Bali buys

Well, needless to say, we had a fab time in Bali - a wonderful combination of relaxing in our lovely villa/hotel, as well as getting out and seeing the beautiful island of Bali. You can read more about our travels here.

As a lover of textiles, I was in heaven and the choice of ikat weavings, batik fabrics as well as the rather brash gold printed pieces that are often used to 'wrap' figures in the temples, was overwhelming. I could have gone crazy with the shopping, but hubby kept me at bay and I only came back with a 'small' number of fabric pieces as well as a wood carving.....

I'm really looking forward to making some clutch bags out of these gorgeous finds and am even wondering how they will combine with the kimono fabrics I already have. Watch this space....

Ikat weaving is a process where the design of the weave is dyed onto the threads before they are woven. I can't even begin to imagine how they work that out, but the effect is gorgeous.

Batik is a process where the design is 'drawn' out using wax that creates a resist. The design is then coloured in and the wax is removed using boiling water. There are many more complicated ways of doing this, where layers of colour and pattern are added over time.

A gold design is printed onto bright coloured cottons. It is quite brash, but I love its vibrancy.