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Web Resources:
Kuba
Textiles - an introduction
Art
of Kuba Weaving - selected readings
Africa
Focus Database - excellent picture archive has collection of Jan
Vansina, a leading authority on the Kuba, taken in the 1950s. Search
using term "Kuba." I really recommend this as a great
background source.
Further Reading:
Click the reading link
above for a great list. Also try:
Douglas M. The Lele
of the Kasai (1963) - fascinating ethnography explores raffia cloth
use among neighbours of the Kuba
Himmelheber H. Zaire
1938/39 (1993) - great archive photos 
Coming
soon - old photos of textile production on vintage postcards. 
At
the moment we are not selling any Kuba cloth. |
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Among
the Kuba peoples of the Kasai river region in Congo men are
responsible for the the weaving of raffia cloth, but once the
cloth is complete it is the responsibility of women to prepare it
for decoration. The cloth as woven is stiff and rough with loose
and uneven edges. Even for everyday use it must be hemmed and
softened before it can be sewn into a larger garment. If it is to
form one of the main prestige garments, the dancing skirt, it will
be softened by pounding it in a large wooden mortar, and in some
cases treated with a wine-red or brown dye. It was previously
thought that the actual process of decorating the cloths was done
only by women, but recent research by Patricia Darish suggests
that men are responsible for decorating the rectangular skirts
that they wear themselves, while women decorate smaller female
dancing skirts and cut-pile embroidered panels. Among the
decorative techniques that both men and women may use are certain
types of embroidery, appliqué and reverse appliqué, patchwork,
dyeing, and tie dyeing. Women's dance skirts are up to nine yards
in length, being wound several times around the body and folded
down over a belt. The men's skirts are significantly longer and
normally have distinct borders often with a fringe of raffia
bobbles.
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Painting showing
a wife of a senior Kuba chief wearing an appliqué skirt.
Her scarification patterns are similar to those used in
textile appliqué and embroidery. By Norman Hardy. From
E.Torday & T.A.Joyce, Notes Ethnographiques, 1910-11.
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Appliqué, often
outlined and emphasized by sewing around the design area with a
darker thread, is one of the two most important decorative
techniques utilised on Kuba ceremonial textiles. It has been
suggested that the use of appliqué among the Kuba arose out of
the need to repair the holes in cloth caused by the rigorous
pounding of the woven raffia required to achieve the desired
softness. Right-angled, rectangular, or circular patches are sewn
over the holes that emerge in the softening process, while other
patches are then sewn on undamaged areas of the cloth to balance
the overall visual effect. Support for the idea that this may be
the origin of the use of appliqué is provided by examining some
of the oldest Kuba dance skirts in museum collections. The bulk of
the patches on some of these do seem to have been motivated by the
need to repair holes and achieve a balanced design, with quite
large areas of cloth left plain. In later examples there is a
tendency to cover the whole surface of the cloth with appliqué,
often including some figurative designs.
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(c)
Duncan Clarke, Version 11/1/2002
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