Nika

**Ghan****a: __arts & crafts__**

 * **Basket Weaving**-Craft of weaving baskets with fibrous or pliable material. Weavers make them more interesting by using different colour materials and using different techniques of weaving. Basketry is classified into four types[[image:weavers.jpg width="399" height="320" align="right" caption="Ghanaian weavers"]]
 * 1) **Coiled**-using grasses and rushes
 * 2) **Plaiting**-using materials that are wide and ribbon-like such as palms, yucca and New Zealand flax
 * 3) **Twinning**-using materials from roots and tree bark, when two or more weaving elements cross over each other as they weave through the stiffer radial spokes
 * 4) **Wicker** and **Splint**-using reed, oak, cane, willow and ash


 * **Kpalogo drum**-Carved from a single piece of wood, covered in skin to create the drum head. It belongs to the percussion family and is classified as a membranophone


 * **Wood carvings**-The wood needs moisture and in a dry climate will become dried out and may crack. To pre[[image:468.jpg width="102" height="121" align="right" caption="wooden twins figure"]]vent this, Ghanaians polish the wood at least once a month or use matching shoe polish. The wood most used is ebony or mahogany




 * [[image:277.jpg width="81" height="142" align="left" caption="Kente scarf"]]**Kente cloth**-designs date back to the 12th century, the cloth was worn by Kings, Queens and important figures of state. It received its name from the term 'kentem' which means basket, because the clothes had designs very similar to the baskets the weavers make. The garments had various designs, colours and sizes, all having a special meaning.[[image:kente1.jpg align="right" caption="kente"]]
 * **Masks**-mostly carved out of wood and decorated with ivory, animal hair, plant fibers (such as raffia), pigments (like kaolin), stones, and semi-precious gems. Masks often represent a spirit and it is strongly believed that the spirit of the ancestors possesses it. This is why not anyone can wear these masks but the 'chosen one'[[image:druga_maska.jpg align="left" caption="mask"]][[image:treca_maska.jpg align="center" caption="mask"]]


 * **Statues**-usually made of wood and ivory, often decorated with shells, metal studs and nails[[image:prvi_kip.jpg align="right" caption="statue"]][[image:treci_kipovi.jpg width="107" height="147" align="center" caption="statue"]]

Travel writing by a young woman, living through the whole experience; in a home similar to the ones natives live in at Cape Coast, getting a bucket of water from the well to shower http://hannam189.travellerspoint.com/1/