Kapa Stamp

Description

Kapa stamp from Hawaii, or ohe kapala. Thin bamboo strip with incised pattern of closely spaced circles with radiating arms like a stars or flowers carved into the end of one side. Stamp would be dipped in paint and pressed onto kapa cloth to create a repeated decorative pattern. Old paint/dye residue clearly visible in grooves of stamp. Kapa (the Hawaiian word for tapa), is barkcloth made from the inner bark of certain trees (usually paper mulberry) and widely used throughout the Pacific Islands as clothing and sleeping covers, as well as for secular, sacred and ceremonial uses.