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
Nigerian Starch-Resist (by hand)
Stencilled Starch-Resist
Wax Resist
Stamped, Stencilled and Dyed Clothing from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Mali
Kola nut (usually Cola nitida) grows abundantly in this region, in both the wild and the cultivated state. It is traded throughout West Africa and is generally chewed as a stimulant, in the manner of the areca nut and betal leaf in India.
Kola Nuts.
Other varieties, such as Cola acuminata, Cola verticillata, and Cola anomala, are grown in other parts of West Africa, but Cola nitida is the most important one. It was exported to Britain in the 1890s, in later times to America, where it formed the basis of carbonated cola drinks such as Coca-Cola.
In West Africa, Cola nitida is also used as a quick and easy coloring agent to dye clothing an orange brown. This clothing may also be decorated by stamping or stencilling with vegetable dyes. In Guinea, women stencil out simple vegetal designs on to kola-dyed men's and boy's smocks.
Dyeing with kola nut in Guinea.
Women in Guinea stencilling patterns on to kola-dyed cloth.
In the north of Sierra Leone, the dyes are different. The Limba and Yalunka stamp simple designs with vegetable dyes onto a brown-dyed cloth, a technique called huronko.
Selling huronko cloth in the market in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The pioneering textile researchers in Venice, and Alastair Lamb observed that, in Sierra Leone, the brown dyes were obtained from mahogany, other tree roots and some bark. These dyes were then when boiled up, then left overnight and strained. Cloth was immersed in the resulting dye bath for a few hours, then left in the sun to oxidize. This process would be repeated four to fifteen times to deepen to a shade of brown. Yellow was obtained by just using mahogany bark. The stamping mixture consisted of a compost of leaves and iron-bearing river mud, while the stamps were carved out of raphia palm. One popular pattern today is 'Commando Boot Sole,' reflecting the horrendous civil war of the 1990s. In Guinea, the women break the kola nut and immerse it in water for a short period until it produces a suitable dye.
Huronko woman's wrap, printed in the Commando Boot Sole pattern, Limba people, Sierra Leone.
Stripwoven, kola-dyed cotton smock of a Bamana farmer, Mali.
Limba hunter's shirt dyed with an infusion of tree roots and printed with a leaf and mud-based dye. This type of work is known as "huronko."
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
Nigerian Starch-Resist (by hand)
Stencilled Starch-Resist
Wax Resist
Stamped, Stencilled and Dyed Clothing from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Mali
Kola nut (usually Cola nitida) grows abundantly in this region, in both the wild and the cultivated state. It is traded throughout West Africa and is generally chewed as a stimulant, in the manner of the areca nut and betal leaf in India.
Other varieties, such as Cola acuminata, Cola verticillata, and Cola anomala, are grown in other parts of West Africa, but Cola nitida is the most important one. It was exported to Britain in the 1890s, in later times to America, where it formed the basis of carbonated cola drinks such as Coca-Cola.
In West Africa, Cola nitida is also used as a quick and easy coloring agent to dye clothing an orange brown. This clothing may also be decorated by stamping or stencilling with vegetable dyes. In Guinea, women stencil out simple vegetal designs on to kola-dyed men's and boy's smocks.
In the north of Sierra Leone, the dyes are different. The Limba and Yalunka stamp simple designs with vegetable dyes onto a brown-dyed cloth, a technique called huronko.
The pioneering textile researchers in Venice, and Alastair Lamb observed that, in Sierra Leone, the brown dyes were obtained from mahogany, other tree roots and some bark. These dyes were then when boiled up, then left overnight and strained. Cloth was immersed in the resulting dye bath for a few hours, then left in the sun to oxidize. This process would be repeated four to fifteen times to deepen to a shade of brown. Yellow was obtained by just using mahogany bark. The stamping mixture consisted of a compost of leaves and iron-bearing river mud, while the stamps were carved out of raphia palm. One popular pattern today is 'Commando Boot Sole,' reflecting the horrendous civil war of the 1990s. In Guinea, the women break the kola nut and immerse it in water for a short period until it produces a suitable dye.
Reference:
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).
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