Mudcloth from Mali

This hand-spun, hand-woven cloth is much thicker than machine woven craft cotton. Traditionally, mudcloth is only made by the women of the Bamana tribe of Mali. Strips of hand-spun, hand-woven cotton are stitched together, then patterned with a variety of natural dyes. First, the whole cloth is dipped into a mordant made from leaves, which colours the cloth yellow. Then, for the traditional Kolokane cloth, the designs are hand-painted onto the cloth using river mud that has been aged up to a year. Iron oxides in the mud react with tannins in the mordant to create the rich black colour. Finally, the yellow is bleached out using a caustic made from millet bran and peanuts - leaving a black on white pattern.