Banana Fiber Craft - Ernakulam, Kerala
After the banana fruit is cut from the plant, the pseudo stems are placed on the plank of wood and threadbare with the hand scraper. The fibers are separated from the pith and dried under sunlight, after which the fibers separated are decided to be taken as raw and fibers to be dyed.
Raw fibers are immersed in water and then taken for plaiting to the required sizes. The fibers separated for colouring (dyeing) are placed into the preheated water of 600c in the dyeing tank. As the water reaches to 600c the direct dye of the required colour is added and stirred well with the stick at intervals, then the fibers are added and heated till it reaches 1000c for about half an hour. Then common salt is added and stirred and this is left for few minutes till the water changes colourless. Fibers are taken out and dried in the shade till it is completely dried.
After the fibers are completely dried it is plaited to small, medium or big sizes as per the requirement on the table with nails (plaiting stand) by applying little bit of water in between so that the fibers doesn’t break that easily and the strength is retained.
As per the colour, length and width the plaited fibers are arranged side by side, in circular, in elliptical etc. and stitched each layer by layer such a way that the fibers are held together. As the required lengths are obtained it is curved to the required positions and wrapped accordingly as per the sizes to be made. In products such as bags, purses, table mats etc. designs are drawn on the butter paper placed on the surface and with colour combinations the fibers are stitched to enrich the look of the product.
