Lamartoe
p. 79 · Read in the full issue
A New Dress For
Mortlock Island girl Lamartoe wanted a new dress to wear. And no sooner said than done—almost. A Mortlock weaver, Tavi, got to work and made it from go to whoa, while Rabaul man Gordon Bladen photographed the various steps for PIM. Lamartoe is seen wearing the dress on the right.
In the first picture Tavi prepares a limb from a type of hibiscus from which the weaving fibre is obtained. He cuts the limb from the tree, removes branches, peels off the outer bark and takes one inch strips of the inner banc, which is then soaked in the sea. This is then scraped by a turtle shell scraper, washed and hung out to dry, and after wards dyed.
Tavi then gets to work on his weaving, with the Polynesian loom fastened to the side of his house. The completed fibre cloth is always given to wives, sisters or girl-friends and is worn on festive occasions. The Mortlocks are nortn east of Bougainville. The origin of its loom is obscure.