There are two ways of making thangkas, one is by painting on canvas, which we looked at last week, and the other is sewing, traditionally done with silk, and applying and constructing the thangka with different threaded materials. This is what this week’s program is about.
The advantage of applique is that you can literally apply anything you want, not painted jewellery, but real jewellery, not painted gold, but actual gold or gold thread, etc. This gives the resulting thangka an almost 3D feel to it. Another advantage is that applique can normally be rolled and carried abroad, which is ideal for a nomadic people.
But it doesn’t stop there, because the same applique effects can be used in clothing also. The programme today goes into all aspects of applique, thangka and clothing, and discusses the history, theory, practice and results as they are known in Mongolia, and as they are still passed on today.
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to see an album of screenshots click here