Bark cloth

After using the computer at the internet café in Apia earlier today the snail-like speed of the internet at USP is really frustrating me. I’m finding it impossible to even send an email. As my research project heats up I’ll probably be spending more time there doing using the computers/internet. Before that happens though we have two more trips planned. A short four day visit to American Samoa and a week long visit to Fiji. I’m feeling a little spoiled right now.

I realized on the way into town today that I’d completely neglected to talk about one of the activities that occupied our time in Savaii. On Wednesday morning we made Siapo or bark cloth. Talk about labor intensive! The technique and the tree used both came from China. I don’t remember the name, but it’s a very thin tree, maybe an inch in diameter with few branches. The bark is stripped from the tree, which is easier than it sounds. A small slit is cut at one end and then the bark just peels right off the tree. That’s the easy part. Next, the inner bark is separated from the outer bark. That part is harder than it looks. What you’re left with is a thin, sticky, but long piece of white inner bark. The next step in the process is to remove the glue that holds the bark fibers together. This is done by scraping the bark with a seashell over and over and over again. When the stickiness is gone the pounding commences. What began as two inches wide will become a foot wide due to the repeated pounding of the bark over a piece of hard wood. Once the bark is pounded it is stretched out in the sun to dry without losing its shape. The rest of the process is fairly easy in comparison. Dry pieces are pained and glued together using a starchy paste made from cassava (a root). The paint is made from the die of another tree’s bark and is heightened by the use of red clay. Traditionally the back cloth was used for ceremonial purposes- wedding garments and dance costumes. Today you can buy small pieces in the market to bring home as souvenirs. I got to make my own small piece to bring back. While I didn’t make mine from start to finish I was able to try out the entire process. Trust me, its very labor intensive and time consuming. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you what I made, but as of right now there has been a slight mix up and we aren’t 100% sure of where exactly our siapo is at the moment.