Thailand - Special Report for Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) 8.30am + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, both broadcast from Phuket City to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket & Phuket Cable TV Channel 1 at 7/11pm, Thursday 30 August 2007 & www.Thaisnews.com
Batik shirts are a popular item sold in tropical countries in Asia, and while it originates in Indonesia, this simple art and craft has been used to create a substantial means of income for many villages on the island of Phuket.
"Now, Batik is something you see a lot in Phuket, it`s almost synonymous with tropical living with but today I`m with the Sirsoonthorn group of women who not only make Batik shirts, but have diversified their product range to include a lot of different things."
The Sirsoonthorn group in the Thalang district, comprising of 6 women, make Batik items as a hobby, and have a line of products, using Batik to create not only shirts, but things like pillow cases, sarongs, t-shirts, bed sheets, hanker chiefs, tablecloths, handbags, plate mats and the popular yellow shirts with the royal emblem of H.M. the king`s 80th Birthday Anniversary stitched to the shirt pocket, giving it a tropical twist and sold at around 600 baht is one of the groups most popular items. This has allowed them another means of income outside of their normal professions.
The products by the group are of good quality as well, sealed with the `Phuket Brand` logo that is sponsored by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization or PPAO, which helps distributes the group`s products whenever it organizes events. Besides being certified by ISO 9001-2001, the products are one of the many under the `One Tambon, One Product` or OTOP projects that encouraged locally made Thai products.
The craft is fairly simple, as the technique uses equipment that is easy to handle, make and fix. First the pattern is drawn on to paper and then traced over by pencil on to a piece of cloth. The material is then stretched out onto a wooden frame, and using a canted needle (being a tool with a wooden handle and a metal cup) melted candle wax is scooped and let out of a spout that ranges in small and large sizes, depending on the width of the line the artist wishes to create. The wax blocks the dye used to color the fabric. The color is then painted on and when dry the material is dipped into a solution to keep the dye from running, then another to dissolve the wax.
"Our products are different from other places, as we have table cloths, bed sheets, plate mats, that we haven`t seen other groups do. Our Batik products are more diverse."
While their products are not sold on road side shops they are made to order, as the group has received requests for bags and shirts from foreign and local clients. The group`s patterns of tropical flowers and fish, while not new to the craft of Batik making, are beautiful, and with the members trying to create different products with the craft as it is, their skills, with this art form, can only get better.
Source: www.thaisnews.com (30 Agustus 2007)
