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Sri Lanka and crafts
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Sri Lanka is a wonderful island - with friendly people and fascinating places to visit. Leaving a drab winter in England, one of the highlights is the colours, for example in the flowers including these spider orchids |
| In the Botanical gardens at Kandy were many sources of inspiration for designs - these are a creeper which winds at way round the trunk of one of the trees and I really want to try this as a garter stitch design |  |
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Although not traditional to Sri Lanka, batik is popular - the time and patience needed to draw, wax and dye these designs is amazing. The results are very varied and colourful and are used both for clothing and pictures. |
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Textiles and sewing machines are seen everywhere - from the indivduals making garments in the front of a village shop, through the craft cooperatives (this one is in Galle) to the garment factories, a government initiative which has brought much needed employment to rural areas. |
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One of the traditional crafts is carving and painting masks. These are used for the heads of puppets and in the traditional dancing. A very soft wood is carved to make it possible to create very intricate shapes, and these are then painted with amazing detail. |
