2. Myanmar (Burma)

Inle Lake

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Ever wonder how to make home-made mulberry bark paper?<br /> <br /> I learned something about it by watching some women make it while I was on the road from He Ho to Inle Lake in Myanmar. This girl is rinsing the pulp.<br /> <br /> How to make home-made mulberry paper. <br /> Harvest several branches from a paper mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, (1 inch in diameter and about 8 feet long). Steam the branches for half an hour and peel the bark off in strips, scraping off the very outer black bark as much as possible.<br /> <br /> Soak the fiber in water for 12 hours, add soda ash to the water and cook the fiber with occasional stirring in a pot for 4 hours. Cool the fiber down for 3 to 4 hours. It should pull apart in your hands. Rinse the fiber by dunking it into large buckets of clean water.<br /> <br /> Pick up a ball of the fiber the size of a melon and squeeze out all the water. Lay it down on a work surface and beat it to a pulp for 10 minutes. Place the beaten pulp into a large vat and repeat the process until all the fiber is made into a pulp. Mix the vat of pulp with a small amount of water until it reaches the thickness you desire for your paper.<br /> <br /> Wet the screen and cover it with pulp and shake the screen gently so the pulp to settles evenly, creating a flat piece of paper, and add leaves of lowers for decoration. Once the fibers start to settle, set it down on a flat surface. After the paper dries, peel it off the screen.<br /> <br /> The photos showing the rest of the process of making mulberry bark paper can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/lncB9q">http://goo.gl/lncB9q</a><br /> <br /> 08/2/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
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Ever wonder how to make home-made mulberry bark paper?

I learned something about it by watching some women make it while I was on the road from He Ho to Inle Lake in Myanmar. This girl is rinsing the pulp.

How to make home-made mulberry paper.
Harvest several branches from a paper mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, (1 inch in diameter and about 8 feet long). Steam the branches for half an hour and peel the bark off in strips, scraping off the very outer black bark as much as possible.

Soak the fiber in water for 12 hours, add soda ash to the water and cook the fiber with occasional stirring in a pot for 4 hours. Cool the fiber down for 3 to 4 hours. It should pull apart in your hands. Rinse the fiber by dunking it into large buckets of clean water.

Pick up a ball of the fiber the size of a melon and squeeze out all the water. Lay it down on a work surface and beat it to a pulp for 10 minutes. Place the beaten pulp into a large vat and repeat the process until all the fiber is made into a pulp. Mix the vat of pulp with a small amount of water until it reaches the thickness you desire for your paper.

Wet the screen and cover it with pulp and shake the screen gently so the pulp to settles evenly, creating a flat piece of paper, and add leaves of lowers for decoration. Once the fibers start to settle, set it down on a flat surface. After the paper dries, peel it off the screen.

The photos showing the rest of the process of making mulberry bark paper can be seen here: http://goo.gl/lncB9q

08/2/14 http://www.allenfotowild.com

Shan ProvinceMyanmarmulberry bark paperrinsing the pulp

  • Ever wonder how to make home-made mulberry bark paper?<br /> <br /> I learned something about it by watching some women make it while I was on the road from He Ho to Inle Lake in Myanmar. This girl is rinsing the pulp.<br /> <br /> How to make home-made mulberry paper. <br /> Harvest several branches from a paper mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, (1 inch in diameter and about 8 feet long). Steam the branches for half an hour and peel the bark off in strips, scraping off the very outer black bark as much as possible.<br /> <br /> Soak the fiber in water for 12 hours, add soda ash to the water and cook the fiber with occasional stirring in a pot for 4 hours. Cool the fiber down for 3 to 4 hours. It should pull apart in your hands. Rinse the fiber by dunking it into large buckets of clean water.<br /> <br /> Pick up a ball of the fiber the size of a melon and squeeze out all the water. Lay it down on a work surface and beat it to a pulp for 10 minutes. Place the beaten pulp into a large vat and repeat the process until all the fiber is made into a pulp. Mix the vat of pulp with a small amount of water until it reaches the thickness you desire for your paper.<br /> <br /> Wet the screen and cover it with pulp and shake the screen gently so the pulp to settles evenly, creating a flat piece of paper, and add leaves of lowers for decoration. Once the fibers start to settle, set it down on a flat surface. After the paper dries, peel it off the screen.<br /> <br /> The photos showing the rest of the process of making mulberry bark paper can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/lncB9q">http://goo.gl/lncB9q</a><br /> <br /> 08/2/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • 2 'D's, 2 'V's and a 'T'<br /> <br /> This Burmese temple cat at the Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung monastery seemed to have a lot of letters in its face. Nyaungshwe town on Inle Lake, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Do you see any more letters? Maybe an 'M' above the eyes, and an 'R' on the nose at the largest size?.....and the two 'I's mentioned by billiejean :-)<br /> <br /> Re Rick's comment. I have a lot of work and travelling coming up, so I won't be able to keep up with the alphabet challenge; I will just chime in occasionally with my alphabet soups.<br /> <br /> 9/2/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Woman pounding mulberry bark into a pulp, Shan Province, Myanmar
  • Women adding bougainvilla leaves to mulberry bark past on a screen that is covered by water, Shan Province, Myanmar<br /> <br /> The next step is to spread out the pulp evenly on a screen and then add natural decorations, if wanted
  • Wman lifting the screen with mulberry pulp and bougainvilla leaves from the water, Shan Province, Myanmar.<br /> <br /> The next step is to drain the water off the screen and put it to dry. You can see a screen drying at the right side of the first photo.
  • Woman peeling the dried decorated mulberry bark paper off the screen, Shan Province, Myanmar<br /> <br /> The last step is to peel the dried decorated paper off the screen and use if to make something, e.g., parasols
  • Man using foot pumped lathe to make umbrella handles, near He Ho, Shan Province, Myanmar
  • Man working a hand lathe to shape an umbrella handle, near He Ho, Shan Province, Myanmar
  • Man fitting bamboo umbrella handle to mulberry paper parasol, near He Ho, Myanmar
  • Cows on a walk through the village across from the mulberry paper workshop, near He Ho, Myanmar
  • Multi-cow road block near the mulberry paper workshop, near He Ho, Myanmar
  • Hand-made mulberry paper parasols, near He Ho, Shan Province, Myanmar<br /> <br /> This is a reprocessing of an earlier image, that now combines two images taken back to back to increase the depth of field.<br /> <br /> Other photos from the Inle Lake area can be seen here: <br /> <br /> 18/03/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Young boy trying out a hand made mulberry paper parasol.<br /> <br /> The parasol worked for me by muting the bright light coming from the doorway. That, combined with flash fill, helped rescue a difficult lighting situation.<br /> <br /> Taken at the mulberry paper workshop near He Ho, Myanmar. Photos of the man who makes the umbrellas working on his lathe and fitting the handles can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/9uYsCy">http://goo.gl/9uYsCy</a><br /> <br /> After tomorrow, I'm tied up and will take a partial break from posting and commenting for a few days, but will try to do a bit when able. <br /> <br /> 19/2/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Wall with small Buddhas and leaded glass figures, Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar
  • Small red-robed Buddhas in wall niches, Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar
  • Monk with his books in the monastery, Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar (best larger)
  • Shrine to Buddha inside the stupa, Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar (best larger)
  • Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery seen from the stupa, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar
  • Close-up of a small Buddha<br /> <br /> Next to the Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung Monastery at Nyaungshwe, near Lake Inle, there is a stupa that contains hundreds of wall niches, each occupied by a small statue of a Buddha, each only 3 or 4 inches high. The niches are surrounded by leaded glass insets and figures attached to the walls. I especially like the dynamic figure of the dog, which is a little unusual in Buddhist art. I like to think that one of the monks who was involved in the decoration of the stupa decided to sneak in an image of his favorite pet! Early graffiti? Some of the Buddha figures are dressed in red robes (see link, below)<br /> <br /> Other views of the interior of the stupa, and of the nearby monastery can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/TY8C02">http://goo.gl/TY8C02</a><br /> <br /> 06/03/14 www.allenfotowildcom
  • Young Intha fisherman with his fishing cage, Inle Lake, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Inle Lake is one of the photographic gems of Myanmar. The locals are the Intha people who are mostly self-sufficient farmers and fishers. It is a freshwater lake with a number of endemic species, and the lake has some unique floating fruit and vegetable gardens. The houses are on stilts since the water level can fluctuate by 5 or 6 feet. The locals have evolved a unique rowing technique that involves standing on the stern of the boat and wrapping their leg around the oar....this is to allow them a better view over the reeds and floating plants on the lake, and frees their hands to manipulate their fish traps. The technique can be seen via the link below. <br /> <br /> I still have many photos to edit from this area, but in the meantime a few can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/aOnwuT">http://goo.gl/aOnwuT</a><br /> <br /> 10/03/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
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