Research Plant Substances

There was a sample of lace bark from the Newstead Exhibition  it was fascinating because at first glance it just looks like a piece of lace or frame knitting. There was a brief description about how the  bark was was used by enslaved people in Jamaica. 

I looked more into the history of using plant substances in dress. 

The Lagetta Lagetto tree native to Jamaica is used to make this lace bark, the bark is peeled away from the tree in long strips and then soaked in water until the inner netting of white veins peels away from the outer bark, it is then stretched out, untangled and dried in the sun which also bleaches the material a bright white. 

                                                      Lace bark example from Newstead 

                                                             Example of frame knitting 

Protection of cultural practices out of survival 

The lace bark tree grew in the limestone forests of Jamaica's cockpit country and played an important role for the enslaved people within the plantation system. Lace bark was used as a way of cultrual retention 

Enslaved people were given the minimum amount of clothing necessary and even then it was cheap imported material - the most common was osnaburg  part of a family of poor quality textiles, didn't stand against long working hours and humid weather.

Africans who were forcefully transported to the Caribbean brought their cultural practices with them- like lacebark making, the continuations of these practices preserved a link to their ancestral homeland 

 

Lace bark was far more durable than the clothes given to them, it could be made into caps, ruffles, dresses- it could be washed well with soap and water 

 Dressing up the drab clothes given to them from the planation owners - also meant that they were perceived better in society- as lace from a European point signified wealth and class

                                   Lace-bark dress, donated in 1833 by Marchioness Cornwallis