Bògòlanfini

Now yellow, but not yet color-fast, the cloth is sun-dried and then painted with designs using a metal tool or wooden stick, and carefully and repeatedly applied to outline the intricate motifs.

[3] Around Mopti and Djenné, a much simpler method is used by artists considered to be of inferior skill:[5] The cloth is dyed yellow in wolo solution, made from the leaves of Terminalia avicennoides, and then painted over with black designs.

The yellow is either removed, producing a stark black and white design, or painted a deep orange with a solution from the bark of M'Peku (Lannea velutina).

The democratic reforms after the overthrow of Moussa Traoré in 1991 caused many young men to lose their previously guaranteed government jobs and scholarships.

Women are wrapped in bògòlanfini after their initiation into adulthood (which includes genital mutilation) and immediately after childbirth, as the cloth is believed to have the power to absorb the dangerous forces released under such circumstances.

Particularly popular among young people, bògòlanfini is made into a wide range of clothes, including Western miniskirts and jackets as well as traditional flowing robes (boubous).

[1] Traditional bògòlanfini designs are also used for on a wide range of commercial products, such as coffee mugs, curtains, towels, sheets, book covers and wrapping paper.