Last November I visited Canada's textile museum in Toronto and saw this raffia skirt from Cote d'Ivoire, Africa.
Made by Dida women, the fabric is raffia woven without a loom, dyed with plants and marked very beautifully with tied resist.
posted here so that I don't forget this very real object
Well worth remembering.
ReplyDeleteWow! Not a highly intelligent comment, but...well, wow!
ReplyDeleteLove the patterns.
ReplyDeleteHard for me to imagine woven raffia.. must be very small fibers? Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt feels alive. In rhythmic motion. Lovely.
ReplyDeletedepths and layers, opening and closing and yes, wow...
ReplyDeleteGorgeous and earthy.
ReplyDeletethis is indeed something to remember. thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI love the earthiness.
ReplyDeleteThis from the label placed beside the item:
ReplyDeleteskirt
Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Lakota
late 19th-20th Century
Dida
Raffia, plant roots off loom tubular oblique interlacing resist-dyed
Opeka/Webster collection T94.3016
This tubular skirt is made by Dida women, from raffia of the viana fera palm tree. The outer surface of the leaf is stripped off, and the inner layer is dried in the sun and then shredded into fires.
The set of raffia fibres - the total number can reach as many as 1500 - is tied together and attached to a vertical tree trunk, and then divided into a set of warp threads and a set of weft threads.
Working on the diagonal the maker weaves each warp thread over and under a weft thread until she has reached the end.
The patterns are achieed by means of tied resists and dyed with natural colours.
Without the size limitations of loom-wevaing, this direct interlacing process makes it possible to create magnificent large pieces of oblique interlacing.
Love to see that ripple structure of the tieing ...
ReplyDeletei enjoy imagining what each shape symbolizes . . . and maybe the shapes don't symbolize or tally or mark anything at all. but still, there are stories upon stories upon stories.
ReplyDeleteI have always been moved by this piece I have a piece in my sewing room where I am trying to reproduce the look thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDelete