Tapa Cloth

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Tapa Cloth
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• Produced throughout the islands of the South
  Pacific. (Polynesia)
• Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa
• Also known as bark cloths.

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• These cloths play important roles in weddings,
  funerals and events associated with royalty.

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• They use the bark from a paper mulberry tree.
• It is stripped and the white inner layers are
  peeled off for the tapa.

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• The narrow strips are soaked in water until
  softened.
• Grooved mallets are used to pound the the bark
  into about 10 wide strips

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• The edges are then overlapped and glued with sap
  to make wide sheets.
• Finally the tapa is sun dried and ready for
  design.

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• Dark outlines and details are hand painted using
  sticks with frayed ends.
• A variety of plant dyes are used as well as tree
  sap for the natural brown colors.

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What you will do!

• In the borders you will create a
• PATTERN
• (the regular repetition of colors, lines, shapes
  or forms in an artwork.)

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• Think of a design that has RADIAL BALANCE
• (A type of balance in which lines or shapes
  spread out from a center point in a regular
  pattern)

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• Make sure border pattern and radial design have
  UNITY
• (The quality that occurs when all parts of an
  artwork combine to create a sense of wholeness
  and completion)

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How I will grade you

• Design Grade
• 3 different rough drafts
• 2 borders 1 and ½ (different patterns in each
  border)
• Radial design (from corner)
• Border and design should have UNITY
• Design touches all 4 sides.

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How I will grade you

• Trace design with pencil then outline with black
  pen
• Erase pencil
• Creative coloring style
• Outline dark color
• Color fades
• Color bold
• Use a ruler for all straight edges!