Batik

     Yesterday a few of us had a batiking workshop at Eli and Em’s batik shop, they are two of our Global Mamas. Batik is a form of wax fabric printing that is very common to the West African region. Global Mamas has a number of batikers that create the fabrics for the products. I am glad I got the chance to go through this workshop on my second day on the job because it gave me the chance to ask a lot of questions about the process and color manipulation. Now I have a better understanding of batiking so I can create new stamp and print ideas more efficiently.

     I bought “red red” for lunch from a food stand across the street form the office. “Red red” consists of white beans with pepper and ripe plantains. It was very good! If you know me, you know that ripe plantains make me happy. So I loved “red red”! The beans had an extra spicy flavor thanks to the special Ghanaian pepper concoction. I also realized today that apart from the meat pie (pastry with meat) I had Monday from a bakery in Accra I haven’t eaten meat since I’ve been here. Therefore I must find some protein soon, hopefully in the form of chicken, beef, or sausage (which apparently they sell in front of our house). Tonight I made myself fried plantains and I ate them with refried beans I brought from Nicaragua. So once again, a meal with no meat. But like I said, plantains make me happy.  

Stamping with the wax.

The fabric after the stamping

The fabric drying in the sun after being dyed and having the wax removed (by dipping it in boiling water)

The bowl of "Red Red" I had for lunch