Banana-fibre yarn making
Banana-fibre yarn making for bashofu implies the planting of the fibre-banana plants, their cultivation during 2 to 3 years, the cutting down of the stalks, the stripping off of the fibrous layers of the stalks, the making of an alkaline solution for the boiling of the layers, the boiling of the layers, the making of bamboo tools for the scraping off of the boiled layers, the scraping off, the winding of the dried fibres in small balls, the yarn making and the winding up of the yarn. Weavers always say you need the fibre of 200 banana-fibre plants to weave one kimono. Therefor repeat the above process 40 times.
Cutting down the stalks of the banana-fibre plants
April 2000 in Shuri (Okinawa, Japan)
Stripping down the fibrous layers of the stalks
April 2000 in Shuri (Okinawa, Japan)
Boiling the fibrous layers in an alkaline solution
April 2000 in Shuri (Okinawa, Japan)
Making tools to scrape off the fibrous layers
April 2000 in Shuri (Okinawa, Japan)
Twisting banana-fibre yarn for the warp
Aoril 2000 in Shuri (Okinawa, Japan)
Knotting banana fibre to make banana-fibre yarn
2001 on Miyako Island (Okinawa Prefecture, Japan)
An amateur's attempt at making bashofu (November 2021 ～ ）
stripping off the layers (1)
stripping off the layers (2)
stripping off the layers (3)
stripping off the layers (4)
boiling the fibrous layers (1)
boiling the fibrous layers (2)
making bamboo tools (1)
making bamboo tools (2)
scraping off the boiled layers (1)
scraping off the boiled layers (2)
scraping off the boiled layers (3)
winding dried fibre in balls (1)
winding dried fibre in balls (2)
knotting banana fibre to make yarn (1)
knotting banana fibre to make yarn (2)
winding up the knotted yarn (1)
winding up the knotted yarn (2)