Ok, so let's start with showing you all my goal:
It's call hoa cây, which translates quite aptly to flower tree. Each branch is made up of ten flowers just so:
Seem a little daunting? Well, I now certainly think so! However, I have to admit that when I first decided upon this challenge, I didn't think it was going to be quite as challenging as it's turning out to be. The only experience I had of paper flower making at the time was of the final step which is to tie up the ready made flowers to the small bamboo branch using ribbon. That in and of itself is no easy feat, but I definitely under-estimated the effort necessary to reach said final step.
The craft of making these worship flowers in Thanh Tien village is over 400 years old. The techniques and tools have been passed down over the generations and is in danger of dying off, which is where Rose Vietnam and my volunteer work comes into play. I will write soon about the project as a whole, today I want to focus on the techniques of making these particular flowers. Here are the tools: (much to my surprise and delight, Mr. Loan said he was in the process of making my very own tool kit to bring home, so I can show you all how to make these flowers back in Canada!)
The first steps (that I have not yet learned) are to dye the paper and cut up bamboo into the right size pieces and dye these as well. Mr. Loan promised he would show me these steps before I left. I think he's just waiting to see me become comfortable with the hammer before he hands me the machete, or whatever it is one uses to slice up bamboo!
The next step is cutting. I never thought of using a hammer and a weirdly, but perfectly, shaped nail (I call it a nail for lack of better word, please let me know if this told has a name!) to cut paper, but that is how it is done. The execution itself looks quite simple, not so. Just today, I was getting comfortable with this step, thinking I had mastered it, think again! My most recent cutting were rejected as không đẹp, meaning not beautiful as they weren't perfect circles. Hum. The weird nail thing has to go down perfectly straight for this not to happen. Better luck tomorrow!
After the cutting comes the wrinkling or folding. For far I've learned to do this in two ways. Either with a bamboo stick and foamy thingny or with a rope and differently shaped bamboo stick. I think I've mastered the foamy technique to Mr. Loan's wife's satisfaction (I call her the "quality control") but my technique with the rope is most definitely not yet up to snuff!
Next is gluing, using the same starch as when making Bánh Lọc! Yum! Very sticky though... I learned quickly to keep it to only one finger at a time otherwise you end up with quite the mess. Most of the gluing is quite straightforward, but not so for the rose (Minh and Hao can attest to that).
Ah finished! Well except for making the stems, gluing on the "pollen" on the end of stems, assembling, oh and learning (and mastering!) the cutting, wrinkling, and gluing parts of each individual flower... Now the question is, what is such a flower branch worth? Any guesses? Well, in the markets in preparation for the New Year these go for about 2000 vnd a branch, less than 50 cents. Flabbergasting. 40 branches takes an expert 12 hours to make, which is less than two dollars for an hour's work. Really makes you think. Meanwhile, I've completed four branches in a week, with a bunch of spare flowers lying around. I need at least 150 branches to make a tree, and I've got 2 months to finish. A fine challenge!
The craft of making these worship flowers in Thanh Tien village is over 400 years old. The techniques and tools have been passed down over the generations and is in danger of dying off, which is where Rose Vietnam and my volunteer work comes into play. I will write soon about the project as a whole, today I want to focus on the techniques of making these particular flowers. Here are the tools: (much to my surprise and delight, Mr. Loan said he was in the process of making my very own tool kit to bring home, so I can show you all how to make these flowers back in Canada!)
The first steps (that I have not yet learned) are to dye the paper and cut up bamboo into the right size pieces and dye these as well. Mr. Loan promised he would show me these steps before I left. I think he's just waiting to see me become comfortable with the hammer before he hands me the machete, or whatever it is one uses to slice up bamboo!
The next step is cutting. I never thought of using a hammer and a weirdly, but perfectly, shaped nail (I call it a nail for lack of better word, please let me know if this told has a name!) to cut paper, but that is how it is done. The execution itself looks quite simple, not so. Just today, I was getting comfortable with this step, thinking I had mastered it, think again! My most recent cutting were rejected as không đẹp, meaning not beautiful as they weren't perfect circles. Hum. The weird nail thing has to go down perfectly straight for this not to happen. Better luck tomorrow!
After the cutting comes the wrinkling or folding. For far I've learned to do this in two ways. Either with a bamboo stick and foamy thingny or with a rope and differently shaped bamboo stick. I think I've mastered the foamy technique to Mr. Loan's wife's satisfaction (I call her the "quality control") but my technique with the rope is most definitely not yet up to snuff!
Next is gluing, using the same starch as when making Bánh Lọc! Yum! Very sticky though... I learned quickly to keep it to only one finger at a time otherwise you end up with quite the mess. Most of the gluing is quite straightforward, but not so for the rose (Minh and Hao can attest to that).
Ah finished! Well except for making the stems, gluing on the "pollen" on the end of stems, assembling, oh and learning (and mastering!) the cutting, wrinkling, and gluing parts of each individual flower... Now the question is, what is such a flower branch worth? Any guesses? Well, in the markets in preparation for the New Year these go for about 2000 vnd a branch, less than 50 cents. Flabbergasting. 40 branches takes an expert 12 hours to make, which is less than two dollars for an hour's work. Really makes you think. Meanwhile, I've completed four branches in a week, with a bunch of spare flowers lying around. I need at least 150 branches to make a tree, and I've got 2 months to finish. A fine challenge!
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