Adinkra cloth
Asante people of Ghana in West Africa make a cloth called adinkra. This
involves hand printing patterns onto cloth.
First the printer makes a grid pattern with dye on the cloth using a
comb-like tool. Then it is decorated by stamping the squares with shapes
and symbols with special meanings.
They make the stamps from the calabash shell - a type of gourd or hard
shelled fruit. They boil the bark of a tree with iron slag to make a dark
dye. The stamps are then dipped into the dye to print the symbols. The
dye dries to a glossy black finish.
Dark adinkra cloths (often black and red) are used as mourning dress
at funerals. The designs printed on the cloth have different meanings
related to sayings and spiritual beliefs.
Brightly coloured adinkra cloth is called kwasiada (Sunday) adinkra.
It is used to make clothes for special occasions and everyday wear.
You can see adinkra cloth and stamps in the Weston Discovery Centre at
World Museum Liverpool where there is also a costume for small children
to try on made from kwasiada adinkra cloth.
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