Crafts of Africa

African crafts were common to all cultures, where specialists made objects needed by other members of the society

Jewellery may be made from metal, wood, ivory, beads, shells or leather, silver is prized among the Berber women of the North and Fulani women use beaten gold for their earrings.

African women love elaborate colourful jewellery The more the merrier as this means they are of higher status. They achieve this by using all types of material for beads.

Beads can have special meaning such red for love, anger or pain, blue for faithfulness, sea or gossip, green for grass or loneliness and yellow for home, wealth or even an insult.

African crafts textile specialists include spinners, weavers, and dyers of cloth, tailors, and seamstresses. Others work in leather, wood, clay or metal.

Textiles are made from a wide variety of materials. Bark is used to make strong cloth; fibres are also obtained from raffia palms, pineapple leaves and bamboo plants.

Weavers also produce materials from cotton, wool and silk. Various methods are used such as tie dying, embroidery, pattern weaving and adding extra layers to produce their own tribally identified designs.

Power and authority was expressed as well such as Kente cloth, brightly coloured cloth with gold threads, was only made for the political leaders of the Ashanti state.

Masking was extremely common and of high quality in Africa. The masks were made of wood, bronze, feathers and many other collected items.

African Masks were large in size, often with huge eyes and other exaggerated facial features.

Wood and metal sculpture used in religious and cultural ceremonies were also common.

Wood was every important to African crafts as it was used to make masks, statues, musical instruments, weapons and domestic objects.

Body art is practised in many African cultures for preparing for the battle, initiation, mourning and other ceremonies.

Fetish figures are used to hold materials which gives the owner tremendous power others and fear of the fetish will cause the guilty to do anything to protect them from it.

The contents can include such things as ground up bone, teeth,claws, leaves, hair,blood, bile and excreta and are prepared by the witch doctor or medicine man.