The cloth
Bogolanfini begins as hand-woven cotton strip cloth, joined selvedge to selvedge before it ever meets the dye. It is dyed with a wolo bark tannin with iron-rich mud drawn from the Niger banks — the pattern is not printed on, it is drawn in mud and then the ground around it is lifted away. On this piece the mudcloth meets liquid metal appliqué, hand-set beadwork, ostrich and marabou fringe, silk satin lining, couture corsetry, bogolan mudcloth inlay.