The newer generation could not copy this art to the style and grace of the olden days but yet they are trying their best . Todays artwork is more in the sense of scultures such as below .

This kind of scultures could be found at many places at prices that ranges according to its size. But there are also the craftmen here in Malaysia that still tries to follow the artform of the olden days which is carving. A remarkable work is as below.

This is a replica of a window sill from the Straits of Melaka. During the days of the Javanese occupation. The artwork itself could be seen on many houses till today in Melaka the land of History.  All these from a single piece of wood.

The forest have given us much to adorn and awe to make sure that you are not promoting deforestation I would suggest that you buy your wood products from sources that declare their wood products as fallen trees and not chopped down trees. I am not so sure whether you are able to get this kind of information anywhere else but as a tree lover myself I will only sell products that are from fallen trees and one piece crafts . You are able to purchase most of the Malaysian crafts through our online shop which will be up before February 2008. This delay is due to the fact that we would want to make sure that our customers are getting the best products at the best prices.

Wood is a heterogeneous, hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. Wood is composed of fibers of cellulose (40%–50%) and hemicellulose (15%–25%) impregnated with lignin (15%–30%).

Wood can be cut into straight planks and made into a hardwood floor (parquetry).

Wood has been used for millennia for many purposes. One of its primary uses is as fuel. It is also used as for making artworks, furniture, tools, and weapons, and as a construction material.

Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, houses and boats. Nearly all boats were made out of wood till the late 1800s, and wood remains in common use today in boat construction. New domestic housing in many parts of the world today is commonly of timber-framed construction. In buildings made of other materials, wood will still be found as a supporting material, especially in roof construction and interior doors and their frames and exterior cladding. Wood to be used for construction work is commonly known as lumber in North America. Elsewhere, lumber will usually refer to felled trees, and the word for sawn planks ready for use will be timber.

Wood unsuitable for construction in its native form may be broken down mechanically (into fibres or chips) or chemically (into cellulose) and used as a raw material for other building materials such as chipboard, engineered wood, hardboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB). Such wood derivatives are widely used: wood fibers are an important component of most paper, and cellulose is used as a component of some synthetic materials. Wood derivatives can also be used for kinds of flooring, for example laminate flooring.

Wood is also used for cutlery, such as chopsticks, toothpicks, and other utensils, like the wooden spoon.

Silver when it is in its natural look will not carry much weight for the eyes of the beholder. Look below and you would say hmm.. looks like just another piece of metal. As always click for a larger image if you need to see it.

Doesnt look like much huh. But in the hands of the Malaysian artist this piece of silver can turn out to be a multitude of things such as a brooch, earrings, rings, buttons and much more. Look at what this 63 year old silver artist has done with his nugget .

Now doesnt that look beautiful. This is all handcrafted and not machine made. Thus the delicacy of this job could be seen from the finer details of his craftsmanship.

Silver could also be used for home decorations such as vases, book holders and much more. Looking at another artist with his silver nugget in this case maybe many more silver nuggets and look at the tall vase that he has created with it.

This is another example of how well the Malaysian craftsmen use their hands to create the most beautiful objects.

Among metals, pure silver has the highest thermal conductivity (only the non-metal diamond’s is higher), whitest color, the highest optical reflectivity (although aluminium slightly outdoes it in parts of the visible spectrum, and it is a poor reflector of ultraviolet light). Silver also has the lowest contact resistance of any metal. Silver halides are photosensitive and are remarkable for their ability to record a latent image that can later be developed chemically. Silver is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when it is exposed to air or water containing ozone or hydrogen sulfide. The most common oxidation state of silver is +1 (for example, silver nitrate: AgNO₃); a few +2 (for example, silver(II) fluoride: AgF₂) and +3 compounds (for example, potassium tetrafluoroargentate: K[AgF₄]) are also known.

 Now that you are done with the Silver education let us continue on to the next post where the art of Silver crafting is used to create wearable designs as well as decorations.

Thin wax lines are made with a canting needle, a wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a tiny spout, out of which the wax seeps. Other methods of applying the wax onto the fabric include pouring the liquid wax, painting the wax on with a brush, and applying the hot wax to precarved wooden or metal wire block and stamping the fabric.

After the last dyeing, the fabric is hung up to dry. Then it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colors and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character.

The invention of the copper block or cap developed by the Javanese in the 20th century revolutionised batik production. It became possible to make high quality designs and intricate patterns much faster than one could possibly do by hand-painting.

Indonesian batik used for clothing normally has an intricate pattern. The traditional ones carry natural colors while the contemporary ones have more variety of color. Some batik may be mystic-influenced, but very rarely used for clothing. Some may carry illustrations of animals and people.

This is the old way of Batik making. The latest designs call for a more artistic look. The latest Batik’s also uses the wax method but this time it is hand waxed to perfection. The artist would use his imagination when he uses the wax to paint his favourite pictures of flowers leaves and also pattern. This would create sort of an art piece on a cloth. Then he would colour this cloth using dyes of different colours according to his painting. Thus making each piece a one in the world piece. No two Batik’s of this nature is the same. Although you may get many variants of the same painting.

The art of Batik dying could be seen as below. For a larger photo do click on the image.

Contemporary batik, while owing much to the past, is markedly different from the more traditional and formal styles. For example, the artist may use etching, discharge dyeing, stencils, different tools for waxing and dyeing, wax recipes with different resist values and work with silk, cotton, wool, leather, paper or even wood and ceramics.

Batik is historically the most expressive and subtle of the resist methods. The ever widening range of techniques available offers the artist the opportunity to explore a unique process in a flexible and exciting ways.

Batik is an artform a culture. It is worn by the most modern women and yet it is also for the traditionalist. Today when you go down to the best beaches of the world you would notice a few girls who have travelled the world they would be wearing bikini’s and they would attract your attention at an immediate glance. But what they are also wearing is the Pario. The Pario is a simple Batik cloth which is very thin in nature and is normally made either with silk or light cotton. This pario is hanged from the hip down creating an ever wonder sensation. Why would they wear these things. Because it is the ultimate allurement.

The design is meant to keep you wondering what is beneath that piece of multi-colored hand painted cloth called the Batik Pario.

It is known to be more than a millennium old, probably originating in ancient Egypt or Sumeria. There is evidence that cloth decorated through some form of resist technique was in use in the early centuries AD. It is found in several countries later in West Africa such as Nigeria, Cameroon and Mali, or in Asia, such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh , Iran, Thailand, and Malaysia, but the most popular are in Malaysia   .

The Malaysian Batik well known for its high demand due to its complexity in the craftmanship has been sold worlwide. The pricing for a simple Batik would be in the regions of USD 20 to USD per piece. The range of price is not mainly due to the craftmanship but due to the country it is being sold to. Thus this is why we are here.

Batik should never be bought in a pre-designed dress. It should be bought in the original form which is a drawn cloth. Then it is up to you to choose a design to use the cloth to make it into a gown or a dress. Some people even use it to make it into a bandanna as well as a Pario. This could be seen as designer swim wears in many countries.

A simple design of a Batik is as below .

This design is using the way and dye method. While the hand painted method design is as below .

This design was done for a simple handkerchief but when it is used for a long sleeved shirt for men it will look somewhat like below .

Yet please do not forget that youshould only buy the cloth and design the material to whatever design you want it to be. When you actually purchase Batik design from most online shops on the internet they would sell it to you in a ready made form. This is due to mass manufacturing. When you get your product it will be in a good condition but would you be able to wear it. Most of the time the answer is no. Batik is often used as a tight fit. This means that it should be tailormade to fit your bodysize.

Most designers like Zang Toi and Bernard Chandran use this mterials to sell their products in Europe which will fetch a price of USD 4000 to USD 15000 a piece. I would suggest you get the material and self design it to your liking or get a design from what you like and ask your tailor to tailormake it.

The quality of the Malaysian craft has always been the essence of its sales worldwide. One of the companies doing well is The Rayal Selangor Pewter which can be found worldwide. But is the price competitive. Well another product that the Malaysian’s are very proud of is their Batik which is a hand painted silk cloth with flowers and designs that captures glances from everywhere.

The Batik could be found in most designer wares these days. But being designer wares they are also very exorbitant.

So what is the purpose of The Malaysian Craft. Here it is mainly a blog telling you about all the Malaysian Crafts there are and secondly we would also be selling these crafts to you as though you are in Malaysia and buying them at the local price. What is the difference you might ask . The price for a craft from Malaysia sold to a foreigner normally gains about 1000% profit. Yes I am not kidding here. And secondly the exchange rate itself would make a drastic difference.

You would be able to purchase most of these products using paypal. And these products will be delievered to you no matter where you are in the world using either FEDEX or DHL .

These items would be sold here at a discount as they are bought in bulk and from the artists themselved thus leaving out the exploiter from this sale and purchase. The only difference is I will add USD 5 for each product sold for my own expenses such as keeping this blog alive and also finding out more artists for your pleasure as well as the best prices available.

You are able to contact me at anytime through my email burnog@yahoo.com please no spamming . Well do come back here daily and leave your comments. If you have any questions you could ask me them also using the comment form.

Thirdly dont worry as you can check when you make your payments I am a verified PayPal user.