AURA QUE http://auraque.posterous.com MADE ETHICALLY IN NEPAL posterous.com Mon, 09 May 2011 12:00:00 -0700 Free Eye Tests and Womens Health Check-ups at KTS for the upcoming World Fair Trade Day http://auraque.posterous.com/free-eye-tests-and-womens-health-check-ups-at http://auraque.posterous.com/free-eye-tests-and-womens-health-check-ups-at

For the upcoming World Fair Trade Day, Kumbeshwar Technical School promoted a Free Eye and Womens Health Check up and Treatment Program last Saturday on their premises.  The program was advertised within the local area, with 283 people participating on the day - including students, staff, produers and members of the local community in Kumbeshwar, Patan.

Kts_eye1_blog
Kts_eye2_blog
During the eye check ups, eighteen people were found to have cataracts, one of the cataract patient was a 100 years old man Mr Ratna Bahadur Khadgi. The program was conducted in association with Nepal Eye Hospital, who provided skilled doctors to carry out the check ups. Kumbeshwar Trading Centre supported the provision of medicine and the program logistics.  The cataract surgeries for these 18 patients will be performed in Nepal Eye Hospital who has given special discount for the operation, with the rest of the operation costs sponsored by Kumbeshwar Trading Centre on 12th May. 

Kts_eye3_blog

Kts_eye4_blog
Though I was not able to visit and help out on Saturday because of other commitments, I wanted to blog about this, as it shows how KTS and the wonderful Khadgi family that founded and run the organisation, consistently tries to assist their producers and people in their local area, in practical and useful ways. As one of the founding members of the Nepal Fair Trade Group, KTS is a great example of a producer group run by Nepali's, helping Nepali's and with motivation to constantly improve and try new ideas, not only in their technical work, but also with their local social work.  I am really lucky to be working with them!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2042636/TARA_LONG_AQMODEl2012_WEBLR.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fdEQWYfXQSB AURA QUE AURA QUE AURA QUE
Fri, 06 May 2011 04:53:44 -0700 Production getting started! - Hand dyeing the Banana Yarn http://auraque.posterous.com/getting-started-hand-dyeing-the-banana-yarn http://auraque.posterous.com/getting-started-hand-dyeing-the-banana-yarn

So our next production is just getting started slowly but surely in Nepal!!  The whole process takes time; once orders are finalised, the Banana Yarn has to be hand-dyed and dried, before distributing to the women handknitters at Kumbeshwar Technical School (KTS).  Once the knit pieces are finished, then they are delivered to the leather factory (along with all other components and materials) to start the bag production for all the leather goods....

For this AURA QUE production, I will be documenting and describing the whole process as it happens whilst I am currently in Nepal....so for now, we are starting with the dyeing of the Banana Yarn:

The Banana Yarn is supplied in washed natural colour, having been boiled and hand spun from the raw material - the pruned outer layers of the Banana Tree after the fruit harvest in rural Nepal.  This natural yarn is supplied in mass to KTS from their trusted supplier. I am hoping to visit the farmers and producers outside Kathmandu that make this yarn from the raw material, over the next few months, dependent on the next crop season - fingers crossed!

Kts_weighingbananayarn_blog

Each lot of natural banana yarn is firstly washed and prepped for dyeing and then dyed the following day in larger copper pots, all on site at KTS.  As I wanted the banana yarn to be a tonal match to the buffalo leather that I am using for the bags, the women dyers firstly try a recipe of different azo-free dyes on a yarn sample.  It is a trial and error process, though all previous dyed colours are catalogued with their dye colour 'recipes' which can also be helpful to find a suitable shade.  When they are happy with the sample colour, a larger sample will be dyed with the same 'recipe'.

Kts_dyeingbananayarn1_blog

Kts_dyeingyarn2_blog

Kts_dyeingyarn3_blog

A challenge with the natural banana yarn is that sometimes different lots of the same yarn, when dyed with the same dye recipe, come out slightly different tones - which is frustrating when you are trying to match to a sample or leather colour! Therefore I have spent much time in the last two weeks going back and forth to the dye area to check on the process, waiting for the yarn to dry to check before the next lot is dyed (only 1 lot = 10 kg can be dyed in one pot in one day).  There would be even more diversity in colour matching with natural dyes, so to maximise efficiency and minimise wastage, we have to stick to azo-free dyes for now....

For example - see the picture below showing three bundles of the Grey banana yarn for our A/W 2011 collection - if you look closely you can see there is a slight shade difference between each bundle, despite using the same yarn fibre, dye recipe and process!  Its a mystery to me!! Luckily all are similar enough to use for our production in seperate pieces.

Kts_greybananadyeing_may2011_blog

Once the yarn lot has been dyed, it is then dried for several days, outside but away from direct sunlight.  Then the yarn is wound into balls ready for the hand-knitters to take home.

Kts_yarndryinginside_blog
Kts_dryingyarn_blog

Kts_spinningbananayarn_blog
So now our banana yarn is nearly finished in our four colours: Black, Grey, Stone Brown and Cream.....almost ready for our AURA QUE bag panels, scarves and accessories to be hand-knitted by KTS' skilled women, who will be collecting the yarn and the patterns from the workshop to then continue knitting the pieces from the comfort of their own home, around the Kathmandu Valley over the next few weeks!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2042636/TARA_LONG_AQMODEl2012_WEBLR.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fdEQWYfXQSB AURA QUE AURA QUE AURA QUE