Tapa

Tapas: usually made from tree bark and beaten into thin strips. These strips are then woven together to make rugs or clothing. It's actually a tradition in the islands of Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji but since so many of those islanders are now living in NZ it's a custom that has stuck. So as I mentioned in my previous blog we actually made some as part of our maths class. Although we didn't actually use bark we did use paper which still comes from trees. Anyway the basic steps are as follows:

Find a design you like or make up one yourself. The key is to create symmetric patterns and shapes. The tapa can either be one large shape with small patterns or smaller patterns all coming together into one tapa.

Divide the paper into gride squares to make drawing the design easier. Then pencil in the design. Once your design is finished go over the design in black permanent marker. Also color in the parts you want solid black.

When you've finished with the black then you dye the paper. But first you want to crumple up your paper into a ball and then carefully uncrinkle it again. Run a clothes iron set on warm over the back of your tapa to smooth it out. Now you're ready for the dye. We used just common dye found at the store (shops) it was a brownish color. You mix the dye with water and sponge the die all over the entire tapa until it looks like so:

Let your tapa dry completely.

Finally using bleach and q-tips you can dye parts of your tapa white to accent the pattern. It won't bleach the black marker only the dye. Let the tapa dry and you're done! Here's my finished product: