Textile Class in Ubud

On Tuesday Mr. Farmer left first thing to go diving, so I was on my own for the day. Up to that point we’d literally only been apart when one of us was in the bathroom since the beginning of the trip.

There are tons of classes to go to in Ubud – everything from dance, to yoga, to art to cooking. I came across a listing for Threads of Life, which is a charitable shop that is trying to preserve the weaving traditions from all the islands and clans in Indonesia. They offer an introductory class to Indonesian textiles every Tuesday from 10-noon, and it seemed to me like a really interesting thing to try.

I’d registered by exchanging emails with and Australian associate of the shop, and I arrived shortly before 10 to their (air conditioned – yea!) little gallery. Ultimately three other women arrived, and we were led outside and upstairs to an open-air short table with pillows to sit on by the mid-30s Indonesian co-founder of the place.

We all introduced ourselves:

Anna – a trainer of teachers in 3rd world countries, doing a detox/regroup in Bali after spending time in Burma.

Catherine – on holiday from Brisbane, but clearly had a lot of international travel experience, including living in Kathmandu.

Marie Pierre – a Canadian writer (currently working on romance novels) who had been on a 10-day women’s retreat and decided to stay on for a while to explore Bali as a kick-off to three years of travel.

I was by far the most boring of the bunch.

Class was called to order. Basically it covered weaving and batik. We started by going over the difference between warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) weaving patterns, then started going island by island through Indonesia to see which one they typically used, as well as their typical dyeing techniques and motifs. Then we talked about batik (mostly done in Java, the big island immediately west of Bali). There was a seriously beautiful silk batik he showed as an example, but I decided to forego buying it because it was $135.

Many islands have just a few clans on them, and they each have their own distinct designs. It can take over a year to weave a piece that would be the same size as a bedspread for a double bed! Many start by spinning and dyeing their own cotton. Some clans use them purely as dowries (in exchange for gold and elephant tusks from the groom’s family), others as ceremonial clothing, and others as ceremonial decoration.

One example had beading – and Anna tried it on.

The class ended at noon, and at that point they served us lemonade. The four of us sat and gabbed about 20 minutes about what we were all inspired to do: Anna was buying Balinese textiles and handicrafts for a shop she’s opened north of Seattle, Catherine was going to try her hand a batik, and M.P. gave me the name of a Balinese priest who had been their tour guide at the “mother temple” who also has a clothing manufacturing company.

M.P. and I left at the same time, and it turned out that we were both planning to go to one of the art museums that afternoon. So we had a delightful lunch together and then meandered through the museum.

We parted was about 3:45, at which point I went to the market in search of a sarong. Nothing could match the $135 one I’d seen at the shop, but I was very proud to negotiate down to $17 a pretty but not finely woven one. I also got some silver earrings.

I caught the 4:20 shuttle back to the hotel and had a nice chat with an Indian couple now living in Newark.

Hmmm. Mr. Farmer wasn’t back. What should I do? Ah, massage! Farmer and I had ones the day before, but what the heck, they’re cheap! Our initial ones were $15 for 90 minutes. Ridiculous! This time I stayed at the hotel spa, which was double that price, but truly blissful.

By the time I was done at 6:00, Farmer was back from diving the U.S.S. Liberty wreck at Tulamben, freshly showered and in a trance propped up in bed.

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