Ancient metalworkers slowly disappearing
Families of craftsmen have been living on the Bangkok Noi canal since Ayutthaya times but their ancient craft is disappearing.
Families of craftsmen have been living on the Bangkok Noi canal since Ayutthaya times but their ancient craft is disappearing.
For more photos see the full article here.
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Travel Feature
The forgotten forge
A rich, long tradition of folk craftsmanship is nearing its end
15/05/2012
Karnjana Karnjanatawe
Like the circle of life, which has a beginning and an end, the life of stone-finished bowls also known as khan long hin in the Ban Bu community is approaching its last breath... no one wants to be a khan maker any more.
It is hard to find someone in the younger generations who has the patience to work hard in front of a burning forge from 7am till 5pm. In addition, the bowl making skill requires at least three years of training. It is a devoted and labour-intensive job... Today, the remaining team of khan makers are nearing 60 and older...
According to historical records, the khan makers in the Ban Bu area were descendants of Ayutthaya who moved to the area near the banks of Bangkok Noi canal after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. And after settling down, they have continued their bowl making tradition, relying solely on the skilled handiwork of the craftsmen, for more than 200 years now. Their works are often regarded as the finest bronze ware in the country...
...The work is done in pairs. When the four metal sheets - each made of a mixture of 70% copper, 20% tin and 10% bronze - are heated, two men take turns to forge the metal sheets into the shape of a bowl. This pounding process is called "bu" in the local language and also became the name of this community, Ban Bu.
The craftsman ... showed us various hammer sizes with long and narrow rounded spiked heads; the different lengths are for each stage of the pounding process. His sweat kept falling down while the fire in the oven kept burning. Even we could feel the intense heat watching him work from afar. The two blacksmiths worked in front of the blazing oven for hours until a three-inch-diameter (7.6-cm-diameter) round metal piece became an 11-inch-diameter (27.9-cm-diameter) bowl.
After getting the basic bowl shape, another craftsman will work on refining it to make sure that no hammering marks are left visible, before sending the bowl for polishing and rendering a traditional Thai design. The final stage is to make the bowl shiny by applying fine crushed stones called long hin - the stone may be a whetstone or broken crucible wrapped in a piece of cloth soaked in coconut oil. It takes about four days and six skilled craftsmen to finish a quality 11-inch-diameter bowl.
In its glory years, khan long hin of Ban Bu were widely promoted as a national heritage and even supported by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration as part of the "Sustainable Community Tourism" campaign in 2007. Today, however, there is no sign of promotion nor a direction to guide people to this last resource of this skilled handiwork and heritage...
..."We still have customers who are mainly collectors because they know khan long hin will become even rarer in the future," [our guide] said. Prices start from 1,000 baht up to 20,000 baht, depending on the size, which is considered higher than normal bronze bowls.
...bronze ware is also used to hold rice or other offerings to be given to monks. However, she warned, bronze ware should not be used to hold hot food or any meal with a sour taste because the acidity will react with the metal. After use, khan bowls must be washed immediately and kept in a dry area, otherwise they will be left with streaks on the shiny surface.... [read the whole article here]
(Source: Bangkok Post, Travel Feature, The forgotten forge, A rich, long tradition of folk craftsmanship is nearing its end, 15/05/2012, Karnjana Karnjanatawe, link)
Metalworking Craft Vocabulary
metalworking - the craft of making things out of metal (See Wikipedia)
bronzeware - metal objects such as bowls made out of bronze
craft - a traditional skill of making things by hand such as jewelry from metal or furniture from wood (See Wikipedia)
craftsmen - people who make beautiful or practical objects using their hands ช่างฝีมือ
craftsmanship - skill at making things ฝีมือ
A rich, long tradition of folk craftsmanship is nearing its end
traditional (adjective) - something from the past that people continue to do and use now
render - to make something
rendering a traditional Thai design
tradition (noun) - some activity or even that people have had for a long time at a place
bowl making tradition
rich - interesting, with a lot of different qualities, experiences or events อุดมไปด้วย
rich tradition
forge (noun) - the hot oven used to heat and bend metal by blaksmiths and other craftsmen (See Wikipedia)
forge (verb) - heat metal until it is soft enough to be beaten into different shapes หลอมโลหะ
metal - ด้ามมีด
forget (verb)
forgotten (adjective) -
the forgotten forge
folk - related to ordinary people, like those living in villages (their art, stories, songs, etc)
circle of life - the idea that people are born, grow up, have babies that grow up and have babies and etc, generation after generation
finished - the final decoration added to an object or a room or building
stone-finished bowls
Like the circle of life, which has a beginning and an end, the life of stone-finished bowls also known as khan long hin in the Ban Bu community is approaching its last breath... no one wants to be a khan maker any more
community - local people, all the people who live in a local area or place ชุมชน
stage - a particular point in time during a process or set of events จังหวะเวลา ระยะเวลา ช่วงเวลา a part of an activity or process or a period of development ระยะ, ช่วง, ตอน
process - a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result แนวทางปฏิบัติ, กระบวน, วิธีการ
patience - able to stay calm waiting for changes or work that you want; the ability to wait for a long time without becoming angry or upset ความอดทน
training - to teach people how to do an activity or job การฝึกฝน
devoted - must spend a lot of time doing it
intensive - involving a lot of effort, energy, or attention
labour intensive - using a lot of worker time and little machine
labour intensive job
It is hard to find someone in the younger generations who has the patience to work hard in front of a burning forge from 7am till 5pm. In addition, the bowl making skill requires at least three years of training. It is a devoted and labour-intensive job... Today, the remaining team of khan makers are nearing 60 and older...
records - pieces of information describing something written down or stored on a computer บันทึุก
historical records - books, newspapers, government records, etc that describe what happened in the past
descendants - your children and their children and their children, etc
settling down - finding a place and staying there to live for a long time (not moving around all the time)
relying solely on
skilled handiwork
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
local language - one kind of Thail language spoken by local people (not the central Thai spoken in Bangkok)
According to historical records, the khan makers in the Ban Bu area were descendants of Ayutthaya who moved to the area near the banks of Bangkok Noi canal after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. And after settling down, they have continued their bowl making tradition, relying solely on the skilled handiwork of the craftsmen, for more than 200 years now. Their works are often regarded as the finest bronze ware in the country...The work is done in pairs. When the four metal sheets - each made of a mixture of 70% copper, 20% tin and 10% bronze are heated, two men take turns to forge the metal sheets into the shape of a bowl. This pounding process is called "bu" in the local language and also became the name of this community, Ban Bu.
hammer - a tool consisting of a piece of metal with a flat end which is fixed onto the end of a long thin usually wooden handle, used for hitting things ค้อน
hammering marks
narrow - not wide; having a small distance from one side to the other, especially in comparison with the length แคบ
fire - ไล่ออก(จากงาน) terminate or end employment
oven - a very hot container used for cooking and making bread (See Wikipedia)
fire in the oven
intense - strongly, with a lot of something เข้มข้น
intense heat
feel the intense heat
blacksmith - a skilled worker who heats iron and bends it into shapes such as shoes for horses (See Wikipedia)
blazing - burning
the blazing oven
diameter - the length of a straight line that crosses a circle through the centre เส้นผ่านศูนย์กลาง
three-inch diameter
The craftsman then showed us various hammer sizes with long and narrow rounded spiked heads; the different lengths are for each stage of the pounding process. His sweat kept falling down while the fire in the oven kept burning. Even we could feel the intense heat watching him work from afar. The two blacksmiths worked in front of the blazing oven for hours until a three-inch-diameter (7.6-cm-diameter) round metal piece became an 11-inch-diameter (27.9-cm-diameter) bowl.
shape - the outer form of some object รูปร่าง
basic - simple with nothing extra or special added, not extra features
the basic bowl shape
refine - add special features (to make different from the basic model)
refining the basic bowl shape
visible - can see it
left visible - can still see it (afterwards, after working on it)
shiny - something that is bright and easy to see when light hits it, like light hitting metal ซึ่งเป็นมันเงา, เป็นประกาย
make the bowl shiny
polish - rub hard to make shiny ขัด,ขัดให้ขึ้นเงา, ถูให้ขึ้นเงา
crush - pressed hard and broken into very small pieces ทำให้แตก,บด
crushed stones
fine - very small ละเอียด
fine crushed stones
apply - put on something
applying fine crushed stones - putting the very small bits of stone on something
whetstone - a stone that you rub the blade of a knife on to make it sharper (See Wikipedia)
crucible - a container for melting substances, heating metals to very high temperatures
soak - when water goes into something (cloth, sponge) and makes it all wet
wrapped in a piece of cloth soaked in coconut oil.
After getting the basic bowl shape, another craftsman will work on refining it to make sure that no hammering marks are left visible, before sending the bowl for polishing and rendering a traditional Thai design. The final stage is to make the bowl shiny by applying fine crushed stones called long hin - the stone may be a whetstone or broken crucible wrapped in a piece of cloth soaked in coconut oil. It takes about four days and six skilled craftsmen to finish a quality 11-inch-diameter bowl.
promote (verb) - making people know about something and like something (promote a product means new customers who buy the product)
promote widely - making many people know about it (who live in many different places far away)
promotion (noun) - the activity of promoting something
heritage - the art, buildings, traditions, and beliefs that a society considers important to its history and culture มรดก ประเพณีที่ตกทอด
national heritage - the heritage of the whole country
widely promoted as a national heritage
campaign - a planned group of especially political, business or military activities which are intended to achieve a particular aim การรณรงค์
collectors - people who look for and keep some kind of object as a hobby (examples: coin collector, stamp collector, art collector)
immediately - happening right after something else with no delay; right away ทันที
washed immediately
washed immediately and kept in a dry area
streak - a long mark on something
streaks on the shiny surface.
In its glory years, khan long hin of Ban Bu were widely promoted as a national heritage and even supported by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration as part of the "Sustainable Community Tourism" campaign in 2007. Today, however, there is no sign of promotion nor a direction to guide people to this last resource of this skilled handiwork and heritage..."We still have customers who are mainly collectors because they know khan long hin will become even rarer in the future," she said. Prices start from 1,000 baht up to 20,000 baht, depending on the size, which is considered higher than normal bronze bowls. ...bronze ware is also used to hold rice or other offerings to be given to monks. However, she warned, bronze ware should not be used to hold hot food or any meal with a sour taste because the acidity will react with the metal. After use, khan bowls must be washed immediately and kept in a dry area, otherwise they will be left with streaks on the shiny surface.
