Warping, WARP, and Slater

Today I measured and counted and threaded half the warp threads for the new skirt panel, before my hands insisted on stopping.

In any case it was time for the WARP (Weave a Real Peace) presentation online about WARP'S involvement with the DIMA School of textile and artisanal trades in Niger.

The initiative they discussed today was the general revival of weaving, tailoring and leatherwork by the school, marketing their output and bringing Western looms for them.

 Their master weavers wanted to transfer their skills to Western floor looms for greater productivity and less physical stress on the workers. But they preserve their traditional regional patterns and the wool/cotton fibers they work in 

While at the school the Western visitors looked in at the tailoring department and salvaged cotton waste scraps, usually thrown away, which the weavers turned into rag rugs on the new looms. The tailoring students hemmed and finished them  

Anyone wanting to support WARP, who are always needing funds, and currently running a raffle for textile prizes, go to their website. Good people.

Meanwhile the kitchen isn't always about cooking food. It's also about reading about food, and here's what's up Chez Boud today

Full of journal notes and ideas and recipes 

Yesterday I made a variation on the spicy chickpea tuna dish, using cannellini beans because it's what I had

With chutney and Thai basil. Today's lunch was the rest of it, over rice. Beans are so neutral you can use a lot of spice and they're never too hot, just interesting.

The puzzle answer which everyone got who tried it, (and the broad clue I gave in the book review) is 

MOUSETRAP

Happy day everyone, lovely wet spring day here, nice for the gardens, humans just have to get wet.

WARP barkcloth event

Weave a Real Peace (WARP) brought us a great multinational online event this morning from Uganda, featuring artisans, farmers and artists producing and working with barkcloth. Despite multiple techno hitches, the internet link being fragile, audio crackling and vanishing,  they still did a bang-up job.

Barkcloth is made literally from the bark, peeled in sheets, off a species of ficus tree. It sheds bark annually , and properly harvested, no spraying, can go on producing for anything up to 100 years. So this is sustainable.

This group annually harvests the bark, boils it then hammers it thin, in the direction of the grain. They use the boiled water as a liquid manure for crops, because they're also interested in food security. Likewise they defend the trees against deforestation, because all the trees need a mixed forest community to thrive. 

You can adopt a tree, and the funds are shared around farmer,  artisan and designer, with planting and propagation also funded where possible.

Most recently, Peter, an artisan, used his share to buy a new mallet.

The cloth colors you see are natural, depending on the tree and length of exposure to sunlight. The black sheets are clay-dyed. 

Barkcloth is used in designer items such as bags, by people like the designer working with this group,  occasionally in ceremonial clothing, and artist canvas. This material may also have important antibiotic application, currently being researched.

Anyway here's the pictures, with the small group of participants in a shot further down.

This is Peter, artisan, with a selection of mallets, including one from his grandfather and his own childhood mallet.

One of the presenters is an artist, using barkcloth as a canvas and for printmaking.

Great, cheerful group, full of optimism for their farming and harvesting.  The designer spearheading the marketing is Lesli Robertson third from left, and the general spokesperson, mainly because his audio was working best, was artist Stephen Kamya. 

This was such a satisfying and exciting experience, latest technology working with an ancient Ugandan art form and farming product. Definitely look it up, it's worth knowing about.

Happy day everyone, I'm having one!