THE HILLMAN 2013 ASIAN ADVENTURE
100s of Photos Documenting a 6-week tour of
Malaysia ~ Singapore ~ Thailand ~ China
Section II: China
www.hillmanweb.com/china2013/china23.html
Photos by Bill and Sue-On
Captions by Sue-On (expanded from our FaceBook pages)
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Gallery 23:
On the Road: 'Disneyland' and Cloisonne
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Click for full-screen images

After the strenuous exercise at the Great Wall,  we boarded our bus for our lunch date and the cloisonne factory.

At first glance, we thought this was an amusement park building-in-progress, much like Disneyland.

This reminded us of a turret on Cinderella's castle.

The entrance was quite impressive as well.  However, this WAS indeed an amusement park-in progress... until the money ran out.  This is now an abandoned site... no Cinderella, Peter Pan, or Tinkerbelle came to the rescue.

We finally arrived at the cloissone factory  aka The Friendship Store.

Cloisonne is an ancient art technique for decorating metalwork objects using enamel. In older periods, inlays of cut gemstones, glass and other materials were also used.  With the presence of the military, we thought "gemstones" must be used in this factory ;-) Actually military buses had stopped here for lunch at the restaurant.

There always seems to be soldiers marching everywhere we went!  The military - cadets or regulars - were always well disciplined and groomed. Obviously, other tour groups are also ahead of us.

We were scheduled to have lunch first.  Tourists with full stomaches make for better shoppers ;-)  As with all the restaurants we ate in, they are huge!

One of our three tables.  The combination at this table was New Zealand, Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba.

After lunch... the showroom!

In making cloisonne, the decoration is formed by first adding comparments (cloisons in French)  to the metal object by soldering or adhering  silver or gold wires or thin strips placed on their edges.  These remain visible in the finished product.

The compartments separated by the wires are then filled in with different colours of enamel or inlays.  Cloisonne enamal objects are worked on  with enamel powder made into a paste,  which then are fired in a kiln.

In ancient times, the technique was mostly used in  jewellery and small fittings for clothes, weapons, etc. In the Byzantine Empire, techniques using thinner wires  were developed to allow more pictorialimages to be produced.  The technique spread to China in the 14th century,  where it was used for larger vessels such as bowls and vases.

Teapots and tea cup sets!  How many sets can I carry in my suitcase?  I settled for small jewelry pods as souvenirs for the ladies in our family.

A beautiful vase,  but I am not sure WHY the painting of the nude was there! : )

A lovely collection by the exit.

While waiting for the rest of the group,  we found cool seats outside... a lion - King of the Jungle -  most appropriate for a devoted fan of  Edgar Rice Burroughs' tales of Tarzan ;-)

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On the road again...

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. . . to . . . . . . city of Helium on Barsoom again!?  Never did find out what these towers were, but, once again,  they reminded us of the towers in the movie John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

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A totem pole?! This is certainly a cross-cultural art form.

Department of Defence? Chinese CIA?

Again, this red sand-like building reminded me of the John Carter movie... could this be the dwellings of the Tharks?

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Hundreds of Photos with Captions

CHINA	MALAYSIA / SINGAPORE

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Bill and Sue-On Hillman Eclectic Studio
hillmanweb.com
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada