Textile Workshops

Textile Workshops

Whether you are looking for a textile course, class or textile ideas you will love Colouricious Holidays textile workshops. Ranging from block printing to embroidery you are sure to love the creative inspiration that awaits you in India! Colouricious Holidays specialise in creating bespoke craft tours from organising 5* hotels to the creative itinerary. Every workshop will be shared with you r workshops always lovely atmosphere with great teachers

Colouricious Holidays’ Golden Triangle Textile Treasure Hunt is less than a year away! No matter if you"ve been on  many Colouricious Holidays or your a first timer, you will have a fantastic tour of India seeing the beautiful fabrics in the textile heartland.

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The Golden Triangle is defined by the notional triangle drawn between the cities of Dehli, Agra and Jaipur, the triangle also includes a must-see locations such as the Taj Mahal,the silk factories of Varanasi, and the carpet weavers of Agra …to say nothing of the striking desert landscapes of Rajasthan. Here, the weaving and dying arts stretch back to their earliest incarnations, many of them developed by the Indus Valley Civilisation. The Golden Triangle boasts dozens of museums and study centres where the ancient arts of the region are still taught in their traditional forms, and preserved as cultural treasures.

A few of the workshops made as part of the Treasure Hunt include

Chikan Embroidery workshop

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Chikan literally translates as ‘embroidery’. It is a style that developed in Lucknow, and the village of Chowk in that region produces a great deal of it. It involves white thread embroidered onto pastel-tined muslin and cotton garments.

Slightly ‘modernised’ versions of the Lucknawi chican style include coloured thread, bead, mirror work, and other embellishments adopted from related traditions. The base fabric palette has also been expanded to include chiffons, silks and other light, soft materials.

 

Hand Block Printing Experience

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Northern India has long been famous for its continuing wooden block printing tradition. The ‘blocks’ are kind of hand-carved stamp which is dipped in dye and applied, again and again, to a silk, cotton or linen fabric to make a pattern. It can be very simple or extremely ornate, depending on the tastes and the exact tradition of the artisan.

This is an excellent opportunity for you to learn the technique from traditional craftspeople, and make it a part of your own work.

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Weaving workshop in Sarai Mohanna village

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Sarai Mohanna is a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi District, most famous for its silk weaving tradition. The Banarasi saris made here are considered to be among the finest and most desirable in India. Such a traditionally hand crafted sari can take as much as 6 months to create.

 



Of course, that is just a taste of what you’ll experience as part of the 2019 Golden Triangle Textile Treasure Hunt. Over the next few weeks we’ll highlight more of the one-of-a-kind events, locations and experiences you could visit.

If you would like to learn more about the Golden Triangle Treasure Hunt in particular, just visit the Colouricious Holiday website. But hurry, holidays like the Golden Triangle Treasure Hunt fill up quickly!

Learn, create and be happy!

Creative Holiday - Bhutan"s Textiles

A Creative Holiday to Bhutan

Do you love beautiful fabrics and sumptuous colours? If so you’re going to love the journey of exploration that Colouricious Holidays have planned for you. If you sew and love fabrics and want to embark on a journey into the heart of Bhutanese textiles then look no further. You will explore the heart of local textiles and will be taken on a journey to delight your senses on this creative holiday. You’ll be able to sample local food and culture and a variety of different crafts at local markets. Hosted by the wonderful Isha Sharma, you will be guided through Bhutan"s textile and craft hotspots. You will stay in personally selected hotels to give you maximum comfort to expand your creativity.

Creative holidays with a difference

With Colouricious Textile Holidays to Bhutan, you’re sure to get a craft holiday with a difference bringing you to destinations you’ve never been to before. You can discover hidden gems like rural villages which still do traditional crafts off the beaten track. Our local knowledge enables us to find the best traditional local craft centres which offer the highest quality materials and textiles for you to discover on your journey of a lifetime. One of these destinations is the National Institute of Zorig Chusum. It"s an arts and crafts school teaching the 13 traditional crafts of Bhutan. These include embroidery, weaving, painting, wood carving, calligraphy and sculpting to name a few. You will witness students being trained in these ancient techniques helping protect the invaluable heritage of Bhutan. It"s great way to integrate yourself into their way of life, watching locals making local crafts and being able to join in and try them for yourself!

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Discover the magic of the Bhutan Valley

Our creative holidays to Bhutan begin in London where you’ll fly to Delhi and then arrive in the sacred Paro Valley in Bhutan. This valley is considered one of the most picturesque in Bhutan with the river of Paro Chhu meandering through it"s flat fields. There is so much to see from the richly decorated shops and houses to the 155 temples and monasteries in this area dating back to the 14^th century. It"s also home to Bhutan"s iconic landmark, the Tiger’s Nest. This beautiful temple, built on a cliff face, sits 900 hundred meters above the Paro Valley. It is believed Guru Rimpoche flew on a tigress and landed in cave on the cliff face anointing this as the location to build a monastery. He mediated here for 3 years, 3 months, 3 days and 3 hours to subdue the demon tigress. It is considered the most holiest of sites as it"s believed Guru Rimpoche established Buddhism in Bhutan. The temple is built into the cliff face where you can explore the caves and walk along stairways made in the rock. There are many beautiful paintings on the walls even the scenic woodland path to approach the site is littered with prayer flags. Click here see the top attractions Part Valley has to offer.

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During your trip you’ll be introduced to Bhutanese culture and discover its sacred ancient history. You’ll discover the Buddhist religious culture and folklore.You’ll be given a tour of the beautiful textile museums and see local hand weaving in practice taking part in painting and weaving workshops. You’ll have such a wonderful time in Bhutan, discovering textiles and crafts and culture that you won’t want to leave.

Feast your eyes on Bhutan"s architecture

Be sure to bring a good camera because you won’t want to miss out on capturing the essence of Bhutan’s culture or miss the beautiful architecture and craftsmanship. You’ll see breath-taking scenery especially at Buddha point. Incredibly, it stands at 169 feet and contains 125,000 smaller Buddha"s also gilded and made of bronze. It"s one of the biggest Buddha statues in the world looking out over the Kuensel Phodrang nature park, the southern approach to the capital Thimphu. Amazingly Thimpu"s population is 100,000, so there are more Buddha"s contained in this magnificent statue than people in Bhutans capital. Buddha Dordenma was built in honour of Jigme Singye Wangchuck 60th birthday as the fourth king of Bhutan. It sits upon a beautiful decorated mediation hall. The landscape will provide an unforgettable backdrop for you to experience unspoilt forested mountains which descend into the glacial valleys giving way to evergreen paddy fields of exotic red rice.

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Unique craft and textile holidays

There’ll be lots of opportunities to bring back samples of local crafts and feast your eyes on traditional uses of textiles such as prayer flags, embroidered thankras, colourful costumes. We pride ourselves on providing a unique experience for people who want to have a creative holiday with a difference. We want to show you the very best of Bhutanese crafts and provide a textile tour which will enthral you.

Keep an eye out for our next blog to see what other wonderful activities await you on this textile holiday to Bhutan with Colouricious Holidays or visit www.colouriciousholidays.com to see the full itinerary and book a place!

Learn, create, be happy!

Experience Japanese Embroidery

Japanese embroidery, called ‘nihon shishu’, is a complex tradition that incorporates several different embroidery techniques that date back as far as the early Kofun period (the 5^th century by our reckoning).

The History of Japanese Embroidery

Nihon shishu was traditionally reserved for very wealthy, high status individuals. In fact, in the Heian period it was reserved for creating ceremonial religious costumes the ladies of the Imperial Court, and a few others of noble rank. However, before the Meji Era (the late 19^th and early 20^th century), it was simply called ‘nui’ or ‘sewing’.
Eventually, more and more European techniques were absorbed into traditional Japanese embroidery, and it became ever more ornate. In time it became a widely spread art form, and began to be valued for its beauty, rather than as a purely ceremonial decoration.

The Symbolism of Japanese Embroidery

• Cherry blossoms symbolise beauty and the transience of life, but also renewal.


• Peonies represent bravery, honour and good luck.


• Evergreen trees speak of winter and the new year, but also longevity and the ability to stand firm against adversity


• Chrysanthemums are symbols of the Imperial family, and also rejuvenation and regal beauty.


• Carnations mean both fascination and motherly love.


• Cranes stand for good fortune and longevity. A pair of cranes symbolises a happy marriage.


• Dragonflies are symbols of warriors, martial might and victory.


• Spiders in Japanese embroidery mean industry and productivity.


• Swallows are thought to bring good luck, fertility, and fidelity of one’s partner.


• Dragons mean prosperity, and are said to drive away evil.


• Butterflies evoke joy and prosperity, and often represent the soul.

Watch the video below to see how everybody enjoyed last years trip.

The Techniques of Nihon Shishu

To begin, the artisan makes a drawing directly on the fabric. Next, they must choose the colours of the embroidery floss to use. This selection is not merely artistic; there is a complex meaning to each colour and colour combination. Some colours are only used with certain traditional designs. Others are appropriate only for a garment worn at certain times of the year. Others are exclusive to certain ages, genders and other statuses the wearer might possess. In the end, a traditional piece of nihon shishu is more of a personal story than a garment.
The floss itself is applied using an embroidery frame, and the excess cut away. The obverse side is then coated with wheat starch and steamed, to give the floss the traditional shiny, stiff texture.
Like most other traditional Japanese crafts, Embroidery is highly regionalised. For example, Kyoto is one of the largest centres for this craft, and its distinctive style is called Kyo-nui.
There are 43 traditional embroidery methods used in nihon shishu today, and many have their own complications. Most of them involve the usual ‘passing’ technique, using a combination of metallic and silk flosses and threads. Explaining all 43 techniques would take a book – probably more than one! However, we can touch on a few:

• Rozashi is a technique that involves creating geometric shapes using straight stitches on a woven canvas. In this technique, it is important that the weave of the underlying fabric remains visible.


• Wari-Nui is a technique very similar to the European ‘split stitch’, and is used to depict leaves, flower petals and most famously the feathers of birds.


• Kyo-nui became famous during the Heian Period, and focuses on the use of silk, silver and gold threads, typically on a silk or linen backing.


• Sashiko is a type of embroidery using only a running stitch.

Exploring Nihon Shishu on a Colouricious Holiday

Of course, if there is something crafty going on out there in the world, Colouricious Holidays is there, making it possible for you to observe, learn and of course participate. We have a wide variety of different holidays to choose from, and many of them partake in a taste of nihon shishu and kio-nui.

So, would you like to learn more about traditional Japanese nihon shishu embroidery? How about learning the basics from traditional artisans as part of a Colouricious Holiday? We can help make it happen! Just contact us today at bookings@colouriciousholidays.com or at 0203 362 4114. We have a wide range of crafting holidays available, both in Japan and around the world. I’m sure we can find the perfect one for you!

You can check out all the information you need about our two wonderful trips to Japan by clicking on the buttons below.

Vietnam Textiles

Vietnam Textiles

There are many artistic avenues through which the Vietnamese express themselves such as silk painting, theatre, and wood carving. Below are explanations of the origins and development of a few key textiles and techniques. Vietnam textiles are beautiful.

Silk 

Vietnam textiles have been amazing for centuries, Vietnam has been silk weaving and creating beautiful embroidery. During feudal times silk was thought of as a great luxury, only worn by kings, queens and mandarins. Through out history and its dynasties, Vietnam has always had rules concerning colour, ornamentation, style and fabric of clothes worn by aristocrats. The clothes of those in power featured the royal symbols of dragons, phoenixes and tortoises.

Vietnam’s best silk is called ‘Ha Dong’ silk and comes from of Ha Tay, southwest of Hanoi in the Red River Delta. It is believed that the art of silk weaving originated here some 2,000 years ago. However it was between the 16th 18th centuries when this region’s silk industry flourished. Today, techniques and quality have changed but there are many villages that always have and still do produce silk, for example La Ca.

To produce silk, the first stage is the weaving of the cloth to make every thread uniformly in line to ensure a smooth and soft fabric. It is then soaked, washed, dried, kept with forest resin, dyed, and sun dried twice. The resin is extracted at different points of the season for different colours. This chemical free process creates beautifully shiny and durable silk.

Embroidery

All over Vietnam, its people use embroidery as a form of cultural expression. It was introduced into the northprovinces of Vietnam during the 17^th century from China, when originally silk embroidery only used five thread colours – yellow, red, green, violet and blue.

However embroidery is thought to have existed in the village of Van Lam for seven centuries. More than 75% of the population is skilled in the embroidery with lace, due to teachings being passed down through generations. Their work varies from the size of a hand to large wall hangings. Tribes like the Hmong and Dao also use their own unique intricate embroidery and braiding styles to embellish their clothing. The Hmong also use beautiful batik designs to decorate their clothing.

Applique

Applique is used by the Hmong to set apart and identify particular tribes, but was first developed as a way of story telling. Now it has developed into an art form for many communities. This ancient technique involves sewing on fabric shapes by hand to produce decorative patterns and shapes.

  

If you’d like to find out more about these techniques and get involved in the culture, Colouricious are running a textile trip to Vietnam in November 2015. If you would like to find out more, do not hesitate to visit our website or contact us below.

Vietnam Textiles

Block Printing Hearts - Heart Art - Love Craft Ideas

Block Printing Hearts on to your fabric or paper is the perfect heart art activity for you to get started on this valentines day! You can print these on fabrics to create great pieces or your paper to create cards and much more.

 

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See more heart art here at Colouricious.

Block Printing Hearts - Heart Art - Love Craft Ideas

Textiles - Embroidery - textile art

Did you know that Vietnam is full of the most beautiful textiles imaginable. This coming October, Colouricious is hosting a textile tour of Vietnam, traveling from the North all the way down to the South of this stunning country. The textiles that we explore en route are particularly bright and colourful, and what we love in particular is the breath taking embroidery.
Visit our Colouricious website to learn more about this dream textile holiday.

In the North of Vietnam, there is an area called Sapa Valley, which is where the Hmong tribes live. The first part of our holiday, we visit this tribal area where everywhere you go, you will see ladies stitching in the street.

If you love silk, then you will adore seeing the silk production that is so big in Vietnam. You will be visiting silk worm farms and seeing the production of silk fabric – and of course there is the very important element of retail therapy. You will come home with armfuls of real silk.
If you are looking to treat yourself to a special holiday, there are still a few vacancies left on this Colouricious textile tour of Vietnam. Visit our Colouricious website now to learn more about textiles in Vietnam, watch all the videos we have prepared for you and you can even book online now!

  

Come on a Colouricious textile holiday to meet the people behind the scenes who love textiles and sewing and weaving and making gorgeous items!

Textiles - Embroidery - textile art

Embroidery Village in Dalat - Vietnam Holidays

Embroidery Village in Dalat

Dalat is a small and charming village found in Vietnam. Dalat’s surrounding countryside is covered by lakes, waterfalls and evergreen forests.

Local products include silk, embroidery designs, garden vegetables and flowers which are sold all over southern Vietnam. This makes Dalat perfect for those who love textiles and crafts, where you can shop for beautiful crafts on your Vietnam holidays!

The city’s population is made up of about 5000 members of hill tribes. Traditional dress can even be spotted in the market places, with beautiful embroidery. Hill-tribe women of Dalat carry their children on their backs in a long piece of cloth worn over one shoulder and tied in the front. 

Also known as ‘The City of Eternal Spring’, Dalat’s temperature can vary between 15°C (average daily minimum) to 24°C (average daily maximum). Dalat has a dry and a wet season – dry occurs form December to March and wet falls from April to November. But not to worry! Even in the wet season, mornings normally remain dry, leaving time for shopping and other leisurely activities on your Vietnam holidays before the downpour begins.

Find out more about Dalat.

Learn more about our Colouricious textile holiday to Vietnam.

Colouricious hosts many different wonderful textile holidays – check out Colouricious textile holidays.

Embroidery Village in Dalat - Vietnam Holidays