Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist
Yoruba: Machine-Stitched Resist Indigo-Dyed Cloth
Yoruba and Baulé Warp Ikat
Introduction[1]
The Ashanti were the dominate peoples of West Africa's Gold Coast. Controlling the only source of gold available to pre-Columbian Christendom, they prospered through their trade with the Portuguese, Dutch, British and other European traders. They believe they acquired the knowledge of the stripweaving technique from Kong weavers from the present-day Ivory Coast. The Ashanti weave their famous kente cloths in cotton or silk. However, since the 1920s, the majority of kente cloths have been woven in rayon.
String heddles from an Ashanti loom with calabash gourd foot grips.
Note: The term kente is not used by the Ashanti themselves, but may have derived from the Fante word lenten meaning 'basket'. It refers to the chequerboard appearance of the cloths.
An Ashanti weaver at Bonwire in Ghana using a double-heddle loom to weave narrow strips that are then sewn together to make kente cloth.
Although cotton is grown locally, there are no silk moths indigenous to Ghana. Silk yarn was obtained in two ways. Either Italian waste silk was brought down by camel caravan across the Sahara or silk cloth was bought from European traders on the coast and then unravelled for its yarn.
Chief from the old Gold Coast (modern Ghana) in ceremonial dress with the gold insignia of office.
Stripweaves(West Africa) - Part III[1]
Blue, green, yellow, red and magenta are typical colors used for the main body of the voluminous toga-like wraps worn by men, with contrasting colors for the weft-faced and floating supplementary-weft details. Usually kente are woven in silk or rayon, but simple mourning cloths were made in white and indigo-blue dyed cotton. Women wear a pair of smaller cloths with a pattern that resembles the one worn by men.
Mmban n'toma: man's cotton cloth, woven on a narrow loom near Kumasi (Ghana).
The Ashanti only use geometric non-figurative motifs in their weaving. Each motif has a proverb associated with it and the cloth as a whole is given a name such as 'Liar's Cloth' or 'Waterboatman'.
Liar's cloth, in which blue warp threads are taken down the length of the strip in a stepped fashion.
Ashanti weavers sit in a carpenter-made frame loom with foot treadles (discs of a calabash or, nowadays, a rubber sandal clasp between their toes) operating two pairs of heddles, sometimes with an extra pair of heddles if any complex supplementary work is required.
One set of main heddles is rigged up so that the warp threads can be normally spaced, for the warp-faced sections of the strip. The other set gathers the warps into two groups of six, with the use of thicker weft threads, means that the weft predominates and a weft-faced block is woven.
Woman's silk kente cloth (Ashanti, Ghana).
The warp, often 61 metres long (200 feet), lies out in front of the weaver with the end tied to a stone mounted on a wooden sledge. In this way the warp is made taut. As the weaving of the strip proceeds, the weaver winds the completed part of the strip around the breast beam.
Women's rayon kente cloth with fine silk details woven at Bonwire village (Ghana).
Kente cloths are made up of 16 - 24 strips, cut to size, then sewn, selvedge to selvedge. Both weaving and sewing are traditionally carried out by men. Cloths for women are smaller and worn in pairs wrapped tightly around the body. Those for men are much bigger and are draped, toga-like, around the body.
Man's kente cloth woven out of cotton with silk details. The cloth is named akyempim (One Thousand Shields), indicating that the wearer is fearless.
Man's kente cloth woven out of rayon on a narrow loom at Bonwire Village (Ghana). Long strips are woven by men and then cut to size and sewn selvedge to selvedge.
Reference
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist
Yoruba: Machine-Stitched Resist Indigo-Dyed Cloth
Yoruba and Baulé Warp Ikat
Introduction[1]
The Ashanti were the dominate peoples of West Africa's Gold Coast. Controlling the only source of gold available to pre-Columbian Christendom, they prospered through their trade with the Portuguese, Dutch, British and other European traders. They believe they acquired the knowledge of the stripweaving technique from Kong weavers from the present-day Ivory Coast. The Ashanti weave their famous kente cloths in cotton or silk. However, since the 1920s, the majority of kente cloths have been woven in rayon.
Note: The term kente is not used by the Ashanti themselves, but may have derived from the Fante word lenten meaning 'basket'. It refers to the chequerboard appearance of the cloths.
Although cotton is grown locally, there are no silk moths indigenous to Ghana. Silk yarn was obtained in two ways. Either Italian waste silk was brought down by camel caravan across the Sahara or silk cloth was bought from European traders on the coast and then unravelled for its yarn.
Stripweaves(West Africa) - Part III[1]
Blue, green, yellow, red and magenta are typical colors used for the main body of the voluminous toga-like wraps worn by men, with contrasting colors for the weft-faced and floating supplementary-weft details. Usually kente are woven in silk or rayon, but simple mourning cloths were made in white and indigo-blue dyed cotton. Women wear a pair of smaller cloths with a pattern that resembles the one worn by men.
The Ashanti only use geometric non-figurative motifs in their weaving. Each motif has a proverb associated with it and the cloth as a whole is given a name such as 'Liar's Cloth' or 'Waterboatman'.
Ashanti weavers sit in a carpenter-made frame loom with foot treadles (discs of a calabash or, nowadays, a rubber sandal clasp between their toes) operating two pairs of heddles, sometimes with an extra pair of heddles if any complex supplementary work is required.
One set of main heddles is rigged up so that the warp threads can be normally spaced, for the warp-faced sections of the strip. The other set gathers the warps into two groups of six, with the use of thicker weft threads, means that the weft predominates and a weft-faced block is woven.
The warp, often 61 metres long (200 feet), lies out in front of the weaver with the end tied to a stone mounted on a wooden sledge. In this way the warp is made taut. As the weaving of the strip proceeds, the weaver winds the completed part of the strip around the breast beam.
Kente cloths are made up of 16 - 24 strips, cut to size, then sewn, selvedge to selvedge. Both weaving and sewing are traditionally carried out by men. Cloths for women are smaller and worn in pairs wrapped tightly around the body. Those for men are much bigger and are draped, toga-like, around the body.
Reference
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).
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