How do you make amate paintings?
How do you make amate paintings?
Amate is an ancient tradition of paper making from Mexico, made from the pulp of the fig and mulberry trees. To make amate, the outer tree bark is peeled and the inner bark is boiled and soaked in water overnight, then beaten with a smooth flat stone until it becomes pulp.
How is amate art made?
The Process of Amate Traditionally, men procure the bark, while women turn it into paper. Once collected, the bark is boiled in vats with ash or lime for hours, turning it into a pulp. The pulp is then poured onto a wooden board and beaten until the fibers of the bark turn the pulp into a paste.
What kind of paper is used in amate art?
Amate Bark Paper
Amate Bark Paper has been used throughout the ages in religious and legal texts as well as a canvas for painting. Each sheet of this traditional Mexican paper is handmade from the bark of Amate, Nettle, and Mulberry trees.
What is amate used for?
It was used primarily to create codices. Amate paper was extensively produced and used for both communication, records, and ritual during the Triple Alliance; however, after the Spanish conquest, its production was mostly banned and replaced by European paper.
Who made Amate art?
Instead fibers are pounded together with a stone; creating an irregular, luscious sheet. Papel Amate has been made for centuries by the Otomí Indians in the states of Puebla and Vera Cruz in Mexico. Traditional fibers still used today are the outer bark of the ficus tree and the inner bark of the mulberry bush.
Why is Amate art important?
As long as humans have existed, art has been an important part of social culture. Teaching children about the folk art of other cultures helps us to appreciate what people from around the world consider valuable and beautiful.
How do you make Amate paper?
How do you make paper bark?
- Collect thin strips of birch bark from around the tree at any time of year.
- Wash the bark pieces gently, using warm water and dishwashing soap.
- Lay the bark to dry on several layers of paper towel.
- Soak the bark in warm water if the bark is thick.
- Use any regular ink pen to write your message on the bark.
How did Aztecs make paper?
This description matches the one provided by Francisco Hernández and is probably very close to the way the ancient Aztecs produced paper. To summarize, it is made by releasing fibers from the inner bark of certain trees, felting them together with a flat stone, and then drying the resulting mat.
What is the meaning of Amate?
archaic. : to cast down : dishearten, subdue. amate. transitive verb (2)
What is a Mexican Amate?
Amate, from the Nahuatl word amatl (paper), is a type of craft paper with the appearance of a fibrous vegetal sheet. Its artisan manufacturing requires the use of bark from various kinds of trees. The elaboration and use of amate paper have their origin in pre-Hispanic times.
