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Description

Large, finely-woven, tan mat. There are fringe grass borders along two of the mat’s sides. The fringe along one side is accompanied by short, thick, vertical slits towards the middle of the mat. Above this is a decorative border of white stitching. Red strings attach small bundles of dried grass to the mat along this white stitching at regular intervals. Three groupings of red tipped feathers are sewn to the mat towards the middle. One group forms a circle, with their grey-brown insides at the centre and their red tips pointing outwards. There are two stamps in a corner: one is faint and circular, the other is dark and rectangular.

Specific Techniques

Pandanus is known as either laufala, laupaogo, or lau'ie, depending on what it’s being used for. When being used for weaving, pandanus leaves takes weeks to be prepared. The leaf is separated into its three layers (traditionally using a beetle wing, known as avi'ivi'I, or with a razor blade now). The leaves are rolled and beaten, soaked, and sun-dried multiples times. To make the leaf brighter, it’s bleached in salt water. When woven, these mats will be finished in the opposite corner of where the weaver started (-for example, the terminal braid in the bottom left corner means it was started in the top right corner). If no terminal braid was attached, the mat wasn’t finished. The feathers are parrot: from the neck of a blue-crowned lorikeet (segavao, segasamoa) or a collared iory (segafiti, sega'ula).