Indigenous Kenyan Craft - Art and Craft CBC Grade 6 Notes

• Basketry
  
  • Coil And Stitch Technique
    
    • Samples Of Coil And Stitch Items
    • Selecting Materials For Coil And Stitch Technique
    • Preparing Selected Materials For Coil And Stitch Technique
    • Methods Of Preparing Selected Materials For Coil And Stitch Technique
    • What to consider when coiling and stitching an item.
    • Making a floor mat using coil and stitch technique using man-made materials or natural materials.
  • Leatherwork

Basketry

Basketry is the art of making containers and other items using flexible fibres.

Coil And Stitch Technique

• It is the art of coiling materials and sticking them together using a needle and thread to make an item.

Samples Of Coil And Stitch Items

• There are two types of coils
  
  1. Plaited coils – are made by braiding two or more strands of a material to make a pattern.
  2. Roiled coils – are made by roiling strands of materials together
• Items made using the coil and stitch technique are made using any suitable materials that can be rolled e.g. banana fibres, palm leaves
• In weaving, the materials used are interlaced vertically and horizontally on a loom to form an item.
• The vertical threads are called warps and the horizontal threads are the wefts orfillings.
• In basketry, one does not use a loom.
• In the coil and stitch technique, the materials are rolled in a circular form and stitched together using a needle and a string.

Selecting Materials For Coil And Stitch Technique

• Coil and stitch materials can be sourced from
  
  1. natural materials or
  2. man-made materials
• Natural materials are those that can be found in the environment
• Man-made materials include synthetic.

• Materials used in coil and stitch technique should be flexible and easy to roil to form the coils needed.
• When selecting materials to make a door mat using the coil and stitch technique, consider whether they are
  1. Durable
  2. easy to clean and
  3. non slippery.
• Always use non slippery materials to avoid slip and fall accidents

Preparing Selected Materials For Coil And Stitch Technique

• There are different ways fo preparing materials to be used to make an item using the coil and stitch technique.
• They include
  1. Dyeing
  2. Plaiting
  3. Tearing

Methods Of Preparing Selected Materials For Coil And Stitch Technique

1. Tearing methods
   • Involves splitting materials such as banana fibres into thin strips for easier use.
   • This can be done using your hands or a fibre stripper.
2. Dyeing
   • Is the process of changing the original colour of materials used to make an item to different colour.
3. Plaiting
   • Is a technique whereby strands of suitable materials such as rope or silk are braided together to make a single string of fibre.
4. Stripping method
   1. Collected the suggested tools- Fibre stripper/basin/cutting tools/sisal/water
   2. Spilt the sisal stem into thin strips that can fit in the fibre stripper.
   3. Place the sisal strips in the middle of the fibre stripper and pull them through to get sisal fibre.
   4. Wash the fibre using clean water
   5. Dry the washed sisal fibre in the open sun.

What to consider when coiling and stitching an item.

1. Uniformity of coils
2. Consistent tension
3. Craftsmanship
4. Materials

Making a floor mat using coil and stitch technique using man-made materials or natural materials.

1. Collect the suggested materials and tools.
   Needle/scissors/thread/man-made materials
2. Prepare the strand by rolling the length of the strand you need
3. Use nylon paper or sellotape to wrap and cover the beginning end of the strand.
4. Coil the wrapped end of the strand to form a small circle. Using a thread and needle, stitch the wrapped end of the strand by inserting and pulling the needle through the strand. Start stitching from the center as you move outwards.
5. Fasten the loop after the first round by passing the needle from right towards the left onto the back of the strand.
6. Continue to coil and stitch the strand to make a mat. Add more rope until you get your desired size of the floor mat.
7. Finish the floor mat by fastening the end of the strand using stitches
8. Display your floor mat

Leatherwork

• Leather work involves using different types of leather materials to make items.
• Leather materials is produced from skin hides of animals.