I have taken a piece of banyan tapa out of the freezer to thaw. It was harvested and wrapped in ti leaves (Cordiline terminalis) when we did the tapa making workshop with the senior art students at Enuamanu School a year ago. Keeping some samples of bark was my ‘payment’ for filming the event. I have never frozen fresh bark and am all curious how the bark feels to the touch and how it will be to beat it.
Freshly harvested bark is tough at first. I can see from the discolorations that it must be a piece that has been buried in the sea during last year’s experiments. I notice with the first beats that this bark is beautifully soft and requires much less strength to “crack open”, i.e. loosen the fibres. It means I got to be careful not to beat too hard so as not to produce holes right away. My intention is just to beat it a little bit and then take it down to Ava Tapu beach to affix it to a part of the Edna. Having this amazingly soft piece of banyan on my tutunga (wooden anvil) carries me away and I go on until it is nearly finished.
I try out a new technique of folding the bark length-wise so that I end up with beating a parcel of fibres. I would love to beat it thinner, but stop right here. I might moisten it again and beat it some more after it has been in contact with Edna.
It amazes me to return the bark to this same beach under whose coral boulders it had been buried last year. Little idea did I have then of the journey this tapa would undertake. Bringing it back to the Edna now is only the beginning of a new phase…
We have just uncovered the “wash-away frame”. It will be a wonderful piece of the Edna to do its magic with this tapa piece. I wrap my “don’t remove tape” around the frame as well to secure the tapa as best I can.
I can’t believe my eyes when the colouration is almost instant at the contact with the salt-water-soaked tapa. This time I place it high up on Edna’s bow, wedging it into a hole and hoping that the sea won’t steal it. Will it be there tomorrow? What will it look like then?
Andrea Eimke 
That’s looking wonderful Andrea! Does the salt water have an effect on ‘fixing’ the rust stains? I am reminded of Hussein Chalayan’s graduate collection, where he buried garments with iron filings to rust and decay them.
http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/16705/1/inner-space-hussein-chalayan.
Your experiments, being fibrous and in a more natural state I imagine will be much more dramatic in the results!
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I hope it does, Miranda, it should keep the rust from continuing. I have observed in some older samples (25 years!) that bark that has been submerged in sea water seems to last longer and be more resistant to insect damage. I have only just begun again to experiment and I’m all excited about the outcome. Thanks for your appreciation and also for the link provided to Hussein Chalayan’s work. It’s given me some inspiration…
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