Notes

Kunkhwe Ketswaetswe was born in Nokaneng and came to Gomare as a child. Her grandmother taught her how to weave in 1970. She knows how to make open bowl-shaped baskets, closed-lidded baskets, bracelets and the new oval-shaped trays. Ketswaetswe attended two basket teacher training courses and was subsequently hired by Botswanacraft to teach women to improve their basket quality. She was also one of the founding members of Ngwao Boswa Weavers’ Co-operative in Gomare. Kunkhwe said, ‘I am very happy I can teach the younger generation to weave, because they have managed to build up Ngwao Boswa and are now making beautiful baskets.’

The coiling technique here uses close, simple over-sewing covering one row while catching the previous row with a small ‘stitch’. The dark brown colour is obtained by boiling the palm leaves with Euclea divinorum root bark. To make the tan colour the bark is removed from the Euclea divinorum root before putting it into the dye bath. The purple/mauve colour is created by simmering the palm leaves with the leaves of the Indigofera tinctoria.

- Dr Elizabeth Terry

Provenance

Dr Elizabeth Terry Collection.