Silk & Cotton

            The gorgeous Thai silk favoured by many Thai and international designers originates from northeastern Thailand where cloth weaving is a traditional folk craft. Northeastern silk is renowed for mudmee and khid silk varieties, usually made into tubular skirts or phasin. Phu Thai folk employ an elaborate weaving style called chok to create unique phrae wa and phrae mon silk. Hang kra rok silk is the speciality of Thais of Khmer origin, in which complicated weaving patterns create a harmonious, multi-coloured Combination of threads.

            Northern hand-woven fabrics include cottons with distinctive patterns, such as nam lai and tin chok. The North’s most famous rustic cloth is the traditional dark blue mo hom denim-like cloth favoured by Thai farmers.

            In southern Thailand, Phum Riang silk is produced by Thai Muslim villagers who apply traditional weaving patterns to Japanese silk. The Yok Nakhon cotton of Nakhon Si Thammarat is equallydistinctive, while batiks and patae skirts glow with the brilliant colours

Gems & Jewellery

            Thailand is rich in precious stones, with a natural abundance of rubies, sapphires, zircon, onyx, jade and opal. Local cutting, design and manufacturing skills ensure a fine range of quality items with a wide choice of prices. Thailand also has a long tradition of fine jewellery cutting and making. Design and cutting skills ensure a fine range of quality items, with a wide choice of prices. Kanchanaburi and Chanthaburi are both well-known gemstones mining areas, while Bangkok is the major manufacturing centre, the venue where experts converge to judge, grade, buy and sell.

How to Buy Gems: There are four criteria to judge gems known as the  '4 Cs'

1.Colour For a diamand, the clearer and whiter, the more expensive, but for other gemstones, it is more difficult to evaluate. There are many kinds of gemstones and thee has never been a single standard to judge them, unlike a diamond. Other gemstones include:
      1.1 Sapphire : a blue kind of gemstone. The most valuable kind of sapphire possesses a blue velvet colour while sapphires with much lighter or darker shades are relatively cheaper.
      1.2 Ruby: normally red, but the standard colour is vermilion. Paler or darker shades are slightly cheaper.
      1.3 Emerald: a green velvet stone. The cheapest kind of emerald is one that is light green, approaching yellow.
      To buy gemstones with their colours as the main criterion, customers should look for those with medium shades, not too light or too dark. They can also seek and experts advice before making a decision.

2. Clarity This concerns the level of contamination inside a gemsotne. The less contamination and fewer defects a gem has, the more expensive it is.

3. Cut This concerns the shapes and balance of a gem's facets. A quality cut creates a glittering reflection inside a gem.

4. Carat weight Quality gems are priced by their carat weights while inferior ones are priced by unit tagged with a fixed price. One carat weighs 200 milligrams.

How to Buy Jewelry

1. The weight and percentage of gold in jewelry The heavier and more percentage, the more expensive.

2. The weight, size, amount and quality of gems The principle of the '4 Cs' can be applied. Buyers should consider the weight of each gemstone because a single, large gemstone is more expensive than several small ones.
3. Craftmanship and designs

4. Buyer's satisfaction As Jewelry is an art, there is no standard of pricing. Buying depends on the taste and satisfaction of individual buyers. Buyers should enter standard jewelry shops, request for receipts that clearly describe the details of the products, the dates of bying, and the names of sellers, as well as ask for a warranty in order to prevent problems. Visitors can buy quality and satisfaction-guaranteed gems and jewelry at shops which are members of the Jewel Fest Club. These shops are ready to provide visitors with excellent services.

For more information contact:
Jewel Fest Club: www.jewelfest.com
Thai Gem & Jewelry Traders Association : www.thaigemjewelry.com

Shadow  Play Puppets

The hand-made nang talung shadow play in southern Thailand features distinctive puppets with moving parts, while the classic nang yai shadow play associated with the royal courts of Ayutthaya and Bangkok features larger pieces which have no moving either principal characters or scenes from  the Thai version of the classic Ramayana. Shadow play puppets make unusual souvenirs and are manufactured principally in the south of Thailand.

 Leather Goods

            A variety of leather goods are available with a wide range of designs meticulously made with Thai craftsmanship. Thai leather goods are created in many beautiful designs with durable genuine leathers.

Wickerwork

Folk wisdom and the countrywide distribution of bamboo combine to make basket-weaving an important folk craft. Rattan sedge, kok, bullrash or kra chud are also used to produce beautifully designed furniture and attractive souvenirs. These natural materials are widely used for woven mats and other woven handicrafts, while the popular and delicate lipao vine ladies’ handbags were introduced by her Majesty the Queen.

 Ceramics & Pottery

            Thai kilns have a long, primarily Chinese-influenced tradition of pottery  making. Of the various styles, hand-painted 14th  century  Sangkhalok, produced in Sukhothai, and 19th century Bencharong with decorative porcelain bowls, jars and spittoons are the most popular. Bencharong has proved the most desirable among Thai and foreign collectors due to the rarity and rich surface decorations. The northeastern community of Dan Kwian produces as distinctive range of rust-red objects including vases, flower pots and tiny ornamental accessories. In northern Thailand, high fired seagreen celadon produces an effect similar to venerable Sangkhalok ceramics.

 Wood Crafts

            Chiang Mai has been the commercial centre of wood crafting in northern Thailand for decades. Wooden elephants were popular souvenirs items at first, while today craftsmen have enhanced wood carving by featuring mythical angels, dancing figures, animals and the reproduction of ornamental fragments from old palaces and temples.

 Pearls

            Cultured pearl production mimics the natural process to produce pearls of guaranteed quality. Cultured pearl farms are found principally in southern Thailand, particularly in Ranong, Phang-nga and Phuket provinces.

 Gold

            Gold has been used primarily in temples and palaces, as golden Buddha images, jewellery and royal insignia and decorations. Buddha images are decorated with gold leaf and gold is used to enhance modern jewellery.

 Lacquerware, Silverware, Neilloware, Pewterware

            Lacquerware is an ancient oriental craft, and entails a repeated process of  coating  structural bamboo or wood with lacquer before hand-painting it with elaborate designs. Generally, objects are produced either in gold and black, or yellow and green on a red-brown background. Chiang Mai is the major centre of  lacquerware. Products include boxes, trays and dolls.

            Silver beating is another traditional northern craft. Bowls, boxes, cigarette cases, vases are fashioned in a craft which has been practiced in southern Thailand for hundreds of years.

            Nielloware, or khrueang thom, is the craft of decorating objects with delicately etched designs which are filled with a metal alloy to produce a smooth  patterned surface in back and gold. The art is widely practised in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

            Pewterware, essentially an alloy of lead and tin which produces a metal with a smooth and silky feel, comes mainly in the form of beakers, goblets, tankards and decorative figurines