MAYUR BHALAVI
DESIGNER | MAKER
BEGINNING- Need to generate a livelihood using a skill,
starting with a 3-day training workshop
The project began when an Ahmedabad based NGO called Sanchetana decided to start a livelihood generation programme for women from the underprivileged background from the communities living in the slums around Ahmedabad. Sanchetana works towards building a healthy and just society through the empowerment of the marginalized with a special focus on women and adolescent girls through its various programmes on health, hygiene, and education. It was through my friend Neelima, a fellow designer that they came to know about my work with newspaper and thus began the conceptualization of a craft-based livelihood by objects made out of newspaper.
To begin with, we formulated a 3-day workshop on training newspaper basket weaving. The idea was to teach a group of 10 women basic basketry in these three days which they can practice later at their homes in their own speed till they perfect the basketry, enough to be able to make sellable baskets. These three days were scheduled in the month of February 2018 (22nd, 27th, and 29th)
BASKETRY WORKSHOP (Day 1)- Rolling Newspaper Tube
Before the actual weaving of a basket begins, there is a set of pre-production that needs to be done. This includes aligning a bunch of newspaper neatly and then cutting them into strips with the help of a paper cutter. Then comes rolling these tubes onto evenly thick and tight tubes. Day 1 was about teaching the 10 participants these pre-production skills. All the material for the workshop were arranged by Nasreen (from the Sanchetana Office Staff). We began with the strip cutting and tube-making without telling them what is going to be made out of the tubes. As a fun exercise to see what they can imagine making using these tube, they were asked to guess what can be made out of the tubes. Drinking straws, tribal-looking hair accessories, pencil(strange), stick for putting flowers at the tip etc were few of their interesting guesses. After that, I showed them examples of objects made out
of newspaper around the world just to expose them to the possibilities of the material. I also talked about how newspaper objects bring about the story of a surprise/conflict and how newspaper is a viable material for making objects(inexpensive, easily accessible, no machinery investment, different techniques of transforming into objects). Later I revealed and passed around the set of objects that they were going to learn to make namely a basket, penholder and coasters. The idea was to have real objects they could interact with as that is a better way to experience the pleasure and excitement caused by the sensory conflict. We continued tube making for the rest of the day till 5 in the evening. We concluded with a homework of 200 medium tubes and 50 small tubes to be completed within4 days which will be used on Day to for weaving.
Day 1 of Basketry Workshop
BASKETRY WORKSHOP (Day 2 and 3)- Weaving a basket,
a penholder and a tea-coaster set
Day 2 begins with a demonstration on basket making. I had broken down the entire process into various steps, showing them each step at a time and then giving them time to repeat the step. It started with weaving the warps (the center of the base) and letting everyone repeat after me. Then moving on to weaving the weft till the base is complete- letting them repeat- showing how to move the warps vertically- letting them repeat- then weaving the sides of the basket- showing the final step of braiding the warps. I then let the practice and would solve their doubts in between, I would re-explain the steps to everyone when needed as well as help them individually, observe everyone if they are doing it correctly, try to push/motivate who were giving up due to difficulty.
As it was my first experience at teaching in such a setting, it was full of insights and learning. Learning by doing the act of teaching, from observing the participant, their learning patterns, and their attitude towards an activity and the people around. Manek ben: slow but steady, peaceful, persistent, good finishing in the work too, helping others too, Would redo without being instructed or falling for external pressure, Shy (hesitant to ask for help, preferred figuring out by herself). Sonal ben: perfectionist and a fast learner (the fastest), helping others, very open and casual while conversation with anyone(qualities that usually a working woman would be expected to have) would freely ask for help when facing a difficulty- both of them would mildly engage in and not initiate the fun conversation that would occasionally pop up in the group, focused on work at hand. Sukkhi ben- slow in learning and doing, gradually improving, fails a lot of time but doesn’t give up, very persistent, sincere and a consistent member in general, open to approach when in doubt, visibly anxious when faces a difficulty. Other were naughty, distracted, little under- motivated, slow learners, would go for a shortcut for the sake of completing the task. For some, the activity didn’t interest them. One of them had potential but belonged to a group of non-serious participants and would not focus on work properly (Bharti ben’s relative). I saw a contrasting attitude within a set of similar participants- two different people, both slow learners, but one is persistent and the other would give up (the persistent one must have been deeply fascinated by the idea/activity/outcome to keep pushing herself). Then there were other two participants, good enough learning and doing capabilities but a difference in their company lead to the different level of engagement with the activity at hand. I could also observe and infer that the women who already were satisfied with their existing jobs were comparatively less focused at work (like Bharti ben(denim factory), Mira ben(packaging job at home), Hema ben(tailoring), Asha ben (packaging work I guess). But then there was Sonal ben who is also doing well in her job but still very well engaged in the activity. This was an interesting observation. Is this how we identify a maker, engaging in a making activity irrespective of other things?
On Day 3, I completed teaching weaving a penholder. Everyone made one penholder each by the end of the last they. We could not manage to take some time for making the coaster but I explained to them the process and gave the task of making the coaster set as a homework. We also didn’t get time for varnishing but again, explained how it will be done and that too was given as a homework to all. Sonal ben managed to do hers. Day 3 ended with displaying everyone’s work, clicking pictures of the group and finally cleaning up the workshop space.
Day 2 and Day 3 of Basketry Workshop
All but one participant of Basketry Workshop along with Sanchetana staff, Neelima and me at the end of day 3 (Feb 28,2018)
FOLLOW-UP SESSIONS (FS)- What's happening after
the workshop?
I went home in March, a few days after the workshop where I decided not to take up the job I was supposed to join in Apri 2018 in a Greater Noida based export house and came back to Ahmedabad for a freelance furniture design project. Since I was anyways in Ahmedabad, Sanchetana asked me if I would like to be a part of the next stage of the initiative. I agreed to it and since then have been some time, once or twice a month, to visit their centre in Behrampura where the workshop participant, now the basketmakers, would gather and practice their basket-making. The purpose of these visits is to see their progress and help them with anything related to the craft.
FS 1- Tapering of the baskets
Out of the 9 participants, 3 (Sonal ben, Manek Ben, and Sukkhi ben) are part of the continuation of the project. Sonal ben has, in the meantime since the training workshop, taught the basketry to Hemlata ben. So not it is an overall team of 4 basket makers. In the basket making, Sonal ben and even Manek ben were unable to make the basket walls vertical. Their basket wall was tapering as they went up. I some cases, they tapered only closer to the base and became vertical as they move away from the base and onwards. We decided to take help of plastic containers as molds to help guide the weaving properly. We gave the dimension of requires molds to Nasreen to procure and then give to the ladies.
Sonal ben with her tapered basket and penholder during the FS1 at Sanchetana's Behrampura centre (May 05, 2018)
FS 2- Taking help of plastic molds to prevent tapering
Since the first and till the second FS, the basketmakers tried their hands on using the plastic molds to help guide the weaving. But they were facing some difficulty in doing so. During the training workshop, I had taught them how to make straight baskets without taking help of any mold. Also, since I have never used molds myself, I decided to work together with them to see what was happening- started weaving together with them. While doing it myself, I realized that there would be very little room between the mold and the vertical warps for the fingers to push the wefts in and out. The solution was to take into account the thickness of the wefts and accordingly leave space for easy moving of the wefts. And yes, like every new thing, it will become only better with more and more practice. So I gave a complete demonstration of weaving using mold after which we dispersed. I was little skeptical about making use of molds as I was afraid that the makers would get used to using them and not learn the technique of carefully applying pressure to keep the wall vertical w/o using a mold. But I decided to go ahead anyway because that would momentarily help the makers not lose their patience after repeated failure. Yes, I went for a short-term goal because I thought that was the right thing to do in that situation.
Manek ben, Hemlata ben, and Sukkhi ben weaving with the help of the plastic molds during FS 2 (May 16, 2018)
FS 3- Taking help of plastic molds to prevent tapering
In the third follow-up session, we got to see an addition of yet another member to the group of basketmakers- Harsha ben. She just started learning it on the day of FS 3, thanks to Nasreen.
About the basket-making progress, there surely was an improvement in the forms of the basket. Sukkhi ben still struggled with her previous problem of skipping warps as well as improperly rolled tubes resulting in an improper weave. But her form was better, cylindrical at least. The mold also proved helpful to Manek ben and she could give a nearly perfect cylindrical form to her basket. Hemlata ben has picked up the basket making impressively fast and is not at par with Sonal ben and Manek ben. At this point, I feel all that is required is practice and more practice. The only thing that would help with the practice now is a tutorial on basket-making which they can follow along while practicing. So, Nasreen recorded a video while I wove a basket from the start to end. She later forwarded the video to all the basketmakers. The session with individual consultation and feedback with the makers.
The improved form of the baskets. The basket-makers started making long tubes by themselves to save efforts. Nasreen recording the demonstration. ( FU 3 on May 31, 2018)
FS 4- Time to place some orders
It was decided together with Ushma that practicing can go on forever if not stopped at will. We decided upon moving on to the next stage of making baskets for sale. So we gave Manek ben and Hemlata ben an order of 3 sets- 3 baskets, 3 pen/cutlery holders and 3 set of coasters. We also have given them the task of noting down the total newspaper and making time needed in making each of these units. These will help them in calculating the making cost of the object. I didn’t think much as of now but intuitively have kept the process transparent so far. Also, they are supposed to report to Nasreen for a quality check after completion of the first set. If things are satisfactory, then they will move on to completing the remaining order. Also, the first set will be photographed nicely with the involvement of the makers. As far as Sukkhi ben and Harsha ben are concerned, they still need more practice and shall be most likely given the same order by the next follow-up session. Sonal ben who has also nearly perfected the craft is busy with her job. So for now, she is currently not having any orders.
Sukkhi ben's steady but inspiring progress. Baskets of Manek ben, Hemlata ben, and Harsha ben's basket and penholder as seen during Fs 4 (June 28, 2018)
FS 5- First batch of objects ready to be sold
To be continued.....