A TREASURE OF STRAW AND HONEY
Often associated with spring or summer wear, especially in regions experiencing heavy wintertime, jewels made of fibers can take simple and minimal or very elaborate and complex forms and designs. As with other materials, the form and design of these jewels would, among others, depend on the demand and of course, the availability of material and very importantly, technical know-how.
In some communities, because of the cost of gold ornaments, imitation jewelry is a viable alternative. Rings, necklaces and bracelets are made from shimmering, golden straw, artistically worked over with beeswax. Although made of humble materials, the designs of these adornments mirror those employed in metalwork, emulating gold’s resplendence.
TIMBUKTU GOLD
This necklace was made by the Songhai people of Timbuktu, Mali and teaches us that not all that shines is (or should be) gold. In Timbuktu, once a hub in the trans-Sahara trade and a religious center in northern Mali, Songhai women have been producing jewelry from bee wax and straw for many decades. The items look very much like gold jewelry and are colloquially referred to as “Timbuktu gold“. In shape, the necklace looks like the clasps found on a type of bracelet that was very common in the Middle East from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. Later the form reappears in the adornment repertoire of the Fulani – a pastoral society in West Africa – in the shape of close-fitting gold necklaces. These became so popular in the Timbuktu area that local Songhai women appropriated the design and began producing them from straw and wax.
