Meetiyagoda moonstone drops
Blue-sheen moonstone from the one pit in Meetiyagoda that still produces it.
$210
Dumbara rata kalala runner
$340
Three weeks on a pit loom in Thalagune, in a pattern held only in the weaver's head.
Materials & dimensions
- Undyed hemp warp and weft
- Natural black and rust dye
42 × 1 × 180 cm · 480 g
Care
Cold hand wash separately, or dry clean. Dry flat in shade. Iron on the reverse. The hemp will soften with use and stiffen slightly after each wash — this is the fibre behaving normally.
Shipping & duties
Free standard shipping
Express $35.10
North America · 480 g
Import duties and taxes are set by United States, not by us. They are not included above, and your carrier collects them on delivery.
The story
Dumbara rata kalala is the oldest figured weaving tradition on the island and the only one that predates the Portuguese arrival in 1505. It was court work: the Kandyan kings kept the weavers of Thalagune under direct patronage, and for a long stretch of that history the patterns could not lawfully be woven for anyone else.
The motif running down this piece is hansa puttuwa — two swans sharing a single body, their necks turned away from each other. It is counted, not drawn. There is no cartoon pinned to the loom and no graph on the wall; Karunawathi holds the count in her head and reads the last completed row to find her place after a break. She knows nine patterns this way.
The ground is undyed hemp, which starts the colour of straw and goes warmer over years rather than fading. Three weeks of work, not counting the days she does not weave in the afternoon heat because the fibre goes slack and the beat comes out uneven.
Karunawathi Menike
Thalagune, Udu Dumbara, Central Province · working since 1986
