Description
In this Workshop, you will learn how to weave bamboo, in our traditional manner, by using bamboo strips.
Weaving can be done using different materials such as rattan, nipa leaves (palm), water lilies, ropes, strings, and bamboo. Since the focus of the lesson is in using bamboo strips, the emphasis shall be in cutting, coiling, or slicing the bamboo to create a fiber material. The interlacing of the materials to create shapes, forms and patterns is an imperative skill, and so these fundamental weaving techniques will be introduced. We will also discuss certain mathematical skills, such as measuring and proportion, which are also important elements of weaving.
Baskets are traditional contemporaries of modern day boxes that are used for carrying foods and grocery items. Traditionally, basket weaving has been a source of livelihood for the people of Thailand. Making these baskets recalls classical artistic weaving methods, using strips from bamboo trees, cutting and slicing them as thinly stripped ropes or simply as plain strips. In Asian literature, baskets were used as containers for potteries to carry them safely to other places. Bamboo is used for basket weaving as it is a strong material that holds up well when in use.
Bamboo baskets have been used since the folkloric season in Thailand. Since plastic materials, paper boxes, and metal containers were unpopular, villagers explored discovering alternative materials to use instead. Usually, the harvest season requires a lot of bamboo baskets, be it in fishery, farming, or even in fruit season, and bamboo baskets were used as containers for those goods. However, bamboo baskets are also used during special events, such as weddings, as a souvenir that celebrants could use to put their items into. The bamboo baskets served to complement the remarkable attendance of participants in the grandeur. Baskets are filled with either candies, eggs, fruits or other giveaways, and labelled with the name of the host in calligraphy, to present an aesthetic meaning.
I am excited to meet you and share the basket weaving process with you so you make your own beautiful charoom!