Bangkok Attractions - Thai Crafts

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Raising Java doves is a longstanding tradition, an art of training which the enthusiast must study and carry out corectly. The bird's home is a cage, which is very important, and some bird fanciers are happy to pay high prices for fine cages, as they consider making birdcages to be an art, especially old cages with fine handiwork, such as the specialised "Sa-teng" shape from gala and "Ko-yi" form Pattani. The older are rarer they are, the more expensive they get.

The area around Community 5 in Nong Jork has many people making beautiful birdcages that are very popular with the dove fanciers, whose tastes determine the shape and size of the cages. For instance, a classic Sa-teng or Ko-yi cage might start at 3,000 Baht and go up to as much as 50,000 Baht.

Material: Choice of material is characteristic of this kind of birdcage, such as rattan, ivory and talipot tree stem, and wood from the woody climber Dalbergia for the bars.

Hook: Cast in metal and carved, and it is popular to carve in shapes of auspicious animals such as swans and dragons.

Roof: Made from wood or ivory sawed and turned on a lathe. Some?times it is carved with intricate patterns, and sometimes ivory is also used to make the patch.

Bars: Made from the horns of an albino buffalo which are translucent, shiny, and extremely rare, or wood is used such as Plerocapus or Dalbergia.

In the old days, Thai people raised chickens mostly for consumption. However, some good and strong chickens were selected for cock-fighting as well a breeding. Kai chon or fighting cock is one of a native Thai chicken containing special characteristics that other chickens lack. The special features of kai chon are : yield lots of tasty meat, strong, patient, and high tolerance to disease, beautiful, and is a good fighter, part of Thai culture uniquely 'Thai.

Fish traps are traditional tools associated with Thai agricultural society for centuries. They were made by small household industries using local materials such as bamboo and rattan. The same materials are used to make birdcages, as keeping birds is one of the traditional Thai hobbies Some are kept for their beauty, others for their singing. Turtle doves in particular are pampered with special care for the annual singing competitions.

In our changing society, fish traps once so important for making a living, are now things of the past. However, they resurrect again as a popular form of decoration which links the new with the old.

The workshop of Mr. Boonchuay Gasun makes beautiful birdcages and fish traps using naturaI materials such as bamboo and rattan. It is a folk craft which still functions, bringing traditional village life into contact with modern society.

During his career in the Civil Service, Mr.Kul Boonnok, a native of Nakorn Sawan Province, used to teach handicrafts. With a special fascination for kites, he began making them for sale after his retirement, and invented several new types and designs.

Kite-making begins with a journey to Nakorn Sawan, Lopburi or Ayutthaya to acquire some See-sook bamboo. Mr. Kul personally oversees the cutting of the bamboo, selecting trees which are more than three years old. Their skin will be black or dark green. After slicing the bamboo, it is soaked in water for a month to strengthen it and protect it from weevils. It is then dried in the sun and cut to size according to the types of kite to be built. The framework of the kite is bound together with good, strong cord to reinforce it, and the final step is to paste the paper onto the framework.

In addition to kites for general sale, there are several new kinds in the form of owls, butterflies, goldfish and dragons. The most difficult shape to make is the garuda kite, whose intricate frame requires a large amount of bamboo, as well as skill.

Mr. Kul teaches kite-making to small groups within the community. He is also pleased to talk on making kites to all those who are interested, especially to anyone who would like to take up kite- making as a living. In that way, this ancient folk craft will be conserved for future generations.

The museum located the house of the headman of a Mon village and was established by a group of people wishing to collect and preserve objects and aspects of Mon art and culture

The village-style museum contains tools and tensils used by Mor people: Pottery, antique gold ornaments, musical instruments, Mon scriptures and Buddha images.

Mr. Pee Phromsawadht built this brass works with the knowledge that he learned from Ban Changlor Community. At first he copied ancient designs of Buddha images and antique art objects such as the kinnaree, manorah and singha.

Its initial success and diverse development made the brass works a flourishing business for more than 30 years. Mr. Pee's products now decorat many homes and offices in Thailand and overseas.

While technology continues its advance, there was a time when Thai arts seemed to have been standing still, almost in danger of disappearing since there were no systems of teaching them and passing on knowledge.

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn thus ordered the foundation of this school to revive Thai craftsmanship and conserve Thai arts as a living force. The emphasis is on teaching those who wish to take up arts as a career, and not simply collect tuition fees. The study of each main subject takes one year, with five months or one term for optional subjects. Candidates for the school must be aged at least 15 years, and must pay the costs of study equipment themselves.

Men's College in the Court: Teaches drawing, carving, gold lacquerwork, nielloware, stucco carving, Bencharong, industrial sewing and other crafts.

Women's College in the Court: Teaches three subjects: Thai Royal food, including fruit carving; flower arranging, artificial flowers and garlands making and banana leaf weaving; and traditional hand embroidery.

In times past, the bronze khan or drinking bow, was the drinking vessel of choice in wealthy Siam se homes. Bronze was preferred to pottery or other materials as it made the water seem cools and sweeter. Craftsmen also used bronze to fashion cutlery, plates and other tableware as well s candelabra, vases and other decorative objects for the home.

Thai bronze tableware has proved to be popular with foreign visitors. It is admired for its appearance and style, and for the quality of the metal itself, which will not contaminate food. Toda it seems that most of the bronze tableware and decorative items made in Thailand are

Khon is a branch of traditional theatre in which the performers wear masks called "Hua Khon" or Khon heads. They usually perform scenes from Ranmakien, the Thai version of the Ramayana epic.

Khon mask-making has been carried on by National Artist Louis Youngkiewsod, for generations. The famity were all khon and puppet show players who made and repaired their own costumes. When the popularity of traditional shows gave way to more modern entertainments, the family changed to making khon masks to sell as decoration and gifts.

Mrs. Sa-ngad Rodpai, 69, has been making Khon masks for about 30 years. Each mask takes approximately three days to finish and the price is between 800-1,000 baht, depending on the design.

The quiet lanes of Pracha-naruemit an Sawaisuwan were brought to life when a road w guilt through the area. Chinese families whos forefathers had settled in Wat Yuan, Sap han Kao Saphan Dum, Dumrongrak Road, Wat Saket, an Banglamphu woodwork centres began to migrat to the new Pracha-naruemit Road.

The new settlers, most of them furnitur makers, brought with them the art of wood carving and today, there are more than 200 furniture shop

The new settlers, most of them furnitur makers, brought with them the art of wood carving and today, there are more than 200 furniture shop And factories built side by side, one after the other for n re than a kilometre along Pracha-naruemit Road Not surprisingly, the road became known as "Ferniture Street." It is the city's biggest wooden funiture centre, an ideal place to shop for fine wooden crafts and furniture of all kinds, cabinets, door window frames,beds and decorative items.

Now 61, and head of the family, Sumrouy Premjai is a descendant of Master Prung Premjai, a well-known music master in reign of King Rama VI. It was Master Prung who invented the three-piece angalung, adapted from the Javanese angalung, an Indonesian musical instrument made of bamboo.

Mr. Sumrouy has been surrounded by musical instruments since birth. Since his father passed away, he has always kept his three-piece angalung in remembrance. From it, he studied the making of other Thai musical instruments learned how to improve their quality. Today, his house is well-known for making and repairing of all kinds of traditional Thai musical instruments, such as ranard-ek a ranard-tum, the treble and bass xylophones, drum, gong, the small gongs in a tuned circle, sor, stringed gourd played with a bow, jakae, (the zither), and kim, the Chinese-style zither.

Khan are large, earthenware bowls used for storing water. Flowers were sometimes floated in them to give the water a pleasant aroma. They could also be used to hold rice to be donated to monk as the flowers would impart fragrance to the rice. The most highly regarded khan is the stone-finish type.

Making stone-finished khan has been an industry carried on in the community since the Ayutthaya period. When Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese, the villagers fled to the Banglamphu area before settling in Ban Bu, where they remain to the present day.

The industry relies entirely on human labour. No machinery is used except at the final polishing stage. In the old days, people used thong mar lor, believed to be gold sent from China to make khan.Today they use copper and tin mixed with fragments of gold from old khan thought to be thong mar lor.

The three molten metals are combined in a single mould and fired again. The resulting alloy is hammered into shape and turned on a lathe. In the past, fine crushed stone and water wrapped in a cloth were used to polish the surface of the khan. Today this is done by crushing the moulds after casting. As they have been in the fire during the casting process, they make a good polishing medium.

Stone-finished khan are still used for their original purpose, but are now mostly in demand as house decorations, and are a favourite gift for foreign visitors

Suphannahong Royal barges have been a from of Royal transport since the Sukhothai period. These barges are for the reigning monarch only. The were traditionally used in Royal processions aloe the waterways during festivals such as Loy kratong, or when the king presented monk robes to monks in temples on the river bank during the Thod Krathin Festival. This was last celebrated on the occasion of HM the King's 6th cycle birthday in 1999.

Mr. Paisal Nettasut has been making models of t use Royal barges for more than 20 years. It is deli to work requiring much patience, concentration and fine craftsmanship. He carves the hull from a solid block of wood which he hollows out. The outside is painted black and decorated with lacquer and gold leaf, while the inside is painted

red, he benches for the oarsmen are of bamboo, and the rowers themselves are small, lead figures.Not surprisingly, Mr. Paisal can make an average of only five of these model barges in a month. Models made by Mr.Paisal were presented to Queen Elizabeth II and US President Clinton as souvenirs by the Governor of Bangkok during their respective visits in 1994.

Mr. Manoj Musikkabutra, a graduate from Poh Chang Art College, began making model war?ships after being impressed by some examples in Vienna while on a visit to Austria. At first, he made only models of foreign vessels, but at the Navy museum in Samut Prakan he was able to sketch a number of Thai warships, and made models based on his sketches. Today, he has more than 20 models in his collection.

The materials used are all local, the hulls made of teak cast-offs obtained from factories. The first step in building a model ship is making the frame, then thin wood planking is pasted onto the frame to make the hull. Some of the models, like the Royal barges, have carving on the hull which call for very fine craftsmanship; however, the most difficult model to make was "HMS Victory", the British flagship commanded by Lord Nelson a the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Mr. Manoj first exhibited his models at th Montien Riverside Hotel in 1996, and he continue to hold annual shows. He also gives training t interested people who pass a selection process His models are not for sale in shops or exported because, he says, "the work would then become business or industry, which is not what I intended."

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