Motif Design and Stamp Printing
Senior 1 · Fine Arts
Motif Design and Stamp Printing
Lesson 1 of 5
20 min
Look at a kitenge cloth, a school badge, the rim of a clay pot or the label on a coffee bag from a Rwandan cooperative. Each carries a small, carefully designed shape that is repeated, printed or stamped: a motif. A motif is a single design unit, usually small and simple, that can be used on its own or repeated to make a pattern. Designers of cloth, packaging, logos and wall decorations spend a great deal of time on motifs, because a strong motif is recognised at a glance. In this unit you will design your own motif, carve it into a stamp and print it on paper and cloth.
One motif can belong to more than one type: a stylised sun on a flag is also symbolic.
Mutesi collects four motifs on a walk through the market and classifies each one, giving a reason.
| Motif | Type | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Rows of black triangles on a woven basket | Geometric | made of straight-sided shapes that could be drawn with a ruler |
| A banana leaf on a fruit seller's sign, drawn with every vein and a torn edge | Natural | shown close to how a real leaf looks |
| A coffee cherry shown as a perfect red circle with two equal leaves on a coffee bag | Stylised | a real form made simpler and more regular |
| A red cross on a first-aid box | Symbolic | a sign that everybody reads as "medical help" |
This cotton cloth was printed by Asante artists in what is now Ghana and taken to Britain in 1817; it is the oldest known example of adinkra cloth. Adinkra printers carve their stamps from pieces of calabash (a dried gourd), dip them in a dark dye made by boiling tree bark, and stamp them onto cloth that has been divided into squares by ruled lines.
Tip
Silhouette first. If you can recognise a motif from its black outline alone, it will print well. In an exam, when you name a motif's type, always add a reason: "stylised, because the petals have been made equal and regular".
Define a motif and say how it differs from a pattern.
Solution: a motif is a single design unit; a pattern is made when a motif is repeated in a planned way.
Name the type of each motif: (a) a zigzag border; (b) a lion drawn so you can recognise it; (c) a flower made of six identical round petals; (d) a letter K used as a club's emblem.
Solution: (a) geometric; (b) figurative; (c) stylised; (d) symbolic.
What is the difference between a natural motif and a stylised one?
Solution: a natural motif shows the living thing close to how it really looks; a stylised motif simplifies it and makes it more regular and decorative.
A student's motif of a tree has 40 tiny leaves. Why might it print badly as a hand-carved stamp, and how could she improve it?
Solution: the small leaves are too fine to carve and will fill with ink, so the print becomes a blotch. She could simplify the tree into a bold silhouette with a few large leaf shapes.
Remember
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