according to thickness as only the fine and the very fine fibres are used in weaving the abaca cloth.
Different grades of abaca,
pina and raffia fibres Warping Frame
  
Selected fibres are hand knotted individually to form
a long continuous strand ready for the weaving loom.
The selected fibres are hand knotted individually to form one long continuous strand and the fibres are then warped and mounted into the loom. The weft is prepared by winding the abaca fibres onto a bamboo bobbin, which are then ready for hand weaving. A black cloth is placed beneath the loom to help the weaver to see the fibres.
The most commonly used devices in abaca fibre extraction are the hand-hagotan and the spindle-stripping machine. The hand-hagotan consists of a knife, a rest or base and a weight to keep the movable part firmly in position during stripping. The tuxies or leafsheath splits are inserted between the blade and the block, with the basal and towards the stripper at a point about a foot from the base. The foot pedal is then released clamping the tuxy firmly in between. The tuxy is then pulled away from the knife with full force with both hands clasping the tuxy which is wound around a pulling aid. Spindle stripping is a mechanised hand-hagotan with an estimated output that is ten times faster than hand stripping (120 to 190 kg per day). Fibre recovery, ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 per cent. Proper drying techniques contribute to the quality of the fibre, its cleanliness and helps prolong shelf life. After drying the fibres are classified and knotted.
 
Knotted abaca fibres are hand woven on an upright wooden loom.
Prior to weaving the abaca fibres are warped using a warping machine. When the warping process is finished the warp is mounted into the loom and is inserted into a string harness and in the weaving reed. The weft is prepared by winding the abaca fibre on the bamboo bobbin. During the winding process, sand is placed over the bunch of knotted fibres to act as a counter weight with a black cloth beneath the loom to be able to visibly check the fine strand of the fibre clearly. The bobbin is then placed on the wooden shuttle and the weaving process starts. Silk or pina fibre can also be combined with the abaca fibre.
The finished product is abaca cloth, which can be used in the manufacturing for placemats and table linens, cushions, scarves, bags and picture frames among others and to make it more elegant, embroidery can be added.
CARE LABEL
Since Abaca cloth is very fine, it should be hand-washed using mild soap and drip-dried and should not be rubbed or twisted. Dry cleaning is another convenient way of maintaining it. It is not advisable but, if machine-washed, only on a gentle cycle for a short time.
The Bamboo
Introduction. Plant is how the bamboo has been described and this characteristic is apparently the basis for the numerous uses to which it has been put and how its role in projecting rural scenes in local landscape has been romanticised. The bamboo is truly prized for its versatility and beauty.
Bamboo grows in areas at sea level and up to 3,200 meters above depending on the species. Universally, bamboo can be found naturally in all continents except Europe and North America. They are naturally distributed in the tropical, sub-tropical and mild temperate zones, occurring more in the tropical belt, and grow within 40 degrees on either side of the equator particularly in the area of the Tropic of Cancer on the northern side and in the Tropic of Capricorn on the southern side.
The Philippines has approximately 62 species of erect bamboo and 19 climbing species but very few species however, have proved commercially important.
The climbing bamboo has a stem that elongates like vine. It is strictly sylvan or found only in forested and over-logged areas.
Uses of bamboo, once looked upon as a lowly plant and called a poor man’s timber because of its widespread use in rural constructions, has gained greater importance through the years.
The bamboo culm is also a popular material for craft items and furniture especially now that the supply of wood and rattan is becoming uncertain making these materials more expensive and their end products becoming inaccessible to the majority of local consumers. The Philippines exports bamboo furniture to the United States, some European countries and other Asian countries.
GROWTH AND MATURITY
Height and diameter
Depending on the species, bamboo grows very fast to a height of up to over 30 meters and diameter of up to 20 centimetres, sometimes elongating by as much as 60cm in one day.
 
Maturity
Studies on the culm growth kauayan tinik, a commercial bamboo species, show that it attains its full height in approximately five months.
After attaining full growth, bamboo hardens and matures in 2 to 5 years and is best harvested when 3 years old for maximum utilisation in furniture and construction.
Bariw
Pandanus copelandii (Botanical description)
Pandanus copelandii reaches a height of 3 to 9 meters and the leaves to about 2 to 3 meters long by 5 to 8 centimetres wide with spines along the margins, which are coarse and near the tip. The fruit forms a cylindrical head 7 to 12 centimetres long and 5 to 7 centimetres across. Three to five heads grow on the fruit stalk, which are pale yellow but they soon turn red. It is claimed that bariw fibres are tougher than those from oyango.
Geographic distribution
This species is widely distributed at low and medium altitudes from Northern Luzon to Southern Luzon in the North of The Philippines.
Industrial uses
Bariw leaves are used for making coarse mats and baskets.
Buri
Scientific name – Corypha Elata Roxb
Raffia fibre is gleaned from the leaves of the buri tree, a kind of palm (Talipot palm), which produces three kinds of fibres, the buri, raffia and buntal.
The buri palm is found all over The Philippines and grows both in low and up land and when allowed to grow to its full height, it can reach 40 meters tall. Propagation is by seed and the palm can live to about 30 years and it is only when it is about to die that it flowers and produces seeds.
To be able to germinate, the hard outer covering must be removed. In the wild this is achieved either through rotting or passing through the alimentary canal of some animal. Few people deliberately plant the buri palm and any products harvested from the buri depend on wild plants.
The palm has many uses and depending on which part of the plant and the age, at which it is gathered, yields midrib for furniture, whole leaf for baskets and mats, vascular bundles for bags and epidermis for dolls and woven material.
Fully mature leaves yield midribs for furniture and buntal fibre for hats by scraping the leaf from the midrib and after the midrib is cleaned and dried it is tied to a frame to make furniture like peacock and barrel chairs. The petiole of the fully mature leaf contains strong vascular bundles, which are extracted by removing the skin of the petiole to expose the bundles, which are boiled and then soaked in water to make them white and this is commercially called buntal fibre.
%20resized.JPG) Tissue box made from buri
The unopened leaf can be treated and worked in two ways. Firstly, the whole leaf can be separated from the midrib and after treatment, cut into strips called buri, which can be hand woven into bags, hats and placemats. Secondly, after the leaf is separated from the midrib, the lower and upper epidermis is separated from each other. The lower epidermis, called ‘yapnis’ in Aklan, is soft and relatively easy to dye, while the upper epidermis, called ‘kis-kis’, is thick and stiff and does not absorb dye as readily as the yapnis. ‘Yapnis’ and ‘kis-kis’ together are called raffia.
When used whole, raffia is called raffia fibre in the local market and when the fibre is combed into very fine strips and woven, it is called raffia roll.
Splitting the leaf to expose the fibres
Combing the fibres into fine strips
Producing raffia roll involves many steps, which after combining the fibre called ‘kusi’, is knotted end to end and takes one person 2 weeks to knot enough kusi to make a roll 10 yards long and 27 inches wide. After the knotting, the fibre is warped, which takes about 2 to 3 hours and then it is placed into the loom. Loom dressing can then take as much as one or two days and an expert weaver can finish a natural roll, 360” x 27” in about two and half days.
Raffia roll can made into place mats and table runners, lampshades and hats and bags and can also be used to cover boxes, picture frames, mirrors and desk sets.
Handmade Paper of Abaca and Salago Fibres
The handmade paper is manufactured from indigenous materials using friendly methods and materials, utilising 100% non-woodpulp materials in the product line from the start and dyed using biodegradable components, used for gift items and decorative accents.
The bulk of raw materials used are vegetable fibres from bushes or herbs supplemented by agricultural by-products like rice straw and banana plant stalks to provide variety in texture and accent.
 
The two main fibres used in our paper line-up are abaca and salago. The salago (Wikstroemia spp.) is gleaned from the salago bush, a sturdy shrub that that can withstand droughts or floods and is abundant throughout the Philippines. All four species are used for our papers. It provides excellent durability and is used routinely in the manufacture of currency and security paper, stencils, fishing lines and nets and even Japanese sliding doors (shoji) and kimonos. The bark, from which the paper is made, is extracted by either hand-stripping it from the stem or steaming it, to separate it from the pith.
Abaca fibre is gleaned from the herb called abaca (musa textilis) or manila hemp and has proven its strength and durability through time as the traditional material used in heavy duty ropes and sacks. It is also woven into both coarse and fine fabrics for use in handicraft as well as for Filipino traditional formal apparel.
Sinamay
Sinamay is abaca fibre woven into a delicate translucent fibre and hand-embroidered for use as decorative accents and in formal gowns and the local formal men’s apparel in The Philippines called barong tagalog.
Nito Forest Vine
Family name: Schizaeaceae
Genus: Lygodium
Four species of nito grow in The Philippines and all are known for their vine stems, which are used for basket and hat production and the most common and widely known and used among these species is Lygodium circinatum.
Description
Nito is a climbing, slender fern belonging to the Schizaeaceae family and it is actually the leaf that climbs.
Location
This climbing fern is very common in The Philippines at low and medium altitudes and grows over shrubs and high into trees and prefers shady places not directly exposed to the sun, such as forests and is most often found close to springs and streams.
Harvest
Nito is easy to grow from shoots of neighbouring vines and is harvested from the age of six months onwards by pulling out the root re-growth will be thinner, if the vine is cut and the colour at this age is green, which darkens to brown and eventually black, as the vine gets older.
 
Harvested Nito Forest Vine
Usage
Nito was traditionally used for baskets to collect vegetables and fruits and also as decoration on bamboo and buri baskets.
Today nito basket ware is highly valued for its fine spliced weaving and natural colour variations and weavers apply their traditional skills and materials to contemporary designs for tableware and home accessories.
Piña
Ananas comosus (Linn) Merr
Bromeliaceae
Pineapple
Pina fibre is extracted from the leaves of a pineapple plant known scientifically as Ananas Comosus Merr and the native or ‘Red Spanish’ variety particularly, have leaves that yield excellent fibres for hand weaving, which are harvested 24 months after planting.
The leaves of some varieties of pina reach two meters in length and plants developed for fibre production have only small sour fruits which are cut from the plants before ripening.
Pina plant of the Red Spanish variety…
characterised by small fruit with long leaves
Pineapple fibres are off-white and soft and fine and as human hair. The extraction of the fibres is a lengthy process and requires an experienced hand. Traditional methods involve scraping the resinous part of the leaf from the fibres with pottery shards and tools made of coconut hull.
Pina fibre is hand extracted from the leaves of mature pina plant.
After scraping off the top flesh of the leaf the fibres are
slowly pulled out to separate them from the rest of the leaf.
The fibres are extracted from the leaves by scraping off the green resinous material, and washed in running water to remove plant juices and other resinous materials, which may affect its colour and strength. The fibres are then fully sun-dried and knotted. During the knotting process, each fibre is extracted singly from the bunch and painstakingly knotted end to end to form a long continuous strand.
Selected pina fibres are individually separated and tied to a stick…
and then painstakingly knotted end to end.
Prior to weaving, the pina fibres are warped using a warping machine and then mounted onto the loom the warp and inserted into the string harness and in the weaving reed. The weft is prepared by winding the pina fibre on the bamboo bobbin. During the winding process, sand is placed over the bunch of knotted fibres to act as a counter weight with a black cloth beneath the loom to be able to visibly check the fine strand of the fibre clearly. The bobbin is then placed on the wooden shuttle and the weaving process starts. Silk or abaca fibre can also be combined with the pina fibre.
 
Knotted pina fibres are hand woven on an upright wooden loom.
The knotted pina fibres are hand woven on an upright wooden loom and the finished product is pina cloth, which can be used as material for clothes, table linens, scarves and hankies among others and to make it more elegant, embroidery can be added.
It is a strong fabric when woven, and can last a hundred years and it is considered as the cloth of love because it requires tender patience and utmost care to weave the cloth.
Pina material in finer detail – the finishing touches
Natural pina scarf
CARE LABEL
Since the material is very fine, it must be hand-washed using mild soap and drip-dried and should not be rubbed or twisted. Dry cleaning is another convenient way of maintaining it.
Fragile as it is, pina cloth can last more than a hundred years.
Raffia
Raffia fibre is gleaned from the leaves of the buri palm (corypha elata).
Raffia is stripped from the young shoot or leaf (buntal) of the palm and is commercially traded in bleached or unbleached form and is usually woven for conversion into various handicraft products.
First in fibre extraction is the removal of the midrib from the young leaf (buntal). Using a comb, the leaves are stripped into fibres and washed in running water and sun-dried.
The raffia fibres are exposed after splitting the layers of the leaf…
and the epidermis is combed to extract the fibres.
Prior to weaving, the raffia fibres are warped using a warping machine and then mounted onto the loom the warp and inserted into the string harness and in the weaving reed. The weft is prepared by winding the raffia fibre on the bamboo bobbin. During the winding process, sand is placed over the bunch of knotted fibres to act as a counter weight with a black cloth beneath the loom to be able to visibly check the fine strand of the fibre clearly. The bobbin is then placed on the wooden shuttle and the weaving process starts.
Coloured raffia Pictures frames from raffia roll
The finished product is raffia cloth, which can be used as material for clothes, table linens, place mats, cushions, bags and picture frames among others.
The raffia fibres are exposed after splitting the layers of the leaf…
and the epidermis is combed to extract the fibres. Coloured raffia
|
|
 |
Shopping Cart |
|
|
|
Trees4Good |
|
|
|
Random Product |
|
|
|
Be Fair Buy Fair |
|
|
|
Currencies |
|
|
|
.JPG)
.jpg)
[ekm]27x80[ekm].jpg)
.jpg)
