I walked to the Ock Pop Tok gallery to get the tuk-tuk to their weaving and cultural centre which was set up to preserve the arts of weaving and dyeing.
The centre is on the river bank on the outskirts of town. I had my own private guide but was hurried through as they didn’t seem to like me taking photos but I was fascinated by it all.
dragon made of different coloured scraps of silk
silk worms feeding
silk worm cocoons
skeins of dyed silk yarn
It’s the seeds from the annato tree that produce the gorgeous orange colour for the monks’ robes
colour chart for natural dyes
one of the looms
a length of woven fabric in the making
fabric
a weaver at work
another weaver
It’s possible to take classes there and there were 3 people doing classes while I was there; 2 girls were making traditional designs that would be dyed in indigo and a woman was learning to weave.
learning to spin
students at work
traditional pattern
While I was in the shop there someone bought a beautiful wall hanging for 2,283,000 kip (about €200), actually not that expensive when you consider some of the pieces take a month to weave.
in the shop
Comments on: "Ock Pop Tok weaving centre" (1)
I’ve always heard that the Lao are super easy going. Why didn’t they like you taking pictures I wonder?