Each binding is tight enough to resist the dyes into which the threads are placed. In Indonesian and Malay ikat means to knot. Two sets of knots are used to produce the three-color design. All knots resist the initial indigo dye and only unknotted areas become blue. Opening the second set of knots reveals sections of thread that have received neither dye and will be white in the woven textile.
Indigo blue is an aqueous solution of the young leaves of the leguminous indigofera tinctoria plant.
The bark of the roots of the morinda citrifolia tree are used to form a red dye which is also aqueous. Further refinements of shade and hue are due to successive immersions in the dye baths and the inclusion in the dyes of other plant materials to recipes often held secret by a dyer. Time consuming though the tying and dyeing processes are, it is the slow curing of the dyes that takes the most time. Dye lots are stored for many years while waiting for these colors to mature. The weaving itself is done on a continuous-warp backstrap loom.