T'nalak is a sacred cloth woven by the T'boli community around Lake Sebu. the T'boli women are familiar with thousands of designs that were historically created by ladies of a royal lineage that references folklore and stories from the memories of the weaver. The T'nalak weaving process is overseen by the spiritual guardian Fu Dalu, the god of abaca, which guides the t'nalak weaving infused with taboo and rituals. T'nalak has a distinct tri-colour scheme: white, red, and black (or brown). Black or brown serves as the overall background of the cloth, while the red fabric used provide highlights or accents to the overall cloth and white (which is the most important part) is used to create different motifs like human, crab, shield, lizard, etc. The abaca tree is harvested for its fibers, which are then treated in a procedure called kedungon. The pulp is immediately cut away to reveal the filaments, which are then hand-worked into fine threads. An artist joins individual threads end to end during tembong. Beeswax and organic dyes are used in the ikat method of temogo, or dyeing. Initially, fibers are cooked for a number of weeks in a black dye. On a backstrap loom (legogong), weaving is done (mewel), and it can take up to a month of nonstop labor to weave one piece of cloth. The fabric is burnished with a heated cowrie shell during the technique' last step, called semaki. The fabric is treated with nut oil to provide gloss. reference: