Handicrafts

One of the main occupations of Karen women involves tending to cotton plants. The cotton is then used to weave a number of garments by dividing it into narrow strips and spinning them on a small weaving machine that consists of a spinning wheel with spokes and a rim of bamboo attached to a board. The strips are then made into a tight yarn.

Colour is extremely important in Karen clothing and dyeing the material is carefully done. Blue, Black, red and yellow are all used in the process. The Blue yarn is soaked into a dye and a solution made from the indigo plant which changes the shades required due to the number of soaking. Whilst a number of other plants are used to produce the other varieties of colour.

The yarn is then placed on a loom where it is spun with variations in colour being introduce by adding different coloured threads. Once finished the cloth is put in water and then left to dry after which is sewn together to make the required garment.

Karen men are often occupied with the creation of rattan and bamboo mats (klau) and baskets (ku). The mats are often used to cover their floors whilst the baskets have a number of uses ranging from paddy baskets to those used for carrying market produce of machetes (dah).

Although some Karen clothes, bags, and baskets are still made traditionally, modernisation has now seen an increase in mass produced Karen items which can be found throughout Burma and Thailand.