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Writer's pictureliulingling

Peranakan style

Finally... The long awaited day arrived and now I feel like an expert..


I can't help but feel as though peranakan beadwork and embroidery is a closely guarded secret, because finding info on any facet of it (how to design, the materials required, the method itself) is not easy. I can find YouTube videos of people talking about peranakan culture and craft with fleeting shots of beautiful shoes and the artisan at their workspace with tiny beads on a plate but there's no easy or precise recipe online anywhere!


There was one blog I found which was useful if you knew what you were doing. But honestly nothing for how to start from scratch and how to see a project through. This blog was about making shoes, which I certainly didn't want to do for my first project!


For those who may not know, and my knowledge here is very basic, peranakan is a term used to refer to people of mixed Chinese and Malay ethnicities, when Chinese people moved to Malaysia and current day Singapore for work and intermarriages became common. That part of the world is so mixed now I don't know if it's a term anyone still uses to describe themselves; I've never heard anyone use it to describe their identity and I've been to that part of the world many times. Identity tends to be either Malaysian/Singaporean - Chinese/Indian/Malay. The term peranakan seems to belong to a bygone era, which created beautiful works of art as reflected in clothes, handbags, shoes, embroidery and decoration. The knowledge and skill needed to create these items has died out, and now it seems there are very few people who can make such products. Kasut manek (beaded shoes) seem to be the only peranakan product made for sale, and not only do you need a person who can design and bead it all, you need access to a cobbler who can put it all together. The handful of people who can do this all seem to be in Malaysia and Singapore.


It may be a closely guarded secret as to learn what materials are required and then be taught how to bead will cost a pretty penny, especially if you throw in the airfare! On one hand I can understand that the artisans need to make money, so in-person courses are available, but what if you're nowhere near these countries? And what happens when these artisan teachers are no longer alive? How many cobblers even exist in the world and how many would know what to do with the beaded portions handed over by the artisan?


Type in crochet or knitting tutorials and patterns and you will find millions of videos, books, picture, pieces of advice, social media accounts, and I find it a great shame that this is not the case for peranakan beading, which is as beautiful and intricate now as surely it ever was, and is at great risk of being completely extinct within 50 years.


I tried looking for peranakan beading kits and I found an expensive Japanese website willing to ship to the UK for about £70. I was tempted. Then - saviour - www.maneknya.com sold exactly what I was after for less than £15. They ship only within Malaysia but luckily, I have family there and they ordered it for me and sent to me here in the UK ❤️😘❤️


It arrived last Monday and I can't believe that was only a week ago. Since then I've been well and truly addicted. As the embroidery loop included in the kit was smaller than the design graphic, I had to cut the paper to size. Still, the result was fun and pretty!

I decided to reuse the design, by copying the photo taken on my phone out onto graph paper. As I have embroidery hoops at home, I used a larger hoop to accommodate the full design this time. I kept to the colour scheme on the paper.

Ta-da! Not bad, eh? I was/am thrilled with it and reused the pattern again, but this time changed the colour scheme.

I'm super pleased with this too! I half wonder if the design and beads are just so pretty that the colours used are secondary.

Catching the sunlight ☺️🔆


So now I get it... Each square on the graph paper represents a bead therefore the bead and square size need to be roughly the same. The graph paper with the design needs to be stitched onto the fabric (I used plain cotton) so the paper won't move around as you bead, and so you can follow the colour scheme easily.


The other method, which I'm yet to try out, is to use aida cloth (used for cross stitch) instead of graph paper, and draw your design directly onto the aida and bead accordingly with colours of your choice. The aida fabric is glued on top of fabric so that the fabric will be anchored in the hoop, not the aida itself. You have no idea how many bits of how many websites and videos I collated this seemingly obvious and basic info from! 💻📿


My latest obsession within this addiction is to find pixelated designs and start copying them onto graph paper 🤓 you've no idea how many screenshots I've taken 😅👵🏻🪡🖼️


A long post from me, if you've made it this far, thank you!


Lots of love, Lingling

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