Keeping the Ancient Craft of Tin Embroidery Alive 

Hugtand Media Silence My sewing machine is good

No, actually, a machine made piece will always be of higher quality than a handmade piece A manufacturing line employing the six sigma process, for example, produces a result where 99.99966% of the output are free from defects Good luck achieving that with human hands without machines

I'm one of those 'young folks', and recently I started learning regular fabric embroidery - what I wouldn't give to try this.

Hey Yu Yeung may I ask where is the place...im. a young from meghalaya n I took more interest in hand and machine embroidery I want learn more bout embroidery technique #gracefullydone #flawless

王天煜 I want to learn it lol

you need to go back and film the lessons, and sell them as courses online. it will make them a little money and they can know they will have passed it on.

Big0Grizzly the name appears in the video: embroidery. Or in Chinese, 刺绣

per sebra our local government is doing this thing right now. This video is filmed by our local government.

sakura li Ha-ha, it won't be an easy task! You can try to learn Chinese first😃

Spencer Foltz Hey, it's proven to make you aerodynamically as fast as a ninja...

This was probably the only reasonable response I've seen on this video. This is an excellent solution! Everyone else is like "teach it on RU-vid" which is problematic since the craft is made with song and story of their heritage. I think only people of that culture and custom should learn it. The rest of us outsiders should support their industry by buying directly from them, bc one of the reasons this custom is dying is bc the younger generation don't see it as a stable enough income stream for it to be worth the effort it requires.

That is what I am thinking! Someone from Europe or Fashion Industry in China should send a team there to contract them not only to teach but also to work for them! I haven't heard of Tim Embroidery before but it is definitely haute couture.

scorpioninpink agreed

Y'know, as strange as it sounds, I think there might be something to that. I'd love to see someone give it a shot.

RU-vid is banned in china

I don't think it's that simple. There's an intention of story & song that needs to get passed down as well. It should be their future generations who learn this craft, so that they keep their heritage alive. It no longer becomes a part of their heritage, if people outside their language & culture adopt this craft. For instance, Native American traditions have died, but only the Natives should be reclaiming their customs. It's a touchy thing to expect someone's culture to become a commodity that outsiders can learn and profit from. Especially when couture fashion designers get their hands on it, then sell it to consumers who can't tell the difference between a factory-made and a handcrafted one. For instance, Macramé (an Arab weaving art form) is similar to Dreamcatcher weaving (Native American art form). Yet both of these things can be found on Etsy stores sold by non-natives (mostly white) or from big catalog companies in box stores. This dilutes the market and siphons away income from the craft artists of the indigenous communities. Another example is the Palestinian scarf (the Hattah aka Khemiyeh) which went from being a traditional garment, then to a political statement, and is now a global fashion "trend". As a result, what used to belong to a Palestinian seamstress business, has been co-opted by Chinese manufacturers. Now 90% of Khemiyeh sold are "Made in China". This has hurt the Palestinian community, bc they went from nearly 20 sewing machines and are now down to 1, since they don't get enough business to be able to compete against chinese mass production factories. Remember, these are just a few examples of stuff like this happening to many communities around the world. Fashion designers and bored upper class & middle class Etsy shop owners have the capital to co-opt a custom and turn it into a "fad" for the runway ... or a "costume" for Halloween, festivals, parties ... or into a "decor" for your feng-shui moroccan-themed persian-rugged indian-incensed russian-fabergéd living rooms. It's a double-edged sword, bc while natives do enjoy global admiration of their culture, just not when it diminishes them into nothing more than an "exotic token" for purchase -- especially when nobody is purchasing directly from the original craftsmen. This is how cultural appropriation of traditions can harm a community. It's not appreciation if their livelihoods are affected worse than before.

Lori Riley The whole format of Great Big Story is short 2-3 min snippets. If someone is genuinely interested then they'll go out and do further research.

Kutter_TTL Ah yes, makes sense. I wasn't familiar with the format. Thanks for replying!

It's passed down through story and song. I don't think "showing" how it's made is enough to learn it, nor do I think outsiders of their heritage should be given an opportunity to co-opt it and commodify their customs. We don't need another Etsy store of a non-native person profiting from someone else's culture. I'm glad this was shown, but I think the right thing to do is support their industry by purchasing directly from them. As she said, the reason it's dying is that their youth don't see it providing an income stream stable enough to put in the effort.

Richard Morris hi i'm not from china obviously.. but my country also have these kind of techniques to create patterns to the cloth.. normally it is very expensive.. the cheapest for 1 meters could ve around 200usd..the expensive can go about 1000usd per meter

Mushopia your life is doomed. also, you are a disgrace to your ol' Chinese grandma who sacrificed everything to keep the Hedge fund up.

Texas Rangers no wonder it's going extinct....

That's how it is with hand-made clothing, it's a long process. You got to produce the thread from cotton, then weave it into fabric on a loom, dye the cloth to the color your want, embroider it to make it look beautiful and then sew it all together to make an outfit. No sewing machine whatsoever. Along with their everyday schedule as farmers, it will take a while. A skilled person could make at least 2 outfits depending on how complex the outfits are.

AtarashiNOhi But I guess they can only make one outfit due to the complex pattern in their coats.

LagiNaLangAko23 exactly, I hope this tradition does not die.

I mean yeah probably, but changes are so low to begin with so it probably wouldn't happen.

Joe Marks It's a negative thought but I had it too. Many of these old crafts are dying out because those that knew them wanted to keep their trade a secret. Of course now they realise they are obsolete and the knowledge will die pit with them because they held onto it selfishly. Not saying that is what actually happened here of course, but it is what happened to many trades in general.

Swatikas are an ancient Asian symbol.

I remember reading somewhere that Swastika variations appeared in many ancient cultures around the world, where it originated though i'm not sure