Families in Ntonso have been printing Adinkra cloth under the same tree for many decades. The skills are passed on through the generations.

making the dye

The garments are dyed black with the boiled-up roots of the Kuntunkuni tree. These trees only grow on the northern savannah and the women have to travel out to markets in northern villages to buy the roots. The garments are dipped, soaked, and left to dry until they are black; it can take ten dippings for a pale-coloured garment. The dye for the stamps is made from the bark of the Badie tree. The bark has to be softened in water, pounded all day, and then boiled until a thick brown dye is produced. This thick, syrupy dye is called 'medicine' or 'adinkra aduru'.

the cloth

Adinkra printing is done on many different sorts of cloth. Red, brown and black funeral sheets are printed, but for a festive garment, a large brightly-coloured sheet might be used. Old garments are redyed, when they become faded, or when people cannot afford new cloth. For every-day wear, the printers make Nwomu cloths, where the Adinkra pattern is broken up into sections with bright strips of kente or rayon.

the stamps

The carver cuts the stamp out of the bottom of a calabash piece (a calabash is a type of gourd). The stamps measure about five or eight centimetres square. They have a handle on the back, and the stamp itself is slightly curved, so that the dye can be put on with a rocking motion. There are more than 70 different stamps, all with their own meaning. They represent the proverbs, beliefs and hopes of the printer and of the person wearing the garment.

printing the cloth

The cloth is stretched flat across planks padded with flax, and then nailed down. Then the fabric is divided into sections using a large, wooden comb dipped in dye. Next the symbols are printed into the sections. The printer dips the stamps into the pot of dye, whips off excess dye and stamps the fabric with a quick rolling motion to ensure the dye goes on evenly. The printers make no measurements or plans, but instead hold in their memories special patterns and formats. For each garment, they choose designs and stamps that they like, and a message which they wish to convey.

When the garment has dried, it is ready to wear - but the dyes used will run in water and fade in the sun. Because of this, the cloths need to be redyed again and again.

Information and images courtesy of Aid to Artisans in Ghana