
	Introduction
	What is Bark?

	Uses of Bark
	Bark as a Raw Material
	Bark made into Fibres
	Bark as Sheet and Cork
	Bark as Cloth
	Bark Clothing

	Bark Etoys
	Barkcloth Printing
	Materials Match

	Gallery
	Africa
	Pacific
	The Americas

Second Skin - sacred and everyday uses of bark worldwide

Africa

These are the objects made from bark that have come from Africa:

The main uses of barkcloth in Africa include everyday and ceremonial clothing, for bedding, as room decoration, as shroud material and most recently, as examples of craft items for tourists. The major production centres are Uganda and the upper Congo Basin. It was also formerly produced in parts of west Africa; including Ivory Coast, Ghana, south east Nigeria and Cameroon.

Staking the beaten and washed cloth out to dry; Boso, Ghana 1973.

Staking the beaten and washed cloth out to dry; Boso, Ghana 1973. Photo by Len Pole.

The species used to make the cloth in the Eastern Region of Ghana was Antiaris. The tree was cut down, the bark removed and beaten using a grooved round section mallet. It was then washed thoroughly, wrung out and pegged on the ground in the sun to dry. The most common and most recent use was as bedding since it discouraged ticks and other bugs.

The best known cloth making centre in Africa is the kingdom of Buganda in central Uganda. The work was undertaken by men. The best Natal fig trees are grown about 150 kilometres south-west of Kampala, close to the Tanzanian border. A strip about an inch wide and 16inches long is cut, beaten with a wooden mallet until it becomes much wider and three times as long. Patches may appear which are carefully sewn with raffia thread, using pieces of cloth taken from the edge. The large cloth in the exhibition has been decorated using wooden stamps dipped in muddy water mixed with the bark from the kaboga tree.

Demonstrating the use of the beater; Kampala, Uganda, March 2003

Demonstrating the use of the beater; Kampala, Uganda, March 2003
Photo by Milli Stein.

One of the main uses of barkcloth in Buganda was formerly for shrouds for the recently dead, particularly for members of the nobility. Barkcloth is also used in souvenirs, but survives as costume, particularly worn by people encouraging the persistence of Baganda traditions. Plain pieces of cloth from the eastern Congo and further north-east in the southern Sudan areas suggest this as an additional centre of barkcloth manufacture.