Life in Colour 21 – GOLD

Linked to HeyJude’s Colour challenge here.

While in Vietnam we visited a school where children disabled by landmines were being taught skills they could use in later life. Some were being taught ceramics, some embroidery and tapestry, some carpentry and carving, some silverwork and other traditional skills. To my eyes they were all experts at what they were doing.

Here the young people are being taught the skills of applying gold leaf. I tried it myself and made a total hash of it, much to the amusement of the students. It requires a good eye and a steady hand, not to mention extreme patience.

Applying gold leaf to a painting.
The teacher marks the results of the students gold-leaf applications to the interior of bowls and to Buddha statues.

10 thoughts on “Life in Colour 21 – GOLD”

  1. Beautiful work by those students, and such a valuable skill for them to learn. Those bowls are so beautiful, I would love to have one! Were they for sale?

    We went to a similar school in Munnar, Kerala, where teenagers with learning and other disabilities are taught silk dyeing and weaving, funded by the tea plantations. I bought a scarf dyed with tea leaves – all the dyes they use are natural. But I have no photos as we were asked not to take any there.

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    1. Yes, they were for sale but I didn’t buy any. We bought some of the cross-stitched pictures, a large and rather heavy Buddha statue for a friend in Thailand and some inlaid boxes for pens and suchlike – currently gracing my desk. The price was very reasonable although my husband nearly had a fit when he was told how much (he never bothered much with currency translations and it was over one million dong, probably about £60 or so). Inflation was at its highest when we were there.

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