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
African Tie and Dye [1]
Indigo is by far the most common dye used in West Africa. The most popular way of creating a pattern is by introducing some kind of resist by tying, sewing or by applying a paste or wax resist to one side of the fabric. Tie-dyeing is the simplest way, teasing up a small section of the cloth into a peak and then sometimes, introducing some bulking-out medium, such as a seed, grain or chip of wood and finally, tying it off.
Woman selling bread in Mali. She is wearing a dress of tie-dyed cloth.
Sketch of a cotton cloth tie-dyed in Southern Nigeria for the Igbo market.
The way the peak of cloth is tied off creates different kinds of patterns, although the basic pattern is of a white circle containing a blue dot, all set against a blue ground.
Blue African tie-dye.
In Gambia, women's cloths, sometimes handwoven, and yardage, always mill-woven, are tie-dyed in indigo vats. Most production now uses synthetic indigo mixed with gentian violet to give a fashionable purple tinge.
Gambian gentian violet.
Indigo-dyed tie and dye is found all over West Africa, most often on hand woven women's wraps of handspun cotton. The arrangement of the tied circles varies from place to place. One famous tie-dyed cloth from Mali is known as "Salamander's Eyes."
Mud Cloth African Indigo throw from Mali.
Long veils called thobes, made of thin, gauze-like cotton or imported damask, are worn by the women of Mauritania.
The current fashion is to tie-dye them! Mutli-colored and dyed with chemical dyes, they have a very Indian appearance. They are tied in workshops in Nouakchott. The fashion has spread north and they are now also reputed to be made in Dahkla.
Much contemporary tie and dye in West Africa is done with synthetic dyes on cotton, damask or synthetic fabric. The larger variety of dyes allows for a much wider palette than was avaiable with natural dyes and the thinner mill-woven cloth permits a greater range of possibilities for pleating and folding than the thicker handwoven cloth. However, as with any tie and dye process, the dyeing is always started with the lightest color.
Tie-dyed satin Gara cloth from Sierra Leone dyed with synthetic dyes.
Tie-dyed cotton Gara cloth from Guinea dyed with synthetic dyes.
Cotton cloth tie-dyed in southern Nigeria for the Igbo market.
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
African Tie and Dye [1]
Indigo is by far the most common dye used in West Africa. The most popular way of creating a pattern is by introducing some kind of resist by tying, sewing or by applying a paste or wax resist to one side of the fabric. Tie-dyeing is the simplest way, teasing up a small section of the cloth into a peak and then sometimes, introducing some bulking-out medium, such as a seed, grain or chip of wood and finally, tying it off.
The way the peak of cloth is tied off creates different kinds of patterns, although the basic pattern is of a white circle containing a blue dot, all set against a blue ground.
In Gambia, women's cloths, sometimes handwoven, and yardage, always mill-woven, are tie-dyed in indigo vats. Most production now uses synthetic indigo mixed with gentian violet to give a fashionable purple tinge.
Indigo-dyed tie and dye is found all over West Africa, most often on hand woven women's wraps of handspun cotton. The arrangement of the tied circles varies from place to place. One famous tie-dyed cloth from Mali is known as "Salamander's Eyes."
Long veils called thobes, made of thin, gauze-like cotton or imported damask, are worn by the women of Mauritania.
The current fashion is to tie-dye them! Mutli-colored and dyed with chemical dyes, they have a very Indian appearance. They are tied in workshops in Nouakchott. The fashion has spread north and they are now also reputed to be made in Dahkla.
Much contemporary tie and dye in West Africa is done with synthetic dyes on cotton, damask or synthetic fabric. The larger variety of dyes allows for a much wider palette than was avaiable with natural dyes and the thinner mill-woven cloth permits a greater range of possibilities for pleating and folding than the thicker handwoven cloth. However, as with any tie and dye process, the dyeing is always started with the lightest color.
Reference:
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).
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