This is a long-standing traditional craft village with pottery, porcelain, ... in the suburbs of Hanoi. At 7:45 the convoy departs. Not only the students but the teachers are also eager to arrive quickly. Along the way, the students were excited to talk about, sometimes enjoying the strange sight: The Red River has two new horizontal rows, green swampy hills with a herd of buffaloes, grass grazing, ... Soon , the car has reached Bat Trang. After focusing on listening to the instructor, the students lined up to visit pottery. Fortunately for our teacher, we were able to visit one of the rare terracotta pottery remaining in Bat Trang village. Here the pottery is heated by coal. This type of kiln has been around for a long time, but according to the kiln owner, the product quality will not be the same, but the workers are very hard. So now, most of the village has switched to using gas stoves. The handmade ceramic kiln consists of three floors, about 9m high, surrounded by coal, firewood and a bag to store, called a bag but made from terracotta, shaped like a mill. The owner of the furnace said that in order to have products on the market, she had to burn for 3 days. She also described to us the steps to make a ceramic product: kneading, molding, drying, painting, dipping enamel, baking ... It sounds simple but at every stage requires the potter. must be very skillful, sometimes to the level of elite.

Làng nghề Bát Tràng nha

Dear Lan,

I got a wonderful trip with Nam to Chang Son fan - making village last weekend.

For a long time, the Chang Son fan was not only a useful utensil in daily life, but also a beautiful image appearing in many poems, on stage and in the cultural and spiritual life. To make a beautiful and durable fan requires meticulousness and skillfulness from fan makers. Normally, the fan's blades are made from bamboo, which are at least three years old and grow in the middle of a grove.

Moreover, to make fans more durable, the fan makers use joined blades, which have to undergo many stages, such as cutting the bamboo into short pieces, scratching off its green cover, splitting the bark of bamboo and applying a layer of varnish between the slats. Then, they are tied up in a bunch.

After a few months when the layer of varnish is dry, the slats of bamboo are whittled to make the fan blades. Paper to make fans must be do (poonah) or diep (poonah paper covered with egg - shell powder) bought in Dong Ho Village, Bac Ninh Province. Looking at the Chang Son fans, only simple colours, such as green, red, violet and yellow are seen. However, when the fans are unfolded and seen in the light, all the delicate decorative pattern, and designs will appear lively and bright. To foreigners, they can see the characteristics of the Vietnamese people: simple but profound, and beautiful but discreet.

I am look forward to hearing from you

Best wishes,

#Kayz

@ara bos ris