I've booked in for a very expensive half day of weaving classes to make the most expensive table mat on the planet...actually probably not.
Ock Pop Tok means "East meets West". It's a hugely popular and successful Fair Trade outfit that supports master craftswomen in remote parts of Laos, so my fee actually goes to a lot of these wonderfully worth-while projects. There are two shops in Luang Prabang, and an estate outside town with 4 beautifully decorated rooms overlooking the scenic Mekong river, a lovely restaurant and the weaving and basketry centre. About 3 women come in for intensive courses to improve their village-level crafts and output. It has replaced opium growing a a better income source.
I am taken by tuktuk from the shop in town to the estate, allocated an English speaking teacher (who went to teacher training college here and speaks excellent English) and a master weaver too. After a cool welcome drink, I'm given a choice of patterns and colours. All the silk (two kinds, one from China, one from India) is dyed before use with natural dyes, from plants mostly grown right on the estate. I choose indigo blue (which is the basic dye used by many hill tribes both this side of the border and north in China, where I have traveled widely and seen he women at market wearing all these colorful outfits. To contrast I choose a golden yellow from turmeric.
The naga is a mythical creature which mostly looks after humans but can wreak havoc if it gets angry! I know it's very typical, but the pattern is crazy-involved and difficult and I doubt I can do it. Yup they assure me, you can do it. Later I realize why - all the hard work of setting up the loom and the pattern threads has been done ahead by my master weaver, a middle-aged lady called Pa. We simply have to rethread certain wefts, sometimes insert a paddle to keep it apart, before I send the double bobbin through the weave threads. I don't know a thing about weaving but I catch on to my stuff OK. Working the bamboo foot controls i hard
First I am assigned to the spinning wheel to load my bobbins. Pa makes it look easy, it isn't, you get winding and then something catches. I find afterwards that smooth bobbins makes the weaving go better, but that's for later...
The looms are made by the village men to fit the weaver's body, so I've got a small loom. I'm told the class if 12:30-3pm but at 4:45 I'm till plugging away, and Pa finally does the last few centimeters for me! My back is killing me! I've only taken one short pee break, and my teaches has called home a few times on her cell to tell mother (I'm sure) she has a super slow learner and to watch the kids for a bit longer...Various other staff wander by probably to ask what's keeping you so long...
I asked soon after I started if someone can make me a second placemat, same as mine, for my husband, so we have matching pair. Yup, Pa can do this in an hour! She's finished ahead of me and finishes the mat with beautiful tassels. When I finally get done, she does my tassels quickly, not quite the same.
But I'm SO PROUD of my work. I would never have thought it possible for me to create such a beautiful piece. I now understand a tiny bit what motivates these wonderful artists. I have taken photos of the work or sale here, it is absolutely the most intricate weaving I have ever laid eyes on and we thought the work in Guatemala 40 years ago was outstanding. These women create pieces to prove what great wives they will make, it's a salable skill in the marriage market back in those villages.
There are many superstitions about the weaving, dying, etc. quite fascinating really. I got a book to take home, explaining the amazing work Ock Pop Tok does and what they do at the centre, good reading for later on the trip.
Next day, I bring Ted back to the centre. Although it's Women's Day and the weavers are taking the day off, we have a tour, including meeting the silk worms, chomping away,see the dye works, all the plant from which the dyes come, and of course, a trip to the gift shop where a few bucks are happily left behind.
Ock Pop Tok means "East meets West". It's a hugely popular and successful Fair Trade outfit that supports master craftswomen in remote parts of Laos, so my fee actually goes to a lot of these wonderfully worth-while projects. There are two shops in Luang Prabang, and an estate outside town with 4 beautifully decorated rooms overlooking the scenic Mekong river, a lovely restaurant and the weaving and basketry centre. About 3 women come in for intensive courses to improve their village-level crafts and output. It has replaced opium growing a a better income source.
I am taken by tuktuk from the shop in town to the estate, allocated an English speaking teacher (who went to teacher training college here and speaks excellent English) and a master weaver too. After a cool welcome drink, I'm given a choice of patterns and colours. All the silk (two kinds, one from China, one from India) is dyed before use with natural dyes, from plants mostly grown right on the estate. I choose indigo blue (which is the basic dye used by many hill tribes both this side of the border and north in China, where I have traveled widely and seen he women at market wearing all these colorful outfits. To contrast I choose a golden yellow from turmeric.
The naga is a mythical creature which mostly looks after humans but can wreak havoc if it gets angry! I know it's very typical, but the pattern is crazy-involved and difficult and I doubt I can do it. Yup they assure me, you can do it. Later I realize why - all the hard work of setting up the loom and the pattern threads has been done ahead by my master weaver, a middle-aged lady called Pa. We simply have to rethread certain wefts, sometimes insert a paddle to keep it apart, before I send the double bobbin through the weave threads. I don't know a thing about weaving but I catch on to my stuff OK. Working the bamboo foot controls i hard
First I am assigned to the spinning wheel to load my bobbins. Pa makes it look easy, it isn't, you get winding and then something catches. I find afterwards that smooth bobbins makes the weaving go better, but that's for later...
The looms are made by the village men to fit the weaver's body, so I've got a small loom. I'm told the class if 12:30-3pm but at 4:45 I'm till plugging away, and Pa finally does the last few centimeters for me! My back is killing me! I've only taken one short pee break, and my teaches has called home a few times on her cell to tell mother (I'm sure) she has a super slow learner and to watch the kids for a bit longer...Various other staff wander by probably to ask what's keeping you so long...
I asked soon after I started if someone can make me a second placemat, same as mine, for my husband, so we have matching pair. Yup, Pa can do this in an hour! She's finished ahead of me and finishes the mat with beautiful tassels. When I finally get done, she does my tassels quickly, not quite the same.
But I'm SO PROUD of my work. I would never have thought it possible for me to create such a beautiful piece. I now understand a tiny bit what motivates these wonderful artists. I have taken photos of the work or sale here, it is absolutely the most intricate weaving I have ever laid eyes on and we thought the work in Guatemala 40 years ago was outstanding. These women create pieces to prove what great wives they will make, it's a salable skill in the marriage market back in those villages.
There are many superstitions about the weaving, dying, etc. quite fascinating really. I got a book to take home, explaining the amazing work Ock Pop Tok does and what they do at the centre, good reading for later on the trip.
Next day, I bring Ted back to the centre. Although it's Women's Day and the weavers are taking the day off, we have a tour, including meeting the silk worms, chomping away,see the dye works, all the plant from which the dyes come, and of course, a trip to the gift shop where a few bucks are happily left behind.
Wish 8 could have been doing this with you! Sounds amazing. (Ali>
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