Ewe culture, arts, design

This post is a very brief one that introduces the topic of how to make a rope you can use for various purposes using Borassus palm. The Borassus palm happens to be one plant that is used widely to make rope that is used to weave so many stuffs and you are lucky to find this post which will let you know more about how this is done.  Explore a use of Borassus plant    The plants suitable for making the ropes normally are the ones that look young because if it grows too much it becomes hard to twist and the hand gets hurt during the process. For this reason, the young plant is the one suitable as it is soft and easily responds to the twisting pattern. Step 1 Cut a branch of the plant and allow it to dry a little under sunlight. This initial process or act makes it turn from its rich green color to a fainter color but more significant than that, the moisture content is reduced which might reduce its firmness as it is being prepared in the next stage. When it is noted that the...

Before anyone steps foot into any tertiary institution in the country, he or she has already heard a lot of famous words and phrases used daily that mean different things in society. One of the very popular of these words which I believe is in almost all tertiary institutions in Ghana and even beyond is the word GOBE . The word is actually an acronym and thus; G  - Gari O - Oil B - Beans E - Egg  Those who were not fortunate enough to have heard the amazing story about how this name came about assumed it was a word from one of the local languages and others even thought it was a Twi word. The extent of popularity of the word is undeniably vast. This post talks about one of the very famous words that is mentioned especially the tertiary institutions in Ghana and its associated assumptions. We are talking about the word AGENDA . Before stepping foot in one of Ghana's best-performing universities, the word agenda is a word to me that means a list of activities or ideas for di...

Merriam-Webster  Dictionary defines ART as - the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.  For example; the art of painting landscapes. Cambridge Dictionary defines DESIGN as - a drawing or set of drawings showing how a building or product is to be made and how it will work and look. Generally, the concept of what art and design are is a thing of much controversy and even at times, arriving at a conclusion about the topic isn't easy. The fact is that, art and design are related or have things in common that make it difficult to identify or state a clear difference between the two. However, there are some unique features or characteristics that distinguish the two. Read this post to the end to uncover some insights into some differences there are between art and design. Art and Design - The Differences Many times these two words are used as if they mean the same thing and in some cases, the difference isn't far-fetche...

To first draw the cocoyam, a reference is needed which can be a picture of the cocoyam of the real tuber. The essence of a reference is to ensure every detail is well studied which helps to draw to resemble the object. It must be understood that just imagination alone cannot do this right but only if it represents exactly what the reality is. It is the reason why a reference is needed to ensure the drawing is on point with every detail captured. The process has been simplified into only four(4) steps. Step 1: Draw a rectangle and make sure to add the imaginary line for the tuber. The imaginary line provides a sort of guide to keep the drawing balanced on both sides. Step 2: Using the rectangle as a guide, the outline of the cocoyam is drawn and can be altered to suit the desired shape since cocoyam can have different shapes. After getting the outline right and the desired shape is obtained, some details have to be added. Some lines as seen on the covering or body of the tuber as well...

Ghana as a country in West Africa is blessed with different kinds of water bodies that provide livelihood to many of the folks. In the Volta Region of Ghana, There is the sea, lagoon as well as other kinds of water bodies which in one way or another provide fish for the people.  Fishing in the lagoon In the dry season, the lagoon produces salt that the folks gather and sell when the other season comes when it becomes scarce and at the start of the rainy season, fish is available to be harvested for livelihood. To fish in the lagoon, the natives use a cast net, a hook with worms or the tool called EXA . This tool is what this article is about and we're going to unfold everything you must know about this wonderful tool. What is Exa Exa is a name from the Ewe Language which refers to the name of one of the tools used for fishing most especially in the lagoon. The animals available in the lagoon that are mostly accessed and fished are tilapia and crabs with some other different ones bu...

This post specifically provides guidelines to easily draw a container for tom brown or Weanimix but the understanding from here when applied in other instances can help anyone reading this post to easily draw any kind of bottle and get the shape right with no difficulty. Note that to draw well, it is good to have a reference so let's look at the image of the object to be drawn. This is the object to be drawn. The first thing is to carefully observe the basic shape of the object, and understand it before proceeding to draw. If we carefully analyze the shape of this bottle, what can we find?  The main shape is a cylinder and then some portions bulge out a little outside and some parts a little inside. This basic observation is okay to do a great drawing using your pen or pencil at hand. Step 1 Draw a straight line which is the imaginary line for the cylinder. This line divides the cylinder into two equal parts and getting it ensures that if you are using freehand, you can create a re...

Drawing is more effective when it is done from a reference. This reference is the actual thing that is being drawn. Drawing can be still-life, memory and so forth but for instance, if it is memory drawing, it means that the person drawing has every detail about the form and nature of what he intends to draw. So, in any regard, to draw realistically, a person must pay attention to the details in the object he or she is drawing. This post illustrates a few steps to easily draw a frying pan. The first thing we need is a reference which is the frying pan which has been shown below. We can proceed to study the basic shapes our object is made of. Reference picture Step 1 For this object, the main shapes it is made of are a circle and a rectangle, so we start off by creating the circle. This is shown below and the middle of the circle is indicated because it is needed subsequently. Step 2 Draw a dashed line from the center of the circle to the outside. This line is the imaginary line for the ...

This exercise can be done by using a pencil or a pen or even using any design software like Paint, Photoshop, Illustrator. The first thing to bear in mind is that the objects we see around us have a basic shape from which they are formed. This understanding helps to simplify the process and draw to proportion. This post shows how to draw a very simple house by making use of only shapes in just five(5) easy steps. Step 1 Draw a rectangle. a rectangle is first drawn because after simplifying the form of the house, it was realized that it is from the basic shape rectangle. Step 2 Divide the rectangle into three parts vertically. This is to ensure that the house looks proportional. Step 3 Let's draw a horizontal line a few distance from the top of the rectangle. This division at the top will be for the roof of the building. Step 4 From step 3, the basic proportion has been established so we can now proceed to add some details and then our drawing will start depicting a house. Now, we h...

Creating the 12-point color wheel remains one of the basic exercises elementary school children do considering how significant the exercise can be in educating a person to understand color. Doing this entails knowing the categories of color that are found on the color wheel. These categories are the primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary colors. The total of primary colors on the wheel is three(3), total of secondary colors also three(3) and the total of tertiary colors six(6).  More about color scheme It is important to understand what the primary colors are because the other colors that are formed are from the base primary colors.  Generally, we have the addictive primary colors and the subtractive primary colors. The addictive  colors are also known as the primaries of light that are perceived by the human eye. They are red, green, blue and commonly known as RGB. The other category known as subtractive primaries is divided into two.  They are:  Print...

 Yeah, it is amazing how wonderful a soup moringa leaves can make. In the village and most especially in households where the people know how to make use of the moringa plant, this soup is very common. This plant has the scientific name: Moringa oleifera and it happens to be a common plant even though not so common in some places especially in cities where trees are rare. These leaves have a good taste when it comes to their taste in stew and soup but not many might be aware of how great a soup they can be used for. This soup is consumed just like any other soup you can think of which means it is taken with banku, eba, boiled plantain, yam, potato and a lot more foods. In this post, I want to express how I prepare amazing and tasty soup using moringa leaves. There are varieties of ways I can prepare this but for the images you see in this post, I will show you exactly how it was prepared. By the way, a few ingredients are needed but specifically, let me state the ones used for the...