Friday, November 9, 2012

Handmade

I've recently developed a slight obsession with textiles especially handwoven and embroidered.  I've been drooling over Kanthas and Suzanis and spent hours trawling the internet and bemoaning the fact that I don't live in the USA.
uzbek-craft.com - look but don't attempt to buy if you're in Australia.

Those few US stores that do ship to Australia charge you ridiculous prices - US$100 to ship a 1kg suzani throw!

Kantha from Etsy

The way to go, I have discovered, is Etsy.  There are some wonderful Etsy stores that sell suzanis and kanthas and you don't need to sell your firstborn to pay the postage.  Wonderful.

While I was in Bali I visited a little shop in Ubud called Threads of Life tucked away up a narrow cobbled alley way.  Inside was a wonderful collection of Indonesian handwoven textiles.  As well as a shop it also offfers classes on indonesian textiles and tours.  The difference here was that each product had its own story attached so that you know exactly what the textile is, when it was made and its traditional use.

This is the textile I bought and here is it's story...
Sayut, Jawa, Tuban 2011

 This handspun, batik textile is called Sayut.  The cooperative, Sanggar Sekar Ayu, from Luwuk, East Java is one of the few remaining communities where natural dyed, traditional textiles are still being made and used.  The threads are spun from cotton and woven into a continuous 3 meter warp textile (gedog). After weaving, the motif are drawn with wax, and repeatedly dyed with natural dyes.  The motifs on this textile are referred to as Slimun (blanket) and are thought to have healing powers.


on my sofa
They even supplied a photo of the weaving cooperative so that you would know the people that handwove and dyed my beautiful textile.

The only thing better than a beautiful textile is a beautiful textile and its story.