Lynda Barry
my sketchbook
gourd stamps
CALABASH-carved African stamps for adinkra cloth
drawn from John Gillow’s book, “African Textiles”
It was a different exercise to draw and shade these shapes after reading sections of Lynda Barry’s HILARIOUS and INSPIRING book. Very different.
It is full of tips about how to keep drawing, why to keep drawing, and funny, funny vignettes as well.
The book, African Textiles, is mine and I have barely scratched its surface – ALSO inspiring. For those who don’t know, adinkra fabrics are produced by the West Coast Africans in Ghana. The process described by Gillow goes like this — makers carve the gourds and create a handle from palm splints. The printer draws a grid onto the cloth that is to be stamped. “A thick dark goo” is made by boiling badee tree root bark that has been mixed with iron slag. The printer then prints with the gourd stamps onto the cloth and the fabric is then hung outside overnight “to catch the dew”.
both books look very inspiring! I have seen some off what Lynda Barry does on the internet and have seen her perform on you-tube, she is very funny; I had not heard of this African stamp-technique, it looks super interesting, just goes to show you can use all sorts for making stamps, I am now looking aroung me to see if there is anything I could use!
erasers work well. I have never heard Lynda Barry’s voice – I should look her up online…