Comments on: African Prints

By: Afroeuroforum

Afroeuroforum — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:12:22 +0000

Wow, some beautiful collections you have here!

By: Joe Hoffmann

Joe Hoffmann — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:14:27 +0000

I love the varied prints and one of kinds. What fabric would do dual function as shirt material and seat/furniture coverings?

By: OBI NOSIKE

OBI NOSIKE — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:41:52 +0000

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

By: Isa2

Isa2 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:27:08 +0000

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

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:19:04 +0000

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.

By: Textiles Inspiration: African Wax Prints « Gallantandjones's Blog

Textiles Inspiration: African Wax Prints « Gallantandjones's Blog — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:39:34 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Isa2

Isa2 — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:05:42 +0000

Hi Ella,

I sell fabric at http://www.africanfabricsales.com

Thanks for your interest

By: Ella

Ella — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:19:00 +0000

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

By: Aminata

Aminata — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:53:31 +0000

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!

By: Imola Popescu Feldberg

Imola Popescu Feldberg — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:46:40 +0000

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