Overview
Tapa is made in many islands. Although the islands are scattered across the Pacific, the basic steps in tapa making are the same everywhere. Here, Toto'a Fagai from Vaito'omuli village in Samoa is making siapo (Samoan tapa).
1. Toto'a bites around the bark of an u'a (paper mulberry) sapling to free the bark for stripping.
2. After separating the inner and outer bark, she flattens the inner bark.
3. She cleans the inner bark with a shell scraper, using a sloping board for support.
4. With an i'e (tapa beater), she beats the bast (narrow strip of scaped inner bark).
5. Eventually, the bast becomes a wide piece of fine cloth.
6. Toto'a carefully patches any holes in the cloth.
7. She uses an 'upeti (rubbing board) to reproduce a design on the cloth.
8. The finished siapo is laid out to dry.