About the name

"Bello Marini" is a name and description of me in the Hausa language of West Africa. "Bello" is my "Hausa name", chosen because it is somewhat similar to "Bill". "Marini" means "dyer", especially "indigo dyer". So "Bello Marini" is "Bill the Dyer".

About the logo

The logo image is a design based on a hat found in one of the burial caves in the Bandiagara Hills, Mali. The hat is from the 11th or 12th century AD, when the people known to the Dogon as "Tellem" lived in the region. It is made of strip-woven cotton cloth tied and then dyed with indigo.

Photo by Gerard Jansen, colorized by me

Introduction

• Dyes:
  • Indigo (natural and synthetic)
  • Synthetic vat dye (Inkodye)
  • Fiber-Reactive dyes (Procion, Cibacron)
  • Discharge "dye" (diluted bleach or thiourea dioxide)
• Techniques:
  • Sewn resists
  • Tied resists
• Design Inspirations:
  1. From tie-dye traditions:
     • Anasaazi (SW United States, ancient)
     • Cameroonian ndop
     • Chinese
     • Czech & Slovak
     • Danish
     • Inca (Peru)
     • Subcontinental (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan)
     • Indonesian plangi
     • Japanese shibori
     • Mande/Bambara (Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Senegal)
     • Mende (Sierra Leone)
     • North African (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia)
     • Persian (Iran, Afghanistan)
     • Philippine
     • Tellem (Bandiagara Hills, Mali, ancient)
     • Toucoulour (Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal)
     • Yoruba adire (SW Nigeria)
  2. From other sources:
     • Birds
     • Flowers
     • Hupa basketry design elements (California)
     • Insects (esp. beetles and butterflies)
     • Marine invertebrates (esp. nudibranchs ("sea slugs"))
     • Minerals
     • Native Amazonian arts (headdresses, basketry, painting, carving...)
     • Native Australian painting
     • Pomo basketry design elements (California)
     • Snakes
     • anything else striking or beautiful that I come across
     • and especially, the images that float around in my own mind

Email Bill Anderson (bellomarini@att.net)