Siapo is the Samoan word for a fine cloth made from the ... The inner-bark (known at this raw stage as tapa) is soaked and softened in water. When it's become slightly pulpy, Taatoa lays it ...

The making of barkcloth or tapa was once widespread throughout the islands of the Pacific. Today it is most strongly practised in the west Polynesian island groups of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. Barkcloth ...