One of the great textile arts of Africa is kente, or strip-weaving. Weavers make long, narrow (4-6") strips of fabric that are then sewn together side-by-side to make a larger piece. Kente can be used as clothing, as bedspreads, tablecloths, placemats, etc. depending on the size of the piece. The strips are typically woven in alternating patterns, so the overall effect is like a patchwork quilt when finished. I was fortunate enough to be able to study kente weaving for five days with the Ewe tribe in Ghana, and have documented some of what I learned here.
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I stopped by a brasscasting village near Kumasi, where they showed me the process of lost-wax-casting
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Daboya is a small town nearly due west of Tamale, a city in northern Ghana. It is primarily known as a production center for fugu, a blue-and-white smock commonly worn by people in northern Ghana. In Daboya, they spin cotton, weave the narrow strips, and sew the fugu.
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Adinkra, or stamped fabric, is one of the textile arts of Ghana. I was fortunate enough to visit an adinkra stamper in his workshop; here are the photos from my visit.
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