Adinkra Cloth

In the last Quilting Arts magazine, there was an Article on Adinkra – West African Symbolism printed onto cloth. I don’t want to make the stamps, but I am fascinated with the symbolism. I will print the symbols onto fabric using a bubble jet printer.

Using a freezer paper pattern and Shiva paint stiks a I made a dragonfly in the middle of an A4 sized cotton cloth. When dry, I removed the freezer paper.
Considering the words I used in the previous collage, I looked for symbols that reflected the dragonfly.
Using “Publisher” I made several Adinkra symbols ready for printing in a grid pattern. Symbols are from www.welltempered.net/adinkra.. Traditional Adinkra cloth usually has one symbol per grid with very close spacing.
BESE SAKA “Sack of cola nuts” (affluence, abundance, prosperity)
DWENNIMMEN “Rams horns” (humility, strength)
MMERE DANE “time changes” (change, life’s dynamics)
OSRAM NE NSOROMMA “the moon and the star” (love, faithfulness, harmony)
SESA WORMUBAN “I change or transform my life” (Transformation)
BI NKA BI “no one should bite the other” (peace, harmony) I really like this, it reminds me of Ying/Yang)

I also found a Southern Pueblo Indian symbol of the dragonfly, connected with water (purity), and renewal (transformation, change).


Had problems with the network, so had to physically put the file on the bubble jet’s home computer. Didn’t have Publisher, but Corel Photo House, so I had to convert the file, and reformat, as the margins were different to my laser printer set up. Grrrr.

Changed the printers properties to “Transparency”, and “Best”. The freezer paper backed fabric printed okay, but the ink didn’t like printing over the Shiva painted dragonfly. I left it overnight, and heat set it in the morning. Because of the printer set up, I will have to stitch extra “grid” rows on the outside, but it should be okay. I Sewed around the quilt “grid” but didn’t like it, so unpicked it.

Decided to echo quilt instead, starting around the dragonfly in orange thread. Much better result. Had to add a small border of orange fabric to bring it up to A4 size. Zigzagged around the outside with orange thread. The creative imaginings has been used as a force within me.