Banana Fiber Craft - Kanyakumari, Tamilnadu
The bark of the banana plant is obtained and soaked in water for a day to make it soft
As the bark becomes soft they are made into a strips and dried in shade for two days.
The strips obtained from the bark are plaited to make them into ropes
The ropes are boiled in hot water along with the dyes used for coloring, approximately for an hour.
The dyes used can be both natural as well as chemical ones.
After the heating, the ropes are allowed to be in water for sometime.
Once the dying is complete, the fibers are allowed to dry in the shade for approximately two days.
The dyed ropes are either crocheted or hand woven into various products
Various techniques like rolling, folding and stitching together are used to make the desired products.
The plaited rope is rolled into a spiral and it is stitched together with equal gap so that the ropes won't get loosen from the spiral.
The size of the spiral can be decided based on the product.
The spirals of various sizes is made and stitched together to form various types of products.
