Total classes: 3 Days Number of hour per Day: 7 hours Time: 9.30am & 4pm Set of tools provided and used: Cotton cloth Weaving loom All other materials Size of pieces: - A short towel 70cm - A 100cm scarf with star pattern - A 170cm scarf with elephant pattern Day 1: Introduction. On this day you will also learn to dye the cotton cloth and have a basic class of weaving to make a short towel. 9am: We will meet you at your hotel in Luang Prabang and head to the weaving village. You will be introduced to the city and the village as well. Ban Chan is a little famous weaving village in Luang Prabang. Products are weaved with handmade cotton and silk by traditional methods, patterns and techniques. There are many weavers among whom Mrs Lae is one of the most skillful hosts. She is friendly, very patient and willing to share her skills to anyone. She has been weaving for 20 years and would love to pass down her skills to any travelers. You will meet the host at her house and get to hear her sharing on her background, education, why she loves weaving and what items she likes to do the most. We will also meet her family and see how local people's daily life goes. 9:30 - 11am: Introduction to weaving and its history The skills of weaving are usually passed down from mother to their daughters. Very your girls start to weave when they are about 8 years old and up. Weaving products are used in almost everything including scarves, silk, towels, shirts, also in ceremonies such as alms giving, in temple, weddings and other decorations. Before 1980s, weaving products were used as cloth, scarves, skirts for their family members to wear during special occasions such as Buddhist holidays, wedding, and festivals and at New Year. However, since there were a high demand on weaving products from both local people and travellers who come to Laos, weaving become one of an important job for Lao women to earn more income. We will introduce you to the different types of weaving patterns, weaving products, weaving materials and the processions in weaving. We will then visit the weaving center with the host, a 8 minutes' walk from the weaving host location to see the various weaving products from easy pattern to massive pattern in both cotton and silk, also the babies of silk worms and different kind of the cotton looms and silk looms. 11am - 1pm: Learn the natural dye Start the natural dye: Host will show you the available plants that can be used to color the cotton and introduce which plans bring what color. Coconut leave, teak leave etc. Start to cut the plant or leave into small pieces and stir in mortar Then boil until the color comes out Host will show you how to dye first and then let you try your own cotton (you can color up to 3 different color). 1pm-2pm Lunch Break at a local noodle soup. 2pm - 4pm Introduce to the basic weaving techniques and weave a short towel. Begin to spin the cotton and start to weave Practice how to move hands and feet Practice how to change color and weave basic line (pattern) Practice how to change a new thread when it's finished Continue the rest of the towel Day 2: Weave a 100 cm long scarf with star pattern. 9:30am - 12pm Star patterns came from the imagination of the stars. Hundreds of years ago, people liked the stars in the sky and they tried to make it onto their work as a best decoration. Learn how to get the patterns (by moving the bamboo sticks) You will choose 2 colors: one for the background color and the other for the pattern Set up a new pin thread and start to weave the first 10 lines Host will show you how to weave the basic pattern and how to count the number of round of the thread pass through the loom Continue with the bigger patterns 12pm - 1pm Lunch Break at a local noodle soup 1pm - 4pm Continue to weave the morning scarf. Once you are familiar with the weaving process, host will show you a more quickly way to do it. Then you will learn how to end your scarf by making knot at the end of it. Day 3 Weave a 170 cm long scarf with the elephant pattern 9:30am - 12pm You can use the dye cottons that you made on the first day to weave You can start on their own from making the spinning and start to weave Host will show you how to create the elephant pattern 12 - 2pm Lunch Break and Temple visit Lunch with host family with local dishes and sticky rice. Then we will visit Phanom monastery. This monastery is located in the middle of the village. You will get to know a day of novice or monk such as they get up early at about 4am in the morning and go for alms collecting, breakfast and go to school etc. Also walking through the temple to see the different building like the main building, the dining room, the drum room, etc. On this day you will wear the 100cm scarf you made the previous day to the temple. We will explain why Lao people always wear scarves when they go into a temple or offering food to novices and monks. 2pm - 4pm Continue to weave the 170 cm long scarf with the elephant pattern. You will do everything until the end by yourself and our host will check and give you feedback during the process. You can customize by adding star pattern along with the elephant pattern to make your scarf special. What can you be expected to achieve by the end of the masterclass You can be expected to: Meet and learn the weaving artist Learn weaving skills from beginner to intermediate level. Understand and know the hard work people put to make one scarf. Understand how to use each tool and equipment. Know and learn about Lao culture, history and way of life. Stay with a host family for 3 days including to join a meal with them. 3. Type of products you will take away by the end A short towel A 100 cm long scarf that you weave on Day 2 A massive 170cm long scarf that you weave on Day 3 4. What materials will be included? All equipment, cotton and 1 lunch *** You can buy a thread + one of these with a price of $4