African Prints
Jun 4th, 2007 by Isa2
WAX & African Print Fabric
Wax is the name for a factory-made fabric produced using a mechanical wax resist (batik) during the cloth dying process; each color is dyed into the cloth. African Print Fabrics are also made by rolling ink across a printing plate and rolling the ink onto the cloth.
KENTE PRINTS
KENTE PRINTS evoke the traditional handwoven Kente Cloth of Ghana. A strip cloth, Kente Fabric is made up from long woven strips that is rarely wider than 4 inches. Legend has it that some kings robes were woven using silk that had been unwoven from textiles sent from China. KENTE PRINTS are 45″ wide factory-made broadcloth. Colorfast
GOLD PRINTS
When a design in metallic ink is rolled over the top of a printed or solid colored fabric a GOLD PRINT is the result. Sometimes the gold design is tied in with the images or design on the cloth, sometimes not. The “gold” is a metallic material suspended in a petroleum base, thus it can be abraded away with heavy use. The metallic material may oxidize over time and may lose its sheen.
Very interesting helpful information! I checked out your store – your fabrics are outstanding. I would love to see photos of your artwork!
Cheryl
Hi African fabric lady,
I really like your site and all the write up! Just wanted to let you know that http://www.ankarahotspot.com does great range of african fabric and at friendly prices too. Check us out and make sure you say “Hi”
All the best
Chi
b mccray writes….
I live in Jacksonville florida and most of the quilted items that I make are made with African Fabric or includes African fabric. I even design quilted wall hangings that honor Africa or they are African inspired. I presently have my rendition of the Egungun in the MUseum Of contemporary Art here in Jacksonville, the exhibit will end January 4th. I also make basket or vessels from clothes line rope. I recently had a piece that honors the Masai Woman in an exhibit and a piece that honors Ghana. I willl participate in an exhibit in January where my “log cablin quilt made mostly with fabric from Nigeria will be shown. It has an estimated 3200 pieces and the quilt is totally “hand quilted”. I just finished a piece called, “Sisters” and it honors “Black” women.
yo, africanfabriclady.com great name for site)))
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signature: http://hixoh.ru/
Thanks, that’s how folks always refer to me at the shows. I was not able to get to your site, but I hope you’ll visit mine again.
Thank you for your website and information. I am a quilter and have just returned from Benin, West Africa with a variety of wax print fabrics. I was wondering how you wash them before quilting them so that the colors don’t run together. I know that many of them “bleed” even when washed several times. I would appreciate your advice. I would love to see some of your quilts.
Thanks,
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
Wax prints usually do not run, but just to be safe, I’d wash them separating the colors and check out the color of the water. The only ones I know run are the locally dyed indigo cloth, which are usually dyed with a combination of synthetic and natural indigo. Check out my advice on indigo here.
I’d love to see photos of groups of the fabrics you brought back. hint hint.
Isa2
PS, I hope to be adding some indigo dyed fabric from Guinea soon!!
Dear Christine , I am part of a group that are doing fashion women collection with original and organic fabrics of many countries around the world. We are from Spain .I am Trying to find Cooperative in Africa ( no Vlisco) that does the fabrics wax block prints , we work with fair trade , and need to contact with the group of women that started already in this area.
Thanks a lot for the help , Laura
Hi Laura,
I recommend that you look in Ghana. In Accra there are some training centers where women learn various hand decorating and dyeing techniques. You might contact the good people at Cultural Collaborative (http://www.culturalcollaborative.org/) who could help you with specific locations and contact people.
Great project–let us know how things go…
Isa2
Hi,
I am working with on developing garments with African refugee woman in New Zealand. I am interested in applying traditional fabric printing methods. Are there any that are reasonably simple and dont need a lot of special equipment that you could recomend?
Thanks, Kareen
interested in techniques for African wax textiles – thanks
The wax textiles shown here are all factory made. A designer provides the arrangement of design elements, and large textile machines use a genuine wax resist technique to dye the fabrics in the manner of true batiks.
Some hand-decorated West African textiles use a wax resist process where wax is applied from carved wooden or metal blocks arranged in pleasant designs prior to the fabric being dyed. Multiple layers of wax blocks may be used to produce complicated designs in many colors. This technique is not unique to Africa.
Hello,
I read all the comments and want to ask if you could help me in my case. I’m running a NGO in Ghana. We are teaching the youth in Batik, Tie and Dye, Screen printing and also in old methodes of fabric printing. To keep our program running ( the students get the training free of charge) we desided to find a market to sell our products. Could you give me a hint how to find this market?
Some of our fabrics can be seen on our website. http://www.richardsfoundation.wetpaint.com
We made a lot more then I was able to post.
Thanks in advance,
Helen from Ghana
Hello African Fabric Lady!
My daughter just adopted a little boy from Ethiopia. I would like to make him a quilt using Ethiopian fabrics and designs. I am having a hard time finding anything from Ethiopia…..do you have any suggestions?
Thank you,
Mary Nelson
Hi Mary,
I do not know where to find anything Ethiopian. Youmight google to see if there are any Ethiopian social groups in NYC, DC or Atlanta. Good luck, and enjoy your new grandchild!
Hi Isa, I live in perth West Australia and work with the elderly in a aged care hostel. I run a little art group with them, and have been looking @ doing an African art theme. We have painted masks onto some part branches off a palm tree, and although the fabric painting is not on our agenda this year, your blog has given us loads of ideas for murals, plate painting, etc. Thanks, & I will be adding your to my favourites
Regards
Kat
Hello there,
I am just curious about this whole issue of colours running when we wash most African fabric. Is there anything in their manufacturing/dyeing process that they can change so that the colour does not run? Or is there some treatment that could be given to this cloth to make it easily machine washable?
I am really inspired by the amazing patterns and am surprised that leading fashion manufacturers don’t source this fabric. My one guess is that the colours running make it a little bit inconvenient to wash and may act as a barrier from these fabrics becoming popular to the whole public beyond the socially-conscious/ funky-art-lover group. What do you think?
Thanks,
Binnu
The prints are really beautiful and attractive. Am intrested in buying to sell in my country. please furnish me with prices and do you do catalogues for the same? What would you recommend for mens shirts?
Hi,
modern industrial african prints are using printing paints instead of dyes, (as it was the case in the olden days). I do not really think that your prints have any element of resist dyeing at this stage of industrial development and the wax resist effects are only mimicked these days.
The difference is that dyes are going deep into the fibres of textiles whereas paints sit on the surface of the textiles.Your current printing media is probably paint too and the support cloth must be cotton. The degree of which the print is waterproof, depends on the quality of the paint used, that is the fixative chemical and also the process of its application.
Textile paints are fixed after application by a thermic process, similar to ironing. If that process is not properly done, the pigments will wash out in contact with water and detergent. Poor thermic treatment can happen because of improper equippment, cost savings, ignorance, production conditions.
What you can do at this stage is to iron the pieces of textiles before you want to use them. This way you improve the chances of keeping the colours as initial. A good news would be that textiles paints, when washed out, do not usually stain the other cloth that they come in contact with when wet. (as opposed to how dye pigments would behave)
If you are that fortunate that you have real wax resist, that means that there is a combination of techniques that have been used to decorate your fabrics, then the task of improving waterproof degree is very difficult as there are many types of dyes used nowadays and their fixation depends an too many factors that are unknown. Unless you can contact the producer and get information on the type of pigment used for the dye.
But it would make no business logic for any producer to use old printing methods as they are inefficient financially for an industrial production and I am affraid that local crafters have also compromised, so I think it is not the case to worry about dyes.
I hope this would help, although its a bit of time since you requested advice. Well, better later than never, maybe it still can help in your future projects. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need more info. I used to work a lot in textiles when I was younger.
Imola Popescu Feldberg http://imolapopescufeldberg.weebly.com
I think your prints are beautiful! Do you sell your fabrics? Do you tailor? I am currently into modern African looks and have a few ideas in mind and would love to work on a few pieces (for me of course). Please let me know via email.
Best of luck in everything!
Thank you for this great resource. I have been interested in African art for quite a while. As a teacher, money has always been tight so I have only purchased a few pieces for my home. This summer I am looking to update my bedroom and was thinking of incorporating more African textiles such as a bedspread with Kente prints. I cannot sew. Is there a good resource to purchase something like this? I have been doing some internet research and have been unable to locate anything. Thank you. Sincerely, Ella
Hi Ella,
I sell fabric at http://www.africanfabricsales.com
Thanks for your interest
[...] from the West Coast of Africa (especially Ghana) and are usually waxed cottons that originated as batik designs from Indonesia, these designs were then adapted to relate more to the West African culture. These amazing patterns [...]
A friend just brought me beautiful fabric from Africa to quilt with. Does the wax on the fabric gum up a sewing machine? Do you usually wash and hang to dry before cutting for a quilt?
Thanks for any help you can give as I have never worked with these beautiful fabrics from Africa before.
Hi Donna,
I am not much of a sewer, but I don’t think I’d want to get wax in my sewing machine. I’ve avoided buying heavily waxed fabric for that reason. I would definitely wash and dry the fabric by itself in whatever manner I intended the finished item to be cleansed. If the quilt will go in the washer & dryer, do the same with the fabric and all before cutting. If washing it doesn’t get the wax out, you might try boiling the fabric and weighting it in the hot water. As the water cools, the wax will float to the surface and can be skimmed or scooped off.
Good Luck
Hello,
Am an artist, I weave design and print on fabrics
am presently in downtown atlanta, GA
if you want me to bring them i will bring it to you immidiatly today for you to see and we negotiate if you want more i will be supplying you ok
you can view my website here = http://www.bunochesty-artist.com/
when you open my website go to ART GALLERY then click on ASO-OKE and after that click on TEXTILE DESIGN you will se more works
Y0U CAN CALL ME PHONE= +19175135032
EG
(1)DAMASK
(2)SILKS
(3)CHIEFON
(4)LININGS
ETC
For more information Please write or call me back
Thanks
YOURS SINCERELY
MR OBI NOSIKE BENJAMIN
http://www.bunochesty-artist.com/
PHONE= 9175135032
I love the varied prints and one of kinds. What fabric would do dual function as shirt material and seat/furniture coverings?
Wow, some beautiful collections you have here!
The growth of African art is reflected reciprocatively in the growth of our culture as Africans. I believe women are the backborne behind the success of art in general worldwide because of their ability to observe and create fundamental and eye catching designs. As an artist who is currently pursuing Printmaking courses, I wish to believe that this is one of the platforms that been created for us as students to have a direction and knowledge about the growth of African art. I wish to exhibit my Prints someday. Thank for offering us this platform and may this be a success.
all the Best,
Lambotique Josephs
Hello
I am interested in having a product made in Africa out if recycled fabric or felt.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you
Sent from my iPhone
Sorry Jackie, I am not able to help you with this.
Best Wishes
Hi am intrested in buying wholesale embroidery cotton normally called by ghanian meba woabrochi can any one tell me where to buy this
Hi Matt
While I am unfamiliar with that name, you might try contacting Sonna, a company that carries high quality African fabrics. They may also be able to help you if they do not have what you are looking for.
Best Wishes
Help! I’m culturally starved and living in Tampa, Fl. I’m trying to find fabrics from South Africa and much of what is shown in the picture above of the women in the market place. I’ve been online for days trying to find sites which will show the very same hand dyed prints for sale and just can’t seem to find anything inspiring.