Details

Object type

fabric length; cloth

Artist/Maker

ABC Wax maker

Place Associated

Great Britain, Manchester (place of manufacture); West Africa, Ghana (place of use)

Date

1992

Materials

cotton

Dimensions

folded: 310 mm x 322 mm x 30 mm 774.5 g

Description

This sample length of fabric "Super Wax" because of the wax resist style of printing used. It is a pale blue cotton printed in floral and foliage design. It was manufactured by ABC Wax in Manchester for export to West Africa. This design is for a non-‘standard wax’ product, called Superwax, which has different characteristics to the standard print. The fabric has been printed three separate times to achieve the Superwax effect, first with a pair of copper rollers to print the base pattern in wax, secondly using two screens to give the crack effect in the orange and pink and finally using one screen to print the solid yellow. The design is from 1992, has the design number A17822 and is named ‘Glasgow’. The designers name the patterns, and although the name of the designer is not recorded on the label, it is thought to be Margaret Hickson. The designer may have visited Glasgow and gathered some inspiration for the design. Alternatively, the designer may have gained inspiration from Ebenezer Brown Fleming’s designs, a Glasgow Merchant and the first to introduce Wax Prints into West Africa from around 1895.

European manufactured wax prints inspired by Indonesian batik were first introduced to West Africa commercially in 1893 by Ebenezer Brown Fleming, a Glasgow merchant. The traditional production process was slow and laborious and soon European manufacturers began experimenting to speed up the process in order to produce this cloth at more affordable prices. The first ABC Wax Prints were produced in a factory in Manchester in 1908. The Manchester factory closed in December 2007 and production was transferred to ABC in Ghana.

ID Number

A.1993.38.l

Location

Kelvingrove Cultural Connections