Newsletter 3: Feb 09

February 2009

The textile workshop retreat finished a few weeks ago. We were originally going to have five people attending, but in the end we only had three. But I must admit it went like a treat. It was a new experience for two of the participants, Chris Harley and Barbara Butler, who are artists in embroidery in their own right, and both have taught and shown their work throughout the UK. Working with Silk in Contemporary Quilts is now somewhat familiar for Andrea Langfield, who chose to work in blue silks, which she over-dyed in indigo here at the studio. All three produced stunning and very pleasing pieces of work, which have inspired me hugely. Other activities included paper-making, indigo dyeing, and preparing indigo vats from our own indigo paste.

This indigo paste was produced with the help of a few friends and members of the Myanmar tour (Daphne and Joan from South Africa, and Carol from the UK), who helped to harvest and extract the indigo from our plants back in early November last year. This involved going out to our field early one morning to cut the indigo – indigoferra tinctoria – as one has to harvest the indigo while the leaves are still damp from the overnight dew. We gathered nearly 80 kilos, cutting the plants down to just above the ground, and made these cuttings into many bundles, which we then allowed to ferment in six large dustbins for two nights. We then had to remove the bundles of plants and beat the greenish water until bubbles appeared and made a singing sound. Left overnight, the liquid produced the indigo as a sediment in the bottom of the bins, which we strained off and collected as indigo paste. Altogether we collected seven to eight kilos of paste, and it is now being kept in a dark container to be used as needed for dyeing. How we produced alkaline ash water for the dye vat is another story.

We hope to increase the number of indigo plants next year. So far we have managed to grow two types of indigoferra tinctoria. One type produces straight pods, and the other produces smaller, crescent-shaped pods. I shall discuss our indigo harvest and making of the indigo paste in a later newsletter.

As cotton and indigo plants are compatible with each other, we decided to have a go at planting cotton as well. The white variety has been prolific and beautiful. The local variety, which is a light brown, did not germinate well, though it is in high demand. We have not yet decided what to do with the cotton we have picked. I’m in the middle of researching the best way of utilising this organic cotton creatively.

We saw the end of 2008 with very mixed feelings. We were very sad to learn of the passing away of Peter Collingwood. It was a great privilege to have known him, and I shall miss him very much.

Like many people around the world, we have felt the effects of the present economic crisis. The pound has suffered badly in Thailand and I guess elsewhere. This, combined with recent political problems, has meant that Thailand has lost a lot of revenue from tourism. But we now have a new prime minister who is calm and intelligent, and who, I hope, will take Thailand through this troubled time. I hope that the year 2009, which is the year of the Ox, will bring us all happiness, peace and prosperity.

When you read this, I shall probably be somewhere in Cambodia or Vietnam with my tour group.

For details of future workshops, please see the COMING EVENTS page of my web-site, or contact me by email.

Siripan

www.siripankidd.com

Text and images © Siripan Kidd 2009

Newsletter 2: Feb. 09

February 2009

Organising the Myanmar tour was dogged with political upheavals and the uncertainty of the previous year, and then the cyclone brought devastation and yet more uncertainty for us. Fortunately things calmed down and we were assured that we would not be affected when we were planning to go. But at the last minute, Air Mandalay, which had been flying between Chiangmai and Mandalay, ceased operations at the last minute before we started the tour, and we had to re-route from Chiangmai to Bangkok and then on to Yangon. When we arrived in Yangon, it was clear how much damage had been done from the number of large trees which had been blown down. These are now being carved or used for building purposes.

But here we were in Myanmar, everything had settled down nicely, and everyone in the group was overwhelmed at how stunningly beautiful and peaceful Myanmar was. Being in Myanmar was like stepping back fifty years in time.

We started the tour in Mandalay, where we explored the old capitals of Ava, Mingun, Sagaing and Amarapura, the capital before Mandalay. These old cities were simply delightful. We explored Ava in horse-drawn wooden carts, as these were the only form of transport available. The highlights for the textile enthusiasts was to see the unique weaving technique, employing luntaya (“one hundred shuttles”) over and under the warp thread to create the weft acheiq (“wavy pattern”). We met a weaver and her young daughter, who were using over 200 shuttles on their loom as they wove together. The weaving is very time-consuming; only three inches a day can be achieved even by an experienced weaver, which makes the cloth expensive. People wear luntaya acheiq only on special occasions such as weddings or graduation ceremonies. Cheaper silk with simpler designs can be bought easily in the markets. One of the delights of Mandalay is that people still wear traditional clothes.

To reach Mingun, we chartered our own boat, and sailed blissfully up the Irrawaddy, watching life on and along the river. Suddenly Mingun Pagoda appeared, guarded by the figures of two enormous lions. These, sadly, were split and almost toppled into the river by the earthquake of 1838. The pagoda, too, is enormous, but remains unfinished. It was also badly damaged by the same earth quake, and splits can be seen from top to bottom, which adds a certain charm to the site. My favourite site, and the favourite of others was the Hsinbyume Paya, whose seven whitewashed wavy terraces were built by King Bodamepaya in memory of his senior wife, the Hsinbyume Princess.

As roads in Myanmar are in poor condition, the most sensible form of transport for visitors like us, local businessmen and many locals is flying. Most flights take no more than half an hour, and are very pleasant and efficient: planes hardly take more than 15 minutes for passengers to disembark and new passengers to embark before taking off again.

We spent three lovely nights in a charming small hotel in Bagan – my favourite place. The Bagan Archaeologcal Zone is a massive area of 42 Km² on the banks of the Irrawaddy. It is the plain where most of the temples and stupas are situated – over 13000 of them. Temples and stupas here are not restricted to walled enclosures as elsewhere.

The most common form of transport here is the horse-drawn cart. We visited a lovely little village totally off the beaten track where villagers only weave cotton, and it was fascinating to see their way of life. We were served the traditional snack of pickled tea leaves with roasted peanuts and ginger, all in a little local hand-pressed peanut oil. We also saw how palm toddy and jaggary (palm sugar) were made. Back we came with small bottles of palm toddy and jaggary cakes, to last us the rest of the journey.

The other textile unique to Myanmar, and woven only in Inle Lake, is the cloth woven from lotus stem filaments. It was discovered about 90 years ago by a devout Buddhist, who wove a robe for her abbot from lotus yarn. In Inle we stayed in lovely cottages run by the Pa O people. Inle Lake itself is 22 Km long and some 11 Km wide. Surrounded by high peaks on every side, the surface of the lake is so smooth that it looks like a vast mirror. On the lake shore, and on the lake islands, the Intha people live in houses on stilts built over the lake. The lake doesn’t have a shore that you can go around, or paths you can walk along, so we travelled everywhere by boat. The way the Intha row their flat-bottomed boats is unique: they stand at the stern and row with one leg wrapped round the oar, leaving their hands free to fish. They also grow flowers, but their main crop is tomatoes, which feed the whole of Myanmar. The crops are grown on floating man-made islands, combining marsh, soil and water weeds. These form a solid fertile mass which is anchored to the lake bed with bamboo poles – a wonderful sight.

The lake is shallow and so clean that you can see the fish swimming. Among the many birds that you see swooping over the lake are cormorants and different types of egret. We watched the sun set from the balconies of our cottages on stilts every evening, a scene that made the perfect end to the day.

Yangon was our last stop, though next time we go we shall start the tour in Yangon and make Inle Lake our last stop. We were among the few visitors who did the three-hour train ride on the Yangon circle line, which cost us just one dollar. This was a wonderful experience, and gave us a quick overview of the sprawling capital, and some insight into how people around Yangon live their lives. Passengers and railway staff are most helpful. The other noteworthy sight of our stay in Yangon was the stunningly beautiful Shwe Dagon, the most sacred of Buddhist sites for the people of Myanmar, and situated just a short walk from our hotel.

Having read the newspapers outside Myanmar, one expects poverty, but though there certainly is poverty, as in many other countries, there are also well-stocked markets and plentiful supplies. In Yangon there are wide avenues and many parks, a legacy of the colonial past.

I must say that the tour was a success. Everyone came back with a positive view of Myanmar and its people. For nearly two weeks we travelled round the country freely. As one of our senior guides put it, the military government, based in the new capital Nypidaw, and the people live separately from one another. People get on with their daily lives and do their best to survive and be happy. We met both farmers and well-educated people, we shared our experiences and learned from one another. Time and time again, people thanked us for coming to Myanmar.

Many people, individuals and organisations have continued to debate the pros and cons of the tourist issue. Europe and the United States have imposed sanctions on Myanmar, while other countries, notably China, have continued to trade, and all that sanctions have achieved, it seems to me, is to do more harm to ordinary people.

The tour has certainly opened our eyes about the country and the political and human rights issues. I feel that people should go to Myanmar, as long as we are aware of the country’s conflicts and complexities. We used locally owned services and hotels, which are now possible and available, to minimise the amount of money that finds its way to the government. Travelling individually or in small organised groups is an ideal way to avoid using government-owned hotels and companies.

There’s so much more to be said, which I cannot put in this short space. All that I can say is that before you decide whether or not to go to Myanmar, I suggest that you read a few books about recent events and talk to people who have been to Myanmar, and look further into the arguments pro and con. I and many who have been to Myanmar would agree that visiting Myanmar is a wonderful and inspiring experience.

I am organising and leading a tour to Myanmar at the end of October 2009. If you are interested, please let me know; places are limited.

Siripan

www.siripankidd.com

Text and images © Siripan Kidd 2009

Newsletter 1: Apr 08

April 2008

Welcome to my first newsletter.

We ended 2007 with a tour to the North and Northeast of Thailand and Laos. The group of twelve, including me as organiser and leader, started our tour in Bangkok by meeting Keosiri, a Laotian textile expert and collector in her lovely house for an introductory talk on the textiles of Vientiane and Luang Prabang. She showed us her private collection and prepared us well for our visit to Laos, and she was also kind and generous enough to allow us to photograph the pieces. While in Bangkok, we also had the good fortune to see Weaving Paradise: South-East Asian Textiles and their Creators, an exhibition from the Tilleke and Gibbons textile collection, which was on at the Jim Thompson Art Centre. Linda Macintosh, the curator, gave us a tour and answered the many questions regarding textile techniques and traditions: most certainly a worthwhile opportunity.

In Isarn, the Northeast of Thailand, we were welcomed in Ubon to the home of Khun Meechai, which is rarely opened to the public. Khun Meechai is a talented young designer, renowned for his exquisite silk ikat and brocade weaving. His designs, both new and traditional, are woven by his weavers and apprentices in a cool and pleasant environment. We received huge generosity and hospitality as we shared our enthusiasm for cloth.

In a village in Udornthani, in the northern part of the Northeast, some 50 kilometres from the Lao border, we had a session on dyeing with indigo, and from the village weavers we bought cotton indigo matmee (a Thai word for ikat) which they weave themselves in a kind of co-operative. The matmee was so cheap that we wondered how they could make a living. In truth they don’t. Village people often weave for themselves and weaving provides a supplementary income; rice farming is still the main source of income. The headman of the village, bemused by our frantic buying, kindly took us round the village and the rice fields, which were golden brown, ready for harvesting. Like so many parts of the country, the village had suffered from drought this year, and did not expect as high a yield as in previous years.

Laos produced many wonderful and interesting visits to silk-weaving and natural dye workshops. We met makers and locals in Vientiane and Xiang Khouang, where we visited the Plain of Jars, and a Tai Puan village. It is important to point out that families were separated and many people lost their lives here during the secret wars in Laos in the 1960s and 70s; Xiang Khouang was more or less wiped out. More bombs were dropped on Laos than on Germany in the whole of the Second World War. Empty bomb casings, used as fencing, house posts and anything else you can imagine, can be seen everywhere in the villages in the area.

The highlight of the tour, certainly for some of the group, was a practical workshop specially arranged on matmee and dyeing by the banks of the Mekhong river in Luang Prabang – and that’s without mentioning that one of the group, who used to have a canal boat in the UK, had the wonderful experience of guiding our boat along the Mekhong by herself (with a little help from the pilot nearby) to the Pak Ou caves. The boat ride was one of our most pleasant experiences, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Another experience we shan’t forget was the river crossing arranged by kind villagers whom we visited just outside Xiang Khouang. A few of the group were nervous of going back over the bridge to the village, which though safe, was nevertheless old and a bit rickety. So the villagers provided an “iron buffalo” tractor and trailer to take us through the river, a real bone-shaking experience, but a ridiculous, hilarious, perfectly spontaneous and absolutely unforgettable one.

Back in Chiangmai, we had a lecture on the Tai Puan people and their textiles from Patricia Cheeseman, the author of many books on the textiles of South-East Asia, a lecture which put what we had seen into a wider, more meaningful context. We ended the tour by celebrating Loy Kratong with the local people, floating kratong on the river and sending hot air lanterns up into the night sky.

At home, the conversion of our last rice-barn, completed in time for Christmas, has given us more double accommodation and a lovely work space. There’s also a wet area for dyeing and paper-making in the garden nearby. The first residential workshop – Working with Silk in Contemporary Patchwork Quilts, – which lasted ten days, was held in February this year for six people from the UK. The workshop was taught by me, and offered a practical approach to handling silk, exploring its sheen and colours, as well as encouraging students to develop their own ideas and explore possibilities for their own work. The aim was to let people work with their own ideas at their own pace in peaceful and natural surroundings. A few sessions of yoga exercise in the morning, plus traditional Thai massage, were provided to ease the tension of having to bend over to draw and stitch. Full board of healthy home-cooked Thai food was provided throughout the stay.

… the “work” was sheer pleasure … JB

… with inspiration and guidance I have finished a piece …a fabulous ten days, superb hospitality, beautiful surroundings … CP

… a healing time and a steep learning curve … not to be forgotten … EC

… I have just loved the fabulous coloured silks … Siripan;s cooking is five-star … MH

The next newsletter will be on Myanmar (Burma), and my plans for the next tour. The tour will focus on the unique Myanmar luntaya acheiq, a form of tapestry weaving which uses as many as 200 shuttles. The other unique textile from Myanmar is from the Shan State on Inle Lake, where the Intha people use silk from lotus stems which they cultivate to weave into cloth, traditionally for monks’ robes. Today it is produced more commercially, though it is not widely known.

Myanmar’s cities are full of pagodas and temples, thousands in ruins, but stunning to see. The people are generous and friendly; it is a pity that they have such an appalling government. I shall discuss the pros and cons of visiting Myanmar in the next newsletter also.

I am currently working on a piece of work to be exhibited in York at the new headquarters of the UK Quilters Guild; the exhibition will be open to the public from June 8 until September. If you happen to be travelling up North, please drop by. See also the Guild website (www.quiltersguild.org.uk) for more information.

If you have any comments on this newsletter or on any other matters, I’d be pleased to hear from you. You can contact me on siripankidd AT yahoo.com (substituting @ for AT). Please check my website for details (Coming Events) of tours and workshops for 2008/2009.

Siripan

www.siripankidd.com

Text and images © Siripan Kidd 2008