Thailand Trip

It's been a long time since the last post.  I know many people blog daily but I really feel like I should only post when I've got something worthy of sharing.... I actually wrote this on June 1st then saved to post till I added photos.

I have wanted to visit Thailand for most of my life, in fact I credit Thai silk with my love of textiles.  My Dad was stationed in Thailand in the late 60's early 70's.  I don't know the exact date, but I know at the time I was still playing with barbies and I was sewing their clothes so that puts me between 8-12 years of age.  My Dad brought the girls back dolls from the countries he visited and I got a Thai dancer, she was so exotic!  When he visited Thailand he brought all of the females in the family yardage, they were supposedly dress lengths (for little Thai women).  I received a gaudy green cotton print and a beatuiful, irridescent piece of Thai silk.  My barbies had an outift out of the green print :)  I still have the piece of Thai silk, I've used small bits for things but not the whole piece.  Even at a young age I treasured beautiful fabric. 

Peter and I traveled to Phuket, Thailand on May 20th.  The 21st was Peter's 50th birthday and our 27th wedding anniversary.  Some Canadian friends were vacationing in Phuket and invited us to join them, it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate.  Phuket is an island, off of penisular Thailand, the part shared with Malaysia. It is a vacation destination for Europeans, particularly Scandanavians and of course for those living in SE Asia.  It is knowns for it's beautiful beaches and great diving. Many in the US had not heard of Phuket until the tsunami of 2004, when pictures of the tsunami's devastation were broadcast around the world. 

I was surprised at how big the island is, we stayed at a Marriott resort on the northern end of the island on Mai Khao beach.  Mai Khao beach is protected because it's where the green sea turtles come to lay their eggs.  Apparently quite a large number of tourists come to watch the turtles!

Day One - (celebration day) we went on a sea cave tour.  The tour started in the afternoon and as soon as the boat left the dock they fed us, just a light lunch but it was yummy.  Thai food is one of my all time favorites so I was a happy camper! The scenery on the way was stupendous.  One of the islands the locals refer to as "James Bond Island", it's where "Man With Golden Gun" was filmed. We stopped 5 times and got on small inflatable kayaks. There was one guide per kayak and two guests.  The guides did all the work.  The guides have to watch the tides to determine which caves are accessible on any given day.  All of the caves we entered had such low entrances that we had to lay down in the boats to get in.  I being the big weenie was rather proud that I did not squeal or embarrass myself in anyway!  After 3 caves we were fed dinner, yummmy!  We then had craft time and made offerings out of bannana leaves and flowers.  In the last cave (after dark) we lit the offerings and put them in the water.  This cave was inhabited by bats (again no squealing) and the water had luminescent plankton in it, very cool indeed!

Day Two we hired a cab for the day and went to Phuket town.  We first went to see the Big Buddha (really, that's what it is called).  Then we went and visited a Buddhist temple.  The temple was beautiful but what intrigued me was the quantity of dogs on the property that apparently live there.  There were several people filling bowls of food and water and several dogs were sleeping on benches.  Interesting. 

Our next stop was to find a textile shop I'd read about, Ban Boran.  The guidebooks said they have the best selection of Thai textiles on Phuket island.  It was a lovely little shop with a good selection of Thai textiles, scarves, shawls, ready made garments, ethnic costume and some lovely Laotian supplementary weft pieces.  I did manage to pick up a few lovelies to add to my growing collection.  We ended our day at the "Night Market", think of a flea market full of all sorts of interesting food and not so interesting other stuff.  We went back to the hotel and had a lovely, yummy Thai dinner at one of the restaurants at our hotel. 

Day Three we decided to bum around the resort.  We put on swimsuits (we had not been to the beach yet!) and walked down to the beach to get a massage.  They have small huts where you can get an hour long full body massage for about $12 US.  After being totally relaxed we headed down to the beach.  The currents are strong on Mai Khao so it's not the best beach for swimming.  We stood on the beach and let the waves crash around our feet.  During monsoon season it's supposed to be good for surfing.  We did a little shopping at the local shopping center.  There is a small Jim Thompson outlet there.  I honestly could have had one of everything, really lovely high quality work.  Back to the hotel to swim in the pool and more eating and then back to Singapore.

Visiting Phuket was a great  way to celebrate Peter's birthday and our anniversary.  The last picture is to demonstrate that Peter will try anything, once!  He is eating grilled shrimp at the Night Market.

Tracy

Jakarta trip

3 wheel taxi

So, last Sunday I made the trip to Jakarta.  I had heard a lot about Jakarta and almost all of it came down to it's a very crowded city, 12 million people!  Most of the stories were about how horrible traffic is and guess what the traffic truly is horrible.  I'm convinced a few strategically placed traffic lights would do a world of good, I did not see a single light.  Ex-pats don't drive in Jakarta they have drivers and with good reason!  They also have guards and high walls around their homes, it is a little intimidating.  As you can imagine with that many people there is a lot of poverty and so there is a lot of petty theft.  So, they have guards.  With all of the staff: driver, guards, gardener and housekeeper there is not a lot of privacy.  I think that would take some getting used to.  I certainly did not feel unsafe at any time, but I did have big round eyes watching everything.  Some Jakarta pics:

Sewing machine cart 

Family of 4, see little feet between Mom and kid

My goals in visiting Jakarta as 1) to visit Rene Derewetzky 2) Have Rene educate me on Indonesia and the textiles made there 3) In exchange for my education I was to help Rene get her naked loom dressed and help her  determine why she has tension issues.  All 3 goals were met, yea!

The Loom - The Derewetzkys moved to Jakarta over 2 1/2 years ago and her loom has been naked since they moved, gasp!  She warps sectionally, which I have only done a few times. Rene had wound all of her spools ahead of time.  She is one of those weavers who over thinks things and worries about every tiny little placement, she likes the threads to be like soldiers, Rene was convinced that her tension issues had something to do with user error.  Her loom is a 20 year old AVL modular 4 shaft loom, it has a brake that is a friction brake on the back and nothing on the front, you can advance and it's supposed to tension itself with the back friction brake and a spring.  Well, that did not work and I diagnosed this as a loom problem, not the user at all.  Rene had purchased an optional traditional brake which was installed after I left and as of today the report is even tension, she is thrilled.  I hope she has many more well tensioned warps :)

My textile education:

Day One- was a meeting of the Indonesian Heritage Society's textile study group.  The meeting was at Rene's and they were culminating their studies with an indigo dye pot.  They dyed scarves that they had stitched resists on.  I enjoyed meeting the ladies and learning about their studies.

Day Two we went to the National Museum of Indonesia.  They had wonderful large maps of Indonesia which show the islands, their geography and the diversity of the people living there.  Some Indonesia facts - there are something like 300 + languages, the government has attempted to unify them with one language, Bahasa Indonesian.  There are over 17,500 islands in the archipelago, 70% of the people are Muslim. It's no wonder the government has a difficult time governing the country!  Our tour ended in the newly re-opened Textile room, yea!  They had some lovely pieces on display with good educational information showing equipment used and describing the different techniques.  As far as cloth Indonesian cloth most the techniques primarily used are batik (wax resist on already woven fabric, some hand drawn and some stamped), ikat (tied resist prior to weaving, they do warp ikat, weft ikat and double ikat) and pick up designs.

Day 3 was spent shopping, we went to 3 shops that sell a variety of textiles made in Indonesia.  Of course I wanted to support these people so I purchased a good bit, but I wanted more!  Lots of gifts!

Rene in Sumba shop with board where the warp is wound then resist tied for ikat.




The picture below is a close up of the textiles on the table.  They are all from Sumba and are either warp ikat, songket or a combination.  I purchased the piece in the foreground which is an all indigo hinggi, the center is warp ikat, it has songket bands and then along the top and bottom a smaller band that is made on a separate back strap loom with the fringe from the warp used as the weft on the small band, this attaches the large piece to the small piece.  Very cool. These pieces are used for a variety of purposes including burial so they are quite large.

Day 4 was spent at Rene's house. We finished dressing the loom and rewarded ourselves with a show and tell of Rene's lovely collection.  The photo below is some of Rene's favorite batiks.

Rene's plan to educate me was perfect.  I now know roughly the different types of textiles from some of the islands.  I can now decide from this knowledge where I most want to go to see the actual cloth being produced.  Now where shall I go?  I'm thinking Bali (beautiful batiks, weft ikat and double ikat) and Sumba (hinggis with warp ikat or combined with songket pick up).

Now back to the loom!

Songket from Sumba on a back strap loom.  This was being demonstrated at the shop where I purchased my hinggi.

OMG - Textile Enthusiasts are Here!!

Yesterday was a very good day for making connections.  At 1:00 I went to my 4th AWA book club meeting.  I have enjoyed all of the discussions so I was looking forward to a good meeting.  The meetings are held in a members home, this one was centrally located in a high rise condo.  There are 3 units per floor but each has its own elevator, so when the door opens to the elevator you are looking at the entry way to the condo you are going to.  When the doors opened  I was greeted by beautiful Asian textiles hanging outside the door!  I swear my heart started beating faster!  The meeting was at the home of Connie who is an art history professor at Penn State and guess what she specializes in, Asian textiles!  She is currently teaching an on-line class while they are stationed in Singapore.  Her home is chock full  of books and textiles, imagine textile on every surface.  Literally there were textiles hanging, laying, sitting everywhere.  Of course I did not have my camera.... bummer.  I did talk to Connie about her collection and she is a fascinating woman.  She is a docent at the ACM (Asian Civilization Museum), I am going to do a tour with Connie at the ACM, she leads the tour in one of the costumes in her collection.

We had a huge storm in the afternoon, all week we have had really BIG storms.  Usually it rains but these have been torrential downpours accompanied by load bursts of thunder, really loud thunder.  Jack (dog) has spent most of the week hiding in the bathroom or huddled by my legs.  I had signed up for a lecture in the evening with the TE/Textile Enthusiasts.  The TE are a study group of the FOM (Friends of the Museums). The FOM supports the major museums here in Singapore, training docents and educating its members.  They have weekly lectures, local museum and city tours and tours of other countries.  All of their activities focus on Asian studies.  I joined FOM specifically to be part of the TE. Anyway, I considered aborting my plan to go to the meeting due to the storm, getting a taxi is easy unless it is raining.  I am so glad I decided to make the effort and go....

I arrived about 5 minutes late, fortunately I was not alone in my tardiness. TE enthusiasts usually meet at the ACM but they were booked for the evening.  This was a special lecture with Dr. Linda McIntosh.  The meeting was held in another high rise condo and once again when the elevator doors opened I was greeted by more than just a door, interesting Asian artwork greeted me.  The hostess for the evening was Digna, a tiny Filipino woman who along with her Australian husband collect Asian artwork.  Honestly, I wondered if I was in a home or museum.  I had hoped Dr. McIntosh might have some textiles with her so I did bring my camera this time.  The lecture was all by powerpoint so no real textiles to see and touch from the lecture. I got permission from Digna to take pictures of her home to post on my blog.  She was flattered by my enthusiasm for her home.  Apparently many of her Filipino friends are a little freaked out by the statues. Apparently they don't like non-Christian religious icons.

The pictures in the blog are all from Digna's home, the  work is lite by spotlights which is effective in her home but made it hard to photograph.  I felt a little awkward taking pictures in someone's home, like some crazy American tourist!  One of the curators for the ACM was there, he explained that 80% of the work in their home is from Burma/ Myanmar, the rest is from surrounding countries - primarily Laos and Thailand.  The first photo is a large Burmese textile, showing the full piece and a close up. The last photo is a gift that was give to Dr. McIntosh for doing the lecture for the TE.  It is a woven piece that is warp Ikat made from abaca (similiar to the banana plant) from the Philippines.

A little about the speaker and the lecture; Dr. Linda McIntosh has a Masters in Thai Textile Studies and a Doctorate in Laotian Textile Studies. She lives in Bangkok and curates shows for the Jim Thompson House.  She has written a book on Laotian Textiles which is due out in 2011, the lecture was based on her doctorate study and her book.  Her mother is Laotian and a weaver, thus Linda's interest in textiles. She focused on Tai (not Thai) ceremonial pieces from mainland SE Asia. The pieces shown were antiques and from a large law firms collection in Bangkok. She went over the technical aspects of how they were made and she knew what she was talking about. The pieces were all supplementary weft, with discontinuous weft, so there were many color changes.  They were sett at 48 epi with a fine silk warp and a heavier cotton weft. She discussed the motifs used and their significance to the ceremonies. The weaver makes the piece without a specific ceremony in mind and the Shaman determines what it is used for.  Although not as prevelant today these pieces are still in use and weavers making them.  Now some are made specifically for commercial use (to sell to tourists), Linda said they are not as intricate as the pieces a weaver would make for their own families use.  One intricate piece can take up to one year! Wish I had a picture to show you.

It was a good day, I found out there are truly Textile Enthusiasts in Singapore.  I was assured that there will be many lovely textiles for me to see and these people can help me learn more and teach me where to find them. I had a hard time sleeping with all the images in my mind from the day.  Oh, and I must have had a big S (for sucker) on my forehead.  The TE asked me to be on their planning committe.

Happy Weaving,
Tracy

Sound Challenges

I miss public radio in Houston!  I have always liked to have background noise when I am working.  The last few years I've primarily listened to KUHF and KPFT.  The last year or so I had an HD radio and listened almost exclusively to KUHF HD 2.  Lots of radio talk shows, as long as I wasn't working on something difficult I could listen to talk radio.  Now that my studio is set up I'm ready to get to work, but I have nothing to listen to... I tried bringing my laptop up but the signal was weak and the speakers even weaker.  Peter suggested I get a wireless adaptor for the computer that runs the Megado.  So I made a trip to the mall - 10 minute walk to train, 10 minute train ride, ride the escalator 5 floors, repeat to get home. Stores don't open till 11 am I am there at 10 am - back home.  Make a 2nd trip, got a wireless adaptor and speakers, also picked up an Ipod Nano to replace my Ipod that went missing in our shipment.  Damn those concrete walls I could not get a signal in that room (modem on 2nd floor, looms on 3rd floor).  Yea, I have the Ipod and it is fun to listen to but the headphone wires catch on things, I can't hear the doorbell, the kids etc.  So I think a docking station would be good.  Back to the mall, found a nice little docking station with a clock :)  Back home plug in docking station, hear loud pop.  Wait till Peter gets home and ask nicely for him to take me back to the mall.  Staff at store very nice gave me new plug, go back home.  Bet you guessed the loud pop happens again.  Sigh.... Meanwhile Peter finds out he has to fly back to Houston in 2 days!! I abandon my efforts to get some sound in to the loom room because I have to finish weaving the Color and Weave samples and tax information so Peter can hand deliver both. There is a TV with cable in the room with the baby wolf so I can listen to something while weaving on the baby wolf.  Peter left at 2 am Friday morning so I was get back to putting a warp on the Megado in a quiet room.  Friday evening we went in search of Mexican food (in Asia) with my Texas neighbors.  John is an IT guy and I mentioned my dilemma.  He offered to get me set up with wireless internet on the 3rd floor.  I tried  not to get over excited and let him see my desperation. Saturday I decided I could download episdoes/podcasts of some of my favorite NPR shows on to the Nano as a temporary talk radio fix.  I was able to get 8 episodes of Wait, Wait don't tell me downloaded before the hard drive on my computer was full!  Sunday John arrived with  3 gizmos (home plug device) and in 30 minutes he had me all set.  You can plug one of these devices  in where the modem is connected and another in the room where the computer is and the internet connection passes through the wires, it is a miracle!  Sunday the kids and I went back to the mall and I took back the docking station, this time they gave me a new unit and it works!  By Sunday evening I had a working docking station and an internet connection.  Now I have choices of what I can listen to!

Final cost = wireless adaptor, speakers, Ipod Nano, docking station, 3 homeplug devices, 6 trips to the mall, loads of time and frustration

So, the Color and Weave Samples are done (see last post for information).  The theme of this exchange is "Design Challenge" and elements were assigned.  My elements are:  Black and White only, Shadow Weave and Use Metallic.  The black metallic I used added nothing to the final fabric.  I did not bring a large stash to Singapore so I did not have the ability to subsitute, so I stayed the course and finished with what I had.  I decided I just don't like a whole lot of Color and Weave pattern without something to break it up.  To jarring to the eyes, especially in all black and white.

Here is the finished lenth before cutting, the pattern really looks like diamonds from this angle.

On the end of the warp I used some red, I got tired of Black and White!  In this close up you can see the square within a square and rectangle within a rectangle pattern better.

I have dressed the megado with a beautiful silk warp.  I'll post some pictures once I get farther along.  The first picture is of the warp skeins. I ordered some more silk for the weft, Peter will bring that back with him this weekend.

Happy Weaving, now what shall I listen to?

Tracy

Ready, Sett, Weave....

Finally, I am set up and ready to weave.  Putting together the new baby wolf took longer than I anticipated. Once I got a warp on the BW and was weaving I felt like I could attack the weaving "studio".  I finished setting up the Megado (computerized loom) yesterday afternoon and worked on the piles of "stuff".  The Megado broken down was an intimidating pile of parts.  It was easy to procrastinate and find other things to do first. When I turned the computer on I was happy to see that everything works! I was pleased when I went to bed last night that the room is now useable, although I've still got a few stacks to work through.  Today Peter hung my warping board so I'm truly ready to get to work.  Yea!

I am a member of the Cross Country Weavers, an annual swatch exchange group.  This year's theme is Ann Sutton's design card game, each person was given 3 cards with information pertaining to the assignment.  All 3 cards have to be used to come up with a finished cloth.  My cards were: use black and white only, use Shadow weave and use metallic yarns.  The first two go together perfectly but using metallic doesn't.  I did manage to find a nice black metallic to use in the weft.   The warp is 8/2 Egyptian cotton; black and white. The pattern is from Marion Powell's 1000+ Shadow Weave designs, design #80309.   I'm not sure that the metallic adds anything to the finished fabric, just satisfies the "card" in the design game.  When the fabric is finished and washed I'll make my final judgement.

The piece feels a little like a 60's op art, if you look at it from different directions the design changes.  In 30 years of weaving I have never woven Shadow weave.  I was glad for the push to try Shadow weave.  I had a little trouble at first, I lost my place and had trouble finding it.  Watching American Idol while weaving is a little distracting. The floors are wood and I felt like I was doing a complicated dance step with the loom!  Now I've got a rug under the loom and a system to keep track of where I am.

I am so glad to be weaving again, it's been far too long.  Happy Weaving!

Tracy

Oh Happy Day!

As I am typing the moving company's handyman is here hanging pictures and mirrors, he's done with the first floor and now working on the 2nd floor. It is amazing how much more like it home it feels with our familiar pieces on the wall :)

Last week was Eric's spring break and this week is Katy's. Katy also had Friday off and Eric doesn't have class on Mondays so we had a 4 day overlap. We left Friday morning for Rawa Safaris, a small private island off the east coast of Malaysia. The island is in the South China Sea. It's about a 3 hour drive from our house to Mersing, the town where we picked up the boat. A little Malaysian information; the state just over the causeway from Singapore is Johor. Peter works in Johor 4 out of 5 days. There are 13 states and each state has a sultan, they rotate who gets to be King. Rawa Safaris is owned by the Sultan of Johor, he gave each son half of the island. Each son built a resort, side by side. One looks like some buildings were thrown up (30 years ago) and then they never did anything else. The other resort (the one we went to) has ongoing construction projects, they have continually worked to improve the resort. It is a lovely island, nothing fancy but a nice getaway from the city and not too commercial.

Back to the beginning of the trip. This was the kids first time in Malaysia, their first encounter with Malaysian bathrooms. Malays don't use toilet paper, they have a hose and somehow they work out their hygiene with water. Honestly, I don't want to think too much about it. Sometimes they spray water in the stall, on the floor or toilet. Public bathrooms aren't my favorite spot anyway but the addition of water to the mix makes my skin crawl. Add to that "Eastern" style toilets; imagine a toilet seat sitting on the floor, your feet go on either side, now add to that water. Well, this was a bad way for the kids to start their time in Malaysia, neither was comfortable in the public bathrooms. One bathroom you paid .30 Ringgit (about 10 cents) to use the toilet and then you got a little wad of paper handed to you. Eeew, somebody touching my tp. Add on top of this a 2 1/2 hour delay waiting for the ferry and by the time we got to Rawa all our nerves were frayed!

Once we got to Rawa we all relaxed, they had nice facilities :) We woke to steady rain Saturday morning, it finally let up after lunch but it was still quite gray. The kids both were hoping to lounge in the sun and there wasn't any. Peter and Katy went ahead and did a little snorkeling but the visibility was poor. We all kayaked around the island but the water was so choppy we were afraid to venture too far. Sunday morning we awoke to a lovely day. We all snorkeled. Now I am a big water weenie, I never learned how to swim well. I never ever put my face in the water. Peter and Katy have both gotten PADI certified for scuba diving and I have to admit I'm envious of what they are going to see. However, not enough to scuba dive. So, I decided that I would learn how to snorkel by golly so I could see some of the aquatic life. Eric for all his swimming doesn't do open water swimming. My fear is drowning and his is being attacked by fish, seriously.

So, we all snorkeled Saturday. Guess what I did not drown and Eric was not attacked by anything! Basically you swam a few yards from shore, stuck your face in the water and there right in front of you was a wonderful aquatic world. Coral - rock shaped, spiky, huge flat plate pieces; sea urchins - black with interesting neon spots (eyes?); Sea Anemone; Sea cucumbers - weird blobs on the ocean floor; Clams - iridescent turquoise growing in the coral; Fish - oh my gosh the color and variety - parrot, clown, wrasse, sergeant, puffer, and many many more.... So, now I'm hooked and planning the next trip where we can snorkel!

Now, that I'm done typing the handyman has finished hanging and I am a happy camper. No more pictures leaning against walls, no more huge expanses of white walls mocking me with their barreness. There is color in my life once again :)

Happy Day and happier yet - my loom is warped and tomorrow I will weave! More on that later.

Tracy

50's not so bad!

So I was pretty bummed when I realized I was turning 50 with no old friends nearby. No girlfriends to take me to lunch and make me feel special :( I really wanted to have a big bang up party and invite everyone Peter and I ever knew to celebrate both our 50th birthdays! 30 and 40 did not seem like a big deal BUT 50 - good grief that's half a century and I still FEEL good! Peter came through with flying colors - he and the kids at my request took me to the National Orchid Garden Saturday evening. Peter really wanted to go and take pictures of the orchids - oh my gosh they had an incredible variety and they were all beautiful. We went to our favorite Indian restaurant and had yummy butter chicken.

On the morning of the 7th (the big 50) Peter and I caught a ferry to Bintan, Indonesia. On the ferry I got to open my present - a very cool new point and shoot camera. We arrived well before check in time so we took the Mangrove tour. Very cool, it was low tide so we saw lots of neat roots. As far as animal life we saw Monitor lizards, a Mangrove snake, a colorful Kingfisher and a monkey peeped out at us. Next I was treated to a 2 hour and 15 minute spa treatment, we did it as a couple so Peter got treated special, too. Sea Salt scrub, full body massage and foot reflexology - heavenly! After that we went to the resort and spent the rest of our time eating and relaxing by the pool or on the beach.

After 2 weeks of unpacking, organizing and setting up the house it was a wonderful treat to be able to relax. We both really enjoyed our time at Bintan. It is pretty amazing to live somewhere where you can travel 45 minutes and be at a tropical island paradise!

Now a little fiber talk. I found out yesterday that Rene Derewetzky (Tall Pines guild member) is living in Jakarta. Jakarta is an hour and 15 minutes plane ride from Singapore. One of my goals while living in this region is to learn more about the indigenous textiles. I've seen Laotian and Cambodian silks and the beautiful batiks and ikats of Indonesia. But I want to see them being made and learn more about the process. After talking with Rene this afternoon we have worked out a deal. She has spent 2 1/2 years in Jakarta and has seen many different local dyers and weavers in action. She knows where to go!!!! If I will go to Jakarta and help warp her loom she will take me around Jakarta and give me an Indonesian textile primer. Then she will tell me where I can go to see the actual weaver and dyers!! I am so excited! That means in the future I will have something exciting to share ....

Off to work on organizing the files, yuk!

Tracy