2/20/10 - Getting Our Craft On

We felt like kids waking up on field trip day. Crafting class day! And what a lovely day it turned out to be. A month with no craft time is way too long.

We didn't have to wake up super early. Had time for breakfast, which was once again... Pancakes. I accepted their offer to put chocolate on mine. It came with chocolate sprinkles, not chocolate sauce. It's never quite what you expect.

Our batik class was held in a gallery/studio/back yard/racing pigeon coop area. After we picked out our designs, we headed out to the yard to practice with the wax pens.

Fantasy: We took to it instantly, like were born to batik!
Reality: It took us 20 minutes to draw a straight line. I spilled hot wax on my hand... Twice.

We really did get the hang of it though, and the very patient man was able to fix... most... of our mistakes.

While waiting for the wax to dry, we talked to one of the boys who worked there. He was wearing the most awesome abstractly batik painted pants ever. It was a work of art. He showed us around the back yard area. Chickens and an adorably fat kitty cat scurried around us. Professional batik paintings were hanging on clothes lines to dry. An older artist worked on a "dry technique" batik painting. He casually splashed the paint around and created a beautiful flower painting before our eyes. He was like an Indonesian Bob Ross. The boy mentioned the racing pigeons... Then realized we had no idea what he was talking about. He then went on to explain that people buy very expensive pigeons, and train them to race. It's a big deal. He showed us all of the pigeons they had, which were quite large and really pretty.

One of the people that run the studio, Suzie, came over to introduce herself and chat with us. We were still waiting for the paint to dry, so she took us to her friend's restaurant down the street. For about $1 US, we were served the best gado gado (rice, veggies, egg, crisps, in a peanut sauce) we've had, and a large glass of sweetened lemon juice. It was one of the best meals we've had, and we thanked the lady who made it about 40 times.

Our batiks were dry when we got back. Next we applied a layer of wax over what we painted. This took a looong time. I think we might need a tiny bit more practice. After we finished (and our mistakes fixed), our instructor dyed the background, melted off the wax in boiling well water, and poof! Done! Amazing.

Batiking was really REALLY cool. They gave us a free wax pen, so we plan on doing a lot more of this when we get back to the States. Look out Green Elevator fans. Now all we need is a boiling vat of wax. Hmm...

Before our silver smith class, we decided it was time to try kopi luwak. This is the really fancy expensive coffee they mentioned in the movie The Bucket List. Made from the pooed out coffee beans eaten by the luwak (hence the name), it sells for $500 a pound or cup (we're not sure which) in the US. A specialty of Indonesia (and much cheaper here) we had to try it. I don't like coffee, so I just tried Steff's and got ice cream instead. It tasted like coffee to me, but Steff tells me it was very good. Yay poo coffee.

We also ordered cheese fries. Fries covered with cold shredded mozzarella cheese, and served with hot sauce. Never quite what you expect... But good.

When someone in Yogyakarta tells you something is close and will take 10 minutes to get there, tack on about 30 minutes to that time and assume it's hard to get to. We were a little late for our silversmithing class. Oops..

I'm going to start right out by saying: this class was fantastic.

It was fun, interesting, really super cool, we recommend it, and give it thumbs up/smiles/other gestures of a positive nature.

Our instructor, Agus, went over the basic steps of working with silver, how to not hurt ourselves with the blow torch, and different samples of what can be made. Yogyakarta is not only famous for its batiks, but also for their incredibly detailed silver works. We now have a new found respect for all those little twists and turns in the metal... Not easy...

We were given small strips of silver to work with. Measuring, cutting, and sanding it down to the shape we wanted. Agus gave us smaller bits of silver wire to show us some basic decorating techniques. Next... The blow torch. It's way too easy to become power-mad with that thing once you realize how cool it is welding metal together. Very queen of the universe, elements will bow to my supreme power - you know? Sanding, buffing, ACID drop, more buffing - makes silver look perfect. I think we said "Wooow!! Look at THIS!!!" about 200 times.

During the class, Steff did great. Her pieces looked professionally done, and had the queen of the universe thing down from the start. I, on the other hand, was THAT kid in class. The one who doesn't quiiite get it, needs a little hand holding, and work looks a bit... Abstract.

[Steffany's note: no she was not. and no i did not.  it was hard. and i spent a good hour working on one tiny technique, while Megan mastered like 5 of them. plus, i think the instructor had a crush on her!]

After I finished curling a wire, Agus said: "You did that well... Much better than I expected."

Yep. I was that kid.

I did get better though! We both had silversmithing down by the end and wanted to make a million things. It was just so cool!

Awesome day. Success!



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