Comments on: Cloth made from tree bark?

Cloth made from tree bark?

Chuckles — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:21:09 -0800

Cloth made from tree bark? Photos at the Textile Museum of Canada's Cloth That Grows On Trees exhibition page.

By: Listener

Listener — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:25:41 -0800

I've always seen that stuff referred to as Tapa cloth.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:37:42 -0800

My parents got gifts of tapa cloth and fine mats when we lived in American Samoa. Seeing how the tapa cloth was made was really interesting.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:45:47 -0800

Cool! The name is almost equivalent to the instructions, like Cheese On Bread And Put It In The Oven.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:46:15 -0800

I've gotten a few proa (multi-hull canoe or "outrigger") model kits that have come with tapa cloth for the sail. Neat stuff. Definitely more wearable than you'd think. Cheap paper towel texture.

By: teg

teg — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:00:16 -0800

Strange that a Canadian museum doesn't appear to have included any cedar cloth from British Columbia in the exhibit. Maybe it falls into a different class of textile, or something.

By: cardboard

cardboard — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:54:22 -0800

The cedar fabrics were woven from cedar fibres made by separating the bark into strands. The tropical things just needed tenderizing and were then treated like cloth according to the second article.

By: dpanarelli

dpanarelli — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:17:47 -0800

On a related note, I once saw stainless steel cloth at an art exhibit at MoMA. It was incredible--very soft.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:47:06 -0800

Cloth can also be woven from nettles.

By: avriette

avriette — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:46:03 -0800

Seems odd that there's no mention of Herer's "silk made from hemp" and related...

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:06:07 -0800

There's also stainless steel knitting yarn, dpanerelli -- Habu Textiles in NYC sells it, it's great stuff.

By: CheeseburgerBrown

CheeseburgerBrown — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:25:26 -0800

This is a really cool and little known museum. If you're in the Toronto area, you really should try to drop by to see some of the incredible stuff on display. The place is squeezed between a parking lot and an office building on Centre Street, just south of Dundas and east of University Avenue. Full disclosure: I'm currently preparing a documentary on Indian and Pakistani textiles for the museum as a part of an exhibition opening January 24th. Swing by for the opening and have cheese and crackers with me! Tell your friends! They do good work at the Textile Museum and nobody knows because their annual promotions budget isn't even enough to buy a :30 spot on the cheapest TV channel.