03.13.10

Thai Woodcarvings

Posted in Playing the Tourist at 6:54 pm by Administrator

After our elephant ride our next tour destination was to watch an elephant show.  However, on the way we stopped off at a woodcarving factory.  This was a surprise to me because they didn’t highlight a woodcarving factory as a part of the tour.  Apparently, one of the specialties in the area we were in is woodcarvings.  I really liked how they allowed us to take as many pictures as we wanted.  The woodcarvers were outdoors under a shed.  Here’s what part of the work area looked like.

They let us walk all around and watch anyone working.  Here’s as example of some of the woodcarvers at work.

It looked like they put a white film (gesso, maybe?) over the area they will carve and draw right on it, then carve right through the film.

They carved different types of things.  I think this woman is carving a table.  From looking at some of the work in the show room, I think this will end up with a glass top.

Here’s another guy working on elephant sculptures.  This one is small, but there were completed ones that were bigger than people.

Here’s a pic of me standing next to some of the completed elephant sculptures to help give an idea of how big some of them were.

Here’s another example of how large their carvings can be.

Their craftsmanship was really lovely.  I found it a treat to go through their showroom where their carvings were displayed for sale.  Not only did they have statues and reliefs, but they also had all sorts of furniture.

The nice thing about this tour was that they encouraged lots of pictures, so they didn’t mind us sitting there and snapping shots.  Here’s one with Aaron and me.  My mom liked this bench with the relief behind it, so she made Aaron and me sit down to take this picture.

I liked this set.

I thought they had nice quality furniture, but it sure wasn’t cheap.  For example here’s one of their completed reliefs with a price tag of $10,500 U.S.

Very nice, but mama mia, that’s a hefty price tag for me meager budget.

They had a variety of designs from delicate and serious to more whimsical like this cute little set.

They also had these types of carvings for decor.

Don’t ask me who that guy is behind there.  He just sort of popped into the shot, ha!

Okay, so I’m running out of room for this post, but they did have many more pieces and styles that I took pictures of.  So one last fun piece to share is of this rocking chair.  There was actually a much larger one that everyone else was using taking turns taking pictures in, so I just hopped onto this one.

Isn’t that a wild looking rocking chair?  Ha!  In retrospect, I should have been more patient and waited to take a pic on the larger chair, but you know how they rush you through tours. . .

Sorry I don’t have the name of this place or even what type of wood they use. . . I’d love to go back sometime to get more info.  Was fun. . .  But anyway, I’m about out of room for more pictures and dinner is about ready, so toodles for now!

Marlakins

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