Making an Mbuti Barkcloth Painting Making an Mbuti Barkcloth Painting Barkcloth is made from the inner layer of a tree's bark - fibrous material which becomes resistant and supple the more it is beaten. The Mbuti use the bark from about six species of trees.
Men extract the bark by climbing the tree and cutting away a large strip of bark with a knife.
The excised layer is stripped of any remaining wood and rough bark, because any traces of hard bark left behind impede the cloth's ability to hold paints and dyes. Next the bark is softened, either by soaking it in water or smoking it over a fire. The bark is then spread across a large, smooth branch and hammered with a thick piece of wood or an elephant's tusk held in a cloven branch. Often these hammers are engraved with patterns, which add more texture to the barkcloth. As it is beaten, the bark expands.