Vintage African Mudcloth Textile

Description

Bogolan or Bogolanfini is a Malian name for the traditional African mud cloth made in Mali. In the Bamana language, … more Bogolan or Bogolanfini is a Malian name for the traditional African mud cloth made in Mali. In the Bamana language, the term "Bogolan" or "Bogolanfini" means Mud cloth in English. The same term is also applied to the process of making these cloths. "Bogo means earth or mud, lan means with or by means of and fini means cloth.

To make this cloth the artist uses a hand-spun and hand-woven cloth on which he/she adds designs of his/her choice. The process of producing these textiles is very long and involves both men and women. The cloth is handspun and handwoven by men who use local cotton and small strip looms. The strips produced are sewn together to make a large cloth. Almost ten strips are needed in order to get a normal wrapper-size cloth. Each strip is around 5 to 6 inches wide. In traditional practice, the sewer joins the strips using needle and thread, and in more recent times the artist works with a hand-operated sewing machine.

The finished cloth is then washed off and dried in the sun. The dried cloth is soaked in a mixture of pounded leaves from local trees. Once dried, the cloth is ready to receive the mud dye and its decorations. Traditionally, women were in charge of decorating the cloth. Today both men and women can decorate the cloth. With a small bamboo or metal spatula, the artist draws the designs on the dried cloth using a pre-mixed mud dye. After that, the cloth is washed to remove any excess mud from the design process. Each design is outlined one more time. The artist repeats this process to get a better result. Local bleach or soda is applied to yellow areas to make the patterns lighter. The textile is then dried in the sun and ready to be used.

We do not recommend laundering textiles. Even dry cleaning is too much for some of these antique textiles. less