Badee Ink Bark Collected	Women Pounding the Bark	Bark Soaking in Water	Boiling Ink Bark
Ashanti Boy with a solid block of Ink	Boiling Solid Blocks of Ink for Printing	Box with Adinkra Stamp Samples	Adinkra Stamps Carved from Calabash Gourd

This page shows how ink used for printing adinkra cloth is made. The process shown here does not inclued calabash stamp carving. The first stage in the process involves peeling "badee" bark and tying it in bundles for transport to the boiler. Next the bark is pounded with pestile and mortar to soften the bark fibers. The bark scrapps from the mortar are placed in a barrel filled with water to soak over night. The barrel full of water and bark are boild and an iron-ore stone is added to the mixture in order to turn the ink black. After the bark is boiling the ink from the bark dries into a hard clump. The clump is then placed in a small pot and melted for printing. The Akan speaking people migrated south to the "Gold Coast" (the modern Republic of Ghana 1957) region after the fall of ancient Ghana Civilization in 600 A.D. Their migration was a slow and steady one which took years to compleat. The Ashanti speak an Akan language. They speak the Twi dialect. Most of the cultural art forms they produce did not originate with them. Ashanti have been around for a little over 300 years and Akan culture has existed for much longer. Ashanti Confederation was formed in 1698 by two cousins Osei Tutu and Kwame Frimpon Okomfo Anokye. It was a collection of numerous tribes, villages and towns grouped under one federation. Ashanti as a name or group of people did not exist before that time. They settled in central Ghana. My Blog List