Vintage Polynesian Bark Paper with Curved Arch Design 27” x 35”

We believe this flexible, medium heft kapa* paper was probably collected in Hawaii in the 1960s or 1970s when our parents visited the island. We cannot however confirm such as we could not find an identical pattern online.
 
Bark paper is made by hand from tree bark from mulberry, nettle, or fig trees, and pounded into flat sheets. Bark cloth meanwhile is made by beating the bark to soften and fuse the fibers, resulting in a soft textile like piece. 
 
Decoration was traditionally done using natural plant dyes and earth pigments. Brown dye was extracted from the bark of the Blood Tree, red from the Lipstick Tree’s seeds mixed with the aforementioned, yellow dye from turmeric roots, block from the soot of burned candlenut mixed with brown dye. 
 
* Bark cloth or paper is called kapa in Hawaii, tapa in Tonga and the Cook Islands, siapo in Samoa, olubugo in Uganda and by other names elsewhere in the world. It predates weaving, the bark cloth one of the earliest textiles.
 
Many of these are available for sale online, most much more complex, ranging in price from $ 100-650 at the time of our research. Ours however has lived a life.
 
As shown in photos, there is a pink stain on one edge that bleeds through to the back. There is a tear on another edge. There are some pinholes in the piece, and a few places where the bark is very thin or ‘torn’ although we think such spots are natural imperfections. Regardless, these issues are hard to spot from a distance.
 
The bark has been stored folded in quarters so there are creases, but they could probably be teased out.
 
H 27” x L 35”
 
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know.