Textile production has always been one of the great commodities traded along the Silk Road. Afghanistan's many ethnic groups all contribute to these traditions with variations in technique and design. Workshops which print or printed their own fabrics also carved their own stamps. Over time, they become worn with cracks and imperfections. These cast-offs are highly valued by the textile and fiber art community in the west. As more and more fiber artists plunge into surface design experiments, they expand their own collections of tools, such as these stamps, coming from Asia and Africa.
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| Focal textile stamp. |
We now have a nice supply of textile stamps available in our Etsy shop:
AfghanTribalArts. There are basically three kinds of stamps: focals which are used as central images, fillers which fill the space around a focal and borders, used to outline a textile or focal area.
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| Border Textile Stamp |
Most of the designs from Afghanistan depict flowers or geometric designs as animals and people are discouraged under Islamic religious directives. Ornate and graceful, these old stamps also make beautiful art pieces on their own. They can sit on book shelves or by adding picture frame hangers, cluster on a wall.
Here is a beautiful video from India showing similar stamps in use:
We combine shipping on multiple purchases and give free shipping on orders over $100 in the United States. The shop is full of treasures: hand-carved beads, vintage tribal jewelry, embroidered textiles, and much more. Come visit!
