Bali Batik Classes

Ubud, in the middle of the island of Bali, is known for its cultural events and art. The traditional bamboo flute and the gamelan instrument are featured in the Balinese dance performances. Traditional art forms include painting, mask making, puppets, woodcarving, basketry, and batik.  I was able to take two batik classes while we were in Bali. Ted decided to forgo any type of craft class this vacation after the bingata class in Okinawa last year, and went off on his own while I was in class.

The first class was held at the Museum Puri Lukisan. I had two class mates, Paris and his mother, who are from California but currently living in the Phillipines. First, the teacher had us draw our own designs on two pieces of white fabric with a pencil. I drew a flower and a fish. He said the first one was practice and I soon understood why.

 

We used hot beeswax dispensed with this little tool to outline the design.  It took me awhile to get the hang of the beeswax tool and as a result had several big blobs of wax. The teacher kept saying it was okay, we’ll fix it later.

 

 

My "practice" piece

 

Later we applied paraffin wax to the background and crunched it up to get a cracking look.

 

Included in the class fee of 450,000 rupiah was a cake and drink break in the morning at our class site, and lunch in the museum restaurant, which we ate after the wax application and before the dye.

 

After the wax, the next step was to wet the fabric, then put it in “primer” which made it look yellow.  The primer made the fabric absorb the dye.  We did the dye dip twice.

 

My camera battery was exhausted before the final step of boiling the fabric to get the wax out, but here’s what my two pieces looked like after I brought them back to the hotel. The fish’s eye should have had more wax because it is hard to see.

The second class was at the WS Art Studio.  The class fee of 400,000 rupiah included being picked up and returned to my hotel and a drink and Balinese cake during the class.  The cake turned out to be pineapple and banana covered in batter and deep fried. In this class the teacher had drawn designs ahead of time on the fabric.  I chose a hyacinth with a butterfly.  I was glad I chose this class second because we used three colors (orange, red, and blue) and it seemed like a more advanced class. The process was slightly different in that I painted the primer and the first two colors, then covered them with paraffin before dipping it in the blue.  I felt more confident with the beeswax tool and didn’t make the blobs that I had at the first class.  I had no classmates, but there were two woodcarving classes going on at the studio at the same time as my batik class.

 

Here are a few pieces of my teacher’s work.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed both classes.

Monday Morning Star Count 244

We’ve just returned from our trip a few days ago, so I don’t have a lot to show.  I’ve put together two more flowers, making a total of 244.

 

I’m linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.  Check out all the other epp projects there. This week she asked to see what our sewing kits look like.

Here's mine.

 

How Much Did It Cost?

Getting to Bali (airfare) was a little pricey, but once we were there, most everything was very inexpensive.  When traveling to another country and exchanging currency, it often feels like play money. This was especially true in Bali. We exchanged Japanese yen and got back a huge stack of big Balinese Rupia bills.  Millions of rupiah!

This is the equivalent of 10,000 yen or about 95 US dollars.  The red bills are 100,000! It was difficult to keep the zeros straight. I was constantly thinking, does it really cost that little?

 

Here are some examples of how much things cost in Bali.

Hiring a car and driver for an all day tour around the island – 500,000 rupiah

Ice cream bar – 8000 rupiah

Museum Puri Lukisan (includes a drink and dessert) - 75,000 rupiah

Arma Museum (includes a drink) - 50,000 rupiah

Neko Art Museum - 50,000 rupiah

1 hour massage at hotel – 70,000 rupiah

4 hour batik class (includes lunch, plus drink & dessert break) - 45,000 rupiah

3 hour batik class (includes drink and Balinese “cake” break) - 40,000 rupiah

Evening dance performances - 75,000 rupiah

Large pizza – 35,000 to 50,000 rupiah (depending on toppings)

 

Nice dinner for two, including drinks tax and service charge - 200,000 rupiah

Color post card - 3000 rupiah

International post card stamp - 100,000 rupiah

Large Bintang Bottle beer – 30,000 rupiah

We could never have done so much in Japan for so little money. Granted, Japan is expensive.  The downside is that the people in Bali are very poor and we were constantly approached by people wanting to sell us things or have us hire them or begging for money. We enjoyed our trip and had some great cultural experiences for very little money, but I was disturbed by the constant assault by the local people.

Below the Equator

We’ve just returned from a wonderful vacation to Bali.  Ted lived in Indonesia in the mid-90’s and had visited Bali then, but this was my first trip. It was snowing like crazy the day we left and we had begun to wonder if we would be able to get out of Hokkaido.  Boarding was delayed, then we sat on the plane for over two hours as they cleared the snow and cleared the snow and cleared the snow again.

 

 

Finally we were on our way.

We flew Korean Air and in my opinion it is far above any US carrier.  Our connecting flight in Seoul left before we arrived, but we were met at the gate with boarding passes for our new flight.

We spent the first week of our trip in Ubud and the remainder of our vacation at the coast in Sanur.

We enjoyed warm weather, delicious food, and a wonderful cultural experience – I’ll tell you all about it in the days to come. It was a slow paced relaxing trip so I had time to stitch. Here’s what I accomplished:

I would have finished stitching the pear, but I ran  a little short of the red thread. This pattern is a freebie and can be found here.

I did finish the kogin pattern for the needlebook.  I think I’m ready for a bigger more difficult motif next. This pattern is a freebie and can be found here.

 

I got quite a bit done on the pieces to this little toolie set. I don’t have enough of the blue kreinik to finish, so I’ll need to get another spool of that, then I’ll be ready to add the beads.

 

needlebook

 

scissor fob

 

pincushion

 

buttons and fobs

We took a lot of photos and as soon as I can get them sorted, I’ll write more about the trip.  And, in case you are wondering—Yes, snow was falling when we returned to Hokkaido!

 

The Visiting Kitten

No, she didn’t come to visit me, she visited my friends. My friends were taking care of this cute little kitten while her person was away.  They know how much I like cats and invited me to come over to play.  She is like the energizer bunny running around – in the bag, out of the bag, playing with the toys, in the tissue box, on and on.

Who Me?

Finally, she winds down and stretches out in front of the heater, but not for long.

Stitched Boxes

I like when I can finish a piece of needlework into something useful.  Besides stitched bags and little toolie things, stitched boxes are another nice and useful way to finish needlework.  Here are some that I have with me here.

Summer Sampler Box (finished 2013)
Denise Harrington Pratt is the designer and teacher of this project.

 

Jubilation (finished 2013)
DH Pratt is also the designer of this box.

 

Dragonfly Jewelry boxes
These are Lee canvases.  I do like things that match and I like dragonflies.  I couldn't resist buying and stitching these, in blue of course.

 

Pink Canvas in Betsy Box
This design was a breast cancer fund raiser put out by another guild. I don't remember the details, but several of us in our chapter bought the kits.  I didn't like the pink ribbon in the center so I changed it. As it turned out, it was the perfect size for this box top.

 

Two Little Beaded Boxes
I stitched the little triangle box the first winter I was here.  I want to do more of this, but haven't yet.
The other box was a class I took at the 50th anniversary EGA national seminar in Louisville.

 

Round Stumpwork
This was a class at the Richmond EGA national seminar.  I ordered the box at the seminar and completed the stitching in a few months, but it was over a year before I finally received the box to put the needlework in.

 

Hardanger Mint Tin
This was a Christmas gift from my friend Charlie a few years ago.  I would like to make something like this and have saved some tins, but haven't started the project yet.

 

New Year's Stitching Resolutions 2014

It’s a new year, so a new start on the list of what I want to work on and finish.  I have so many projects that have been started and many more that have been kitted up and are waiting for me to start.  I have some projects that I want to finish because the class and/or kit were very expensive and I feel obligated to finish them because I have so much money invested.  I have others that I really like the technique or want the finished product, but they are large involved projects that can’t be finished in a week and seem overwhelming.  Some are a combination of these reasons.  Last year I discovered how much I enjoyed making up my own projects and I want to continue doing some of those kind of things.

So, here it is – my New Year’s Stitching Resolutions for 2014

Queen Elizabeth

I took this class at Calloway Gardens School of Needlearts in January 2011. She is high on the list of expensive classes and/or kits.   I have worked on her since coming to Japan, but I haven’t picked up her needle in quite some time. I have a small amount of stitching, then adding the beads left to do.

Moon Dragon

I completed this dragon’s companions, the Sun Dragon and the DragonMaster, since coming to Japan and have worked on this one, but not in quite a while.  This one is also high on the expensive kit list.

Crazy Quilt Wall Hanging

This will be an out of my head project.  I don’t have all the details figured out yet, but I want to do 12 blocks; maybe I can do one a month to keep it on track to be finished in a year.  I want to make it entirely with materials I already have – no new purchases, if possible.  I have cut the 12 pieces of 12x12 inch fabric and am ready to take my ideas from my head to the blank fabric. I haven't decided on block size yet - maybe 9 inches or maybe 10 inches.

There – three big projects to complete this year.  I’m sure I’ll finish a lot of other things along the way, but these are the three that I really want to complete. In addition, I'd like to do more beading and work on my RSN Knot Garden this year. I'm also planning to participate in the 2014 Small SAL at Stitching Lotus.