Treasures from the trip

There's not a great deal of fun to be had opening up a suitcase on return from a trip, especially one which has been delayed in transit. All that washing and stuff that was carelessly pushed in at last minute is hardly something to look forward to seeing, the more so when it's covered in the contents of a bag of purple sticky rice which has burst in transit...

A good job then, that some beautiful treasures were purchased and stashed away at the bottom.

Some things don't travel well and we are not generally souvenir hunters, preferring the practical, the edible and the photographic kind of product to bring home. Items found on markets are often cheap, imported goods from China and I am wary of buying things without sufficient knowledge to discern the genuine from the fake.

Whilst shopping in the night bazaar in Luang Prabang however, I had the benefit of a conversation with Mr Morn in the weaving workshop, had learned a little about the Hmong textile tradition from observation of the Hmong lady working on her batik and read up more in "Legends in the Weaving", a book I bought whilst there. So when I spotted these bags, I recognised the fabrics immediately and knew they had been made from Blue Hmong clothing. What treasure! (My foot is in the picture above so you can get an idea of size and scale)

After all, a girl can't have too many bags, can she? (Dont answer that, Mark) The combination of indigo and scarlet is a classic, isn't it? The geometric batik patterns are intricate and seem to be individual to the piece - I don't know if each woman had her own, personal design or if a family or tribe used the pattern to identify themselves. All I know is that hours and hours of work must have gone into the creation of these wonderful fabrics and that I, for one, am a very appreciative owner.

The scarlet cotton applique has been applied by hand with absolute geometric precision. Mitred corners are beautifully neat and there is little or no bulk. Traditionally the base fabric would have been hemp (as the Hmong woman in the workshop was using) but I am not sure that the fabric of my bags is coarse enough to be hemp. I don't know.

In places, the lengths of fabric have been joined, creating interesting intersections between the patterns.

And those batiked patterns underneath the applique continue to delight and amaze me with their precision.

The hours of work spent on the batik and applique do not complete the process, however, for there is the cross stich section too. This is worked in a variety of fibres in the samples I have - some stranded cotton and some thin woolly thread, worked on an evenweave cloth with slightly less precision as the applique! Fuchsia pink, lemon yellow/lime green and white seem common to all, with hints of emerald green, teal blue or primary blue here and there. I understand the Hmong women work the cross stitch from the back of the cloth and having watched a couple stitching, have no idea how they can produce such elaborate embroidery with such apparent ease. I guess it's practice!

They work four or five arms lengths of fabric for a skirt and may only make one or two in a year. The beauty of their skirt reveals their personality - if they are not full of beautiful batik and embroidery, the woman may be thought of as lazy!

And on each of my bags (ooops, yes, I did buy - ahem - more than one) there is a large red rectangle in the cross stitch panel. On one of them, there's a couple more appliqued squares too, though I didn't see that elsewhere.

To put all of this into context, here's a photo I scanned from the Legends in the Weaving book, showing a Blue Hmong woman making the pleats in her fabric to create a skirt. Sadly, these skills are disappearing and we spoke of this with Ming, our guide. Young people want to wear the same blue jeans and T shirts as their counterparts worldwide - why not? For those who do want to keep links with their heritage, cotton cloth is purchased and synthetic dyes used rather than the traditional plant materials.

Workshops such as Ock Pop Tok are doing a great job in educating visitors about the skills and traditions of the Lao people. I felt privileged indeed to learn from them and feel ambivalent about my bags: sad to think a woman has cut up her beautiful skirt to create a product to sell on a market stall but happy to own such a treasure and to share a few details about its background.

Some wonderful photographs and more information about these people and their fascinating textile traditions can be found here.

Everything you wanted to know about the Hmong people (and possibly a little more) can be read here

Embroidery colours

I love the richness of the colour here. The rooms are rather dark during the daytime, shady and cool and the colours appear subdued and understated. But add a little light - sunshine or electric - and they pop out, bright pinks, greens and yellows all used together with, it seems, little or no "design". I would never have used these combinations and would most probably only stick to a very considered palette of carefully chosen colours.

The two parasols at either end of the enormous sofa are another riot of colour. They don't match but it doesn't seem to matter and that bit of gold "bling" makes all the difference.

I think it's really effective, proving that whole-hearted works better than half. What do you think?

Oh yes, the weaving workshop

In all the excitement of being here last night, I neglected to tell all about the weaving workshop. Suffice to say that it was hugely enjoyable and, as I feared, I could easily get hooked on weaving - fortunately we have no room for a loom!



My first task was to wind some bobbins of silk thread on the ever-so wonky swift. I needed five of black and two of pale green. Whilst I did this, I had an audience of my teacher Miss Lin, Mr Morn the interpreter and a charming "Blue Hmong" lady working in a corner of the workshop doing some indigo batik on a length of hemp fabric for a skirt.

They giggled as I negotiated various challenges, including snags in the thread, a loose traction belt on the swift and my sheer inexperience and unfamiliarity with the device. But they were very supportive and were as thrilled as I was by the end result!

The loom was already set up and my first challenge was to work 20cm of plain weave. First I watched Miss Lin go through the process slowly...two pedals, one shuttle, one heddle. Right pedal, throw shuttle, left pedal, beat, throw shuttle, right pedal, beat... Just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, Miss Lin would correct my hand position, remind me to beat a little harder...replace my hand into the middle of the heddle. And often, when I relaxed and lost concentration for a second, she'd giggle and put me right with the correct feet and shuttle position.

I was just getting the hang of it...lunchtime! I enjoyed a freshly cooked Lao-style lunch with Mr Morn and his colleague Mr Noy, both young students of English and glad of an opportunity to chat and relax a little. They explained each dish of food and how to eat it, tucking in themselves and joining me in enjoying a great meal. Clockwise from the front, a clear vegetable soup, a pork and bamboo shoot salad, fried tofu with chilli and leaves, a salad of spinach-type leaves and chillies, aubergine dip in the middle and green, purple and white jelly dessert with coconut. All accompanied by Lao sticky rice in the round cylindrical basket container and eaten with the fingers - except for the soup, of course.

Half an hour's break then, when Mr Morn and Mr Noy both had a nap and I took the opportunity to wander around the garden and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Then back to work. Time for the pattern. The loom had been set up with the "hook" pattern, a traditional Lao motif and a new challenge was thrown into the pot. Not only did I have to remember the pedal and shuttle throwing sequence, I now had to manage the strings which created the pattern rows - having been warned that setting up a pattern on a loom took time and skill...and if I lost one of the strings or got it out of place, then it would create difficulties.

First was four rows black, four green, four black, four green and so on. Then a little introduction to the string business. Three more stripes and then into the pattern fully.

New respect for these skilled women who not only create such wonderful textiles but do it so easily, so quickly and so creatively...for they introduced different colours along the row, working instinctively to create the most beautiful effects.

A short time later, a cheer from Mr Morn - half way! Now the pattern strings, which I had been moving from pegs at the top of the loom to pegs at the bottom were going to move back up again, creating the mirror image of the design.

At the same time, distraction came in the form of shouts - the young men from the village were about to practice for the boat race on Sunday and my young teacher was eager to have a look and give a shy wave. They waved back and their antics created great hilarity as we all stood and watched them power away on the fast current. The Hmong lady stood and shook her head with a smile, as if to say "young people today...."

When I'd added another 20cm or so of plain black weaving to my masterpiece, Miss Lin finished it off with a few rows of cotton, ready to cut the fringe. As I worked on this last piece, another more experienced weaver came over and gave a little advice about my edges which I admit were rather less than perfect!

Miss Lin finished the weave and set up the loom for the next piece before cutting it away and twisting the fringe. She did this in the same way as we've seen Maori women make their skirts from phormium leaves - by rolling it down her shin - and tied the knots so deftly, I couldn't quite work out how she did it!

I was delighted with my "masterpiece", wonky edges and all. What a great way to spend a day!

Blue hands

After all, who did a dyeing workshop and came home with clean hands?

I've had a wonderful day at the Ock Pop Tok workshop, having the place all to myself and completely individual attention. What more could I ask?

A warm welcome this morning from Mr Morn, the interpreter and guide who greeted me with a mug of bael tea (delicious - hadn't had it before) and who introduced me to the programme for the day. After a bit of background information about sericulture he explained about the natural dyes used in Laos - illustrated by a walk around the garden where most were growing. The view from the workshop was breathtaking and the cool breeze from the river most welcome.

After an introduction to Mr Khum, master dyer, it was straight to work.

First task, chopping tumeric for the yellow colour. That had to be pounded to a pulp before boiling with sappan leaves to achieve the colour I wanted.

Whilst that was cooking, I chopped some fresh indigo leaves and soaked them in cold water for the green dye.

That was a new one for me - I've only ever done the hot fermented indigo dyeing before, so thought this would be something different.

I'd never heard of sappan wood before but clearly it's a useful one, for it can give pink, red or purple depending on the mordant used.

The sappan wood liquor had been fermenting for several days and was at a steady boil at my side ready to accept the skein of silk which I'd soaked with a huge alum crystal in the water to give the gorgeous rich purple colour.

Having squeezed and rinsed and totally admitted defeat in untangling those wet skeins, I handed them to Mr Khum who laughed as he shook them out into perfectly straight hanks to hang in the sun to dry. I guess he's had a fair bit of practice.

Later in the day, he came over bearing three beautifully presented skeins of silk for me - and a small plastic carrier bag.

What had I left behind in his dye kitchen? Nothing at all - it was his present of a few pieces of sappan wood, some tumeric root, indigo leaves and some annato seeds for me to take home.

Next on the programme was weaving - as absolute first for me. Far too much to report now though, so that will wait until tomorrow.

Our last night here in Laos, a beautiful country with the most gracious and delightfully friendly people. What we have seen has been unspoiled and so natural. We have loved every minute of our stay.

Fun weekend

I've had a really fun time this weekend, starting on Friday, when I met Paulene from her train. She'd booked the last two places on a workshop with Dawn Dupree at Cirencester Brewery Arts after Maggie had told us that she'd booked herself on it. Careful what you tell us about - an Artful Dodger or two might just join you to share the fun!




A couple of days ago we sent off black and white images for Dawn to prepare something for us in advance. Though we had suspected she'd do a Thermoscreen or something we were none too sure, so we agonised a little over what to send. I eventually decided to send an image created from a metal installation in the foyer of Alexandria Library - visit Paulene and Maggie's blogs to find out what they chose to work with.



Anyway, when we arrived, there were our screens, ready to go.





The room was a little tight on space but thankfully, bright and airy with open windows and a light breeze. We enjoyed having the chance to spend a day printing and making use of a range of materials, inspired by Dawn's fascinating exhibition just downstairs.

She was generous with her ideas and experience, ready and more than willing to suggest, advise and explain how to create just the effects we were after. We had great fun.

Lunchtime was bright and sunny and sitting outside with a sandwich and sushi was a good chance to catch up with the gossip.

Our screens held up well, from time to time we oohed and aaahed at some effect or other, the more so if the image was a transient one - here the colours on my screen "popped", though of course, that was all to be washed away seconds after the photograph was taken.

Maggie and Paulene both created some wonderful work which they will surely share. I was happy with mine though am unsure where it will go from here - in which cupboard will it end up?

In the evening, we smartened ourselves up a bit and went, together with our Dodger men, to the Wild Duck in Ewen where we ate, drank and talked the night away.

What a great way to spend a weekend. Thanks Maggie for booking the class to start with, Paulene for letting me in on the fun and nabbing the last two places! And thank you too, Mark, Nigel and Robin, for being such good company last night.