Saturday, April 15, 2023

WARP barkcloth event

Weave a Real Peace (WARP) brought us a great multinational online event this morning from Uganda, featuring artisans, farmers and artists producing and working with barkcloth. Despite multiple techno hitches, the internet link being fragile, audio crackling and vanishing,  they still did a bang-up job.

Barkcloth is made literally from the bark, peeled in sheets, off a species of ficus tree. It sheds bark annually , and properly harvested, no spraying, can go on producing for anything up to 100 years. So this is sustainable.

This group annually harvests the bark, boils it then hammers it thin, in the direction of the grain. They use the boiled water as a liquid manure for crops, because they're also interested in food security. Likewise they defend the trees against deforestation, because all the trees need a mixed forest community to thrive. 

You can adopt a tree, and the funds are shared around farmer,  artisan and designer, with planting and propagation also funded where possible.

Most recently, Peter, an artisan, used his share to buy a new mallet.




The cloth colors you see are natural, depending on the tree and length of exposure to sunlight. The black sheets are clay-dyed. 

Barkcloth is used in designer items such as bags, by people like the designer working with this group,  occasionally in ceremonial clothing, and artist canvas. This material may also have important antibiotic application, currently being researched.

Anyway here's the pictures, with the small group of participants in a shot further down.













This is Peter, artisan, with a selection of mallets, including one from his grandfather and his own childhood mallet.

One of the presenters is an artist, using barkcloth as a canvas and for printmaking.






Great, cheerful group, full of optimism for their farming and harvesting.  The designer spearheading the marketing is Lesli Robertson third from left, and the general spokesperson, mainly because his audio was working best, was artist Stephen Kamya. 

This was such a satisfying and exciting experience, latest technology working with an ancient Ugandan art form and farming product. Definitely look it up, it's worth knowing about.

Happy day everyone, I'm having one!



17 comments:

  1. Such a happy group of people working hard at producing a useful and sustainable product.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Human beings are so clever when it comes to using what’s around them
    Well we were clever. I wonder if the new improved human would be

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another wonderful post teaching me stuff I am so glad I now know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I learned a lot from this session, particularly about how sustainable it is. I'd feared stripping the bark would damage the tree.

      Delete
  4. I know barkcloth is traditionally made and used in Hawaii too, although I don't know if they use the same tree source. I'd never heard of barkcloth until my sister told me about it and asked me to bring some back for her one trip. It was hard to find in Maui but I eventually located some in a specialty quilting and fabric store. Expensive, not surprisingly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I imagine since it's so labor intensive and limited harvest it would be high end, yes.

      Delete
  5. Thanks for sharing this very interesting info, Liz! I've seen barkcloth many times but had no idea about the species of tree or the harvesting or...anything at all, really, except the qualities of the piece of barkcloth I was looking at, most recently in an exhibit of African art. I also didn't realize the WARP group has been around for 30 years. They post a lot of videos on YT, including event recordings (some available to all, some only to members). Maybe the barkcloth event will make an appearance - I've subscribed, just in case :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They're a great group. I found them via the Hand weavers Guild presentations Textiles and Tea.

      Delete
  6. So is the beautifully printed, usually vintage fabric that we know of as barkcloth the same?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know, but I suspect like grass cloth, it may be an appropriation of the name for another high end product. If I find out more I'll share.

      Delete
  7. nature has given us so much and continues to give if we respect it. this sort of reminds me of the cork trees that also are sustainable. so many products made from its bark. like the wallet I carry,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. If we take care of her, she will take care of us.

      Delete
  8. And now I know cloth can be made from bark. I would not have thought it possible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I realize now that, since the genuine bark cloth is beaten, not woven, into sheets, that would be a way to distinguish it from any woven fabric called bark cloth. This might answer a couple of earlier questions.

      Delete
  9. Glad to read your explanation about the different types of bark cloth in response to Sandra's comment because I was thinking of the woven fabric type too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm no expert, but having seen the videos where there are no looms, only mallets, this seems pretty clear as a distinction.

      Delete

Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered! I've reluctantly deleted the anonymous option, because it was being abused.