Bishop's Castle has returned to the deserted hush of the Spring as we begin another "lockdown"... and we have had to close our shop again. Usually at this time of the year we are getting ready for a winter buying trip. One of our concerns has been how we will continue to buy our stock now that we can't travel.
In November last year I had just finished a wonderful trip to Java with textile enthusiasts from Chile, Argentina, America, India, England and Wales. Now we all realise just how lucky we were. I was beginning a nice long stay in Thailand. I bought some wonderful textiles, had clothes made and ended the trip with a visit to an amazing batik exhibition in the Queen Sirikit Museum in Bangkok.
News was in the air of a new disease coming from China air and just before I left the first case had hit Thailand..
Well now here we are a year on and wondering how we are going to continue to support our suppliers and friends in Indonesia and Thailand.
| | | This has been a challenge, but by the technological miracle of Whatsapp and by getting up at 5am... we have managed to do some "live" buying. The time difference means getting up very early to be on the other end of the phone but my amazing friends Toy and Puu in Chiang Mai have between them managed to buy and send us some wonderful indigo printed and ikat fabrics.
In Java, my dear friend Susi hired a car and driver to take her to a flea market in Surakarta to buy me some second hand copper batik stamps and to my favourite family run batik manufacturer to buy some wonderful contemporary batik fabrics.
The following day, Jim took over to choose some vintage batik as Susi trawled the second hand stalls and visited the home of Bu Soedalmi, venerated dealer in antique and vintage batik.
I had one more task for Susi - to find some indigo batik from Tuban (an area in north Java) where hand spun and woven fabric is batiked with beeswax and dyed with indigo. The cotton, the dye plants, and even the wax is harvested from around the village. She managed to hunt some down, packed everything up and sent it to us.
It was great fun for me to feel as if I was in Java for a few short hours and Susi enjoyed a chance to get out of her home in Jogyakarta and distribute and earn some money!
| | | We still had one gap in our stock to try and fill though. In the summer I got a call out of the blue.... from a French woman who I had met long ago when she was researching the connections between batik from Java and waxprint from West Africa..
Anne asked if we had any ikat fabrics for her client. This client turned out to be a very famous French fashion house who finally ended up by buying up all our remaining stock of Balinese endek (as ikat is known there).
We were happy to see the fabrics made into wonderful garments and used on the catwalk in the Spring 2021 Collection. There is a short film here about the mix of two fabrics they used - chiné (a printed version of warp ikat) and Balinese endek. (The film is in French with sub titles) and my contact, Anne Grosfilly is the person who speaks at the end.
So now we needed some more ikat and no chance whatsoever of getting to the textile market in Bali where we buy it from. I put out feelers to everyone I knew in Bali but no-one felt confident enough to undertake this somewhat daunting task. Finally I was put in touch with an Australian textile artist living in Ubud who was up for it.
So after I had prepared her with cash, photos and the names of my usual sellers, there I was again at 5 am in a dark kitchen speaking to a stranger on the other side of the world and trying to direct a mammoth shopping trip. After a couple of hours we had done it!
Bravo to Fiona and to the market stall ladies at Klungkung. Fiona told me I had made their day! Now she just had to navigate a suitable box, packaging, weighing scales, and document printing. But after all that, the ikat fabric has arrived and is back on the website. Phew! | | | So it looks as if Christmas shopping will mostly be done online this year... and we of course hope that we can help.
If you have a fabric loving friend, we have sample sets and sets of fat quarters
If you know someone who loves sewing we have unique fabrics for dressmaking and upholstery
if you have a crafty friend, there are our woodblocks which can be used for printing on paper, card, fabrics, wood, walls, and even pressed into clay! Then there's our batik equipment and batik kits.
If you know someone who loves unusual jewellery, then we have some gorgeous silver from the hilltribes of Northern Thailand, and some delicate earrings and pendants from Bali, and some fabulous Afghan pendants.
and if none of that is quite right, we've still got some of our lovely felt dollies (I have no idea how we're going to get any more of those!) and embroidered bags and purses and wonderful Thai silk scarves!
OK - that's the commercial break over... | | | Finally if you have ever been tempted to have a go at batik, but needed a bit of encouragement...have a look at this lovely series of YouTube teaching films by Jude Flaherty. Jude is from South Wales and a member of The Batik Guild (What? you didn't know there was such a thing!) who's style of batik is Contemporary Batik Paining - i.e. non traditional. You should pick up some great tips from her and have the joy of watching a creative artist at work.
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