WEAVING CLASS

In Thailand we saw many attractive pieces of silk fabric and even considered buying some for curtains. We couldn't find anything that we both agreed was suitable so we didn't buy anything, which might be just as well because it may have been just a whim on our parts.
In Laos I have seen even more interesting patterns and colour schemes than in Thailand and when I found a pamphlet offering weaving classes I got quite excited. You can check out the place at www.ockpoktok.com which means East meets West. The business was apparently started by a British photographer who was very interested in weaving and took many classes with a local woman, and then just decided she wanted to make weaving part of her life. Now after 8 years Ock Pok Tok has two shops and a gallery, and employs 40 local weavers, although they aren't all their all the time. It seems to give a lot back to the community so I didn't begrudge the US$55 class fee (too much^^)
Somehow I fancied making one of the very fancy patterns you can see on the skirts of many girls around here, but of course this takes a lot of time, and much more skill than I could muster in just one day of learning. So I ended up making a placemat basically, with what is known as a Naga pattern. The Naga is some Buddhist spiritual symbol that protects I think... This pattern is two snake heads facing in opposite directions. You can see pictures of what it look like below. Each ethnic group in Laos weaves different patterns into their textiles according to their beliefs, and the colours differ depending on what ingredients you can find in the forest. In the class I took today, I dyed three skeins of silk, one with sappan wood and rusty nails, which turned out deep crimson; the second was dyed with indian trumpet leaves and that turned out a nice light apple green, and the third was dyed with teak leaves, which turned the silk greyish pink. Since some dye ingredients can take up to a year to ferment, they aren't used very much anymore, which is a shame considering they won't pollute the rivers like chemicals will. Vlad didn't fancy doing weaving, although I think he would have been pretty good at it considering his skill with the crochet needle. He turned up at lunch time to join us and the other weavers for a regular Lao lunch of sticky rice (rolled in balls with the fingers and then dipped in the dishes) chilli fish, some green weedy vegetable and a cucumber and meatball soup. After lunch, my guide, the very cute and smily Mr Noy, translated for the weaver as she showed me where to put my hands and feet.Seeing her flip the shuttle back and forth, lift the beater comb up and down and change the pattern so quickly and without hesitation I suddenly thought that maybe weaving is one of those activities that actually is as hard as it looks. Somehow I managed to get the hang of it though after 30 minutes or so of patient instruction and the rest was just memorising the steps and making sure I didn't eff up the pattern~ I was very pleased to actually come up with a finished product and wish I could've done the three day course where I could have made an entire scarf, but Vlad's patience will only last so far~ Speaking of which, he's already asked me three times if I'm "done" so if you have any more questions about weaving, email me~~