Translations:AY Honors/Adinkra/Answer Key/13/en

The making of Adinkra

The Asante people have developed their unique art of Adinkra printing. They use two traditional printing methods; the block-stamp technique (why not work on the Block Printing honor at the same time?), which involves the use of wooden or metal stamps and the screen-printing (why not work on the Silk Screen Printing honor at the same time?). The Adinkra cloth was originally printed from hand-carved stamps from calabash or gourd (apakyiwa). The dye or ink (adinkra aduru) for printing is derived from the bark of the Badie. The bark and roots are soaked in water for days to soften. They are then pounded to increase the softening process. The Badie bark is boiled with iron scraps. When the colour (deep brown) emerges from the pulp it is sieved and engraved onto a piece of calabash or pot.