Chris Blackstone, Batik Artist?

On one of my first days in KL, when we were staying at the Prince Hotel, I wandered down the street to an arts and crafts complex: Kompleks Kraf. I love the phonetic spellings here: teksi eksekutif, polis, basikal, motosikal, kopi, teh, restoran, stesen, helo – the list goes on and on.

Anyway, I’d noticed it on our first taxi ride into town, and I thought maybe I’d find some handmade souvenirs or Christmas presents. The complex is fronted by a large building with your standard gift shops selling lots of batik fabrics, woven boxes and baskets, metalwork, and the ubiquitous I ♥ KL T shirts. If you make your way behind this building, there’s a semi-circular collection of small huts and each is rented by a different craftsman: mostly woodcarvings, ceramics and batik.

I had been wandering through these, just smiling and nodding at the artists, and then a cheerful man leapt up and started talking to me. I figured it would be the typical “please look at my work, you like, you buy?” sort of conversation, and I laughed it off when he said he could teach me how to do it. No, Lazim was actually serious about that, and it turns out there are a few batik artists there who will let you sit in their open air studios and give it a shot. They often have pre-waxed silk squares, but they also have thick books of designs that you can pick from.

Lazim is very welcoming and encouraging, and his original work hangs all around you, lending inspiration. I’ve made three designs so far, and I’m having so much fun! It’s been pretty straightforward: I trace a design onto the silk, Lazim applies the wax over my design, and then I paint on dyes with a bit of coaching from him. He’s been making batik art for 30 years, so I’m listening carefully to the expert. Next time, he says I should try waxing it myself (I’ve only signed my name with the wax). No caffeine for me that day – I’ll need a really steady hand!

 

 

 

 

What do you think, is this a new calling for me? I don’t know, but I’m having a great time!

 

Hello KL!

At this point, we’ve been here for almost two weeks, and it has absolutely flown by. We spent the first five days in the Prince Hotel, where Grant had stayed for his initial month here. It was nice, centrally located, and we lucked out in getting a good last minute deal on a one bedroom apartment there. What a luxury to be able to spread out after our week in a small hotel room!

We have a fantastic realtor, and he’s been very patient and cooperative with all the unknowns about our timeline. We were able to re-renegotiate our lease (from Nov 15 to Dec 15 to Dec 1 to Nov 24 – did I mention he was a patient guy?), and we moved into our new home on Thanksgiving! That is, Grant went to work from the Prince Hotel and came home to a fully unpacked apartment in KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre – they love to abbreviate things here!). It’s huge and in an amazing location, right by the Petronas Towers; I’ll follow up with pictures soon. Grant did a great job finding this place!

I’m not a miracle worker, so unfortunately no turkey dinner was awaiting him, but I was still motivated enough to explore the nearest grocery store. The closest grocery store is called Isetan, which is a Japanese chain, so much of what they carry is labeled in Japanese. I focused on buying the essentials, and then found a free-range, organic chicken. Great, that sounds like a perfect faux Thanksgiving to me! Only one problem: when I got it home and unwrapped it, it turned out to have feet!! I’m not sure what a local would have done, but I was aghast and couldn’t imagine cooking a chicken with its feet still on. So, with the dullest knife in the world (note to self, next thing to buy), I set about hacking them off.

I’d say that’s a good representation of life here so far, mostly normal but with a twist. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving too!