Peranakan beadweaving

Excerpts from the Peranakan museum website; Peranakan beadweaving or threaded beadwork existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this technique of weaving, the beads and thread form the design and there is no cloth or any other supporting material. Bridal bed hangings, curtain tie-backs and pillow covers were made in this manner.
Unlike European and American Indian beadweaving methods which used a single needle and strand of thread, Peranakan beadweaving used multiple threads.

Guess what!? I just happened to glance through the website of Peranakan museum.
What a stroke of luck! There is a workshop of Peranakan beadweaving (2 sessions) starting today and ending on next Wednesday. The end product is a beaded bookmark and the course fee is 150bucks…And I went ahead to register it without skipping a heartbeat. This course will be taught by Ms Bebe Seet, Singapore's authority on Peranakan beading and has promoted 'living' Peranakan heritage locally as well as abroad for over 10 years.

I have been waiting for such opportunity to learn from her for so long…
Always thinking about it and no actions taken… Ha-Ha :-)
I guess it’s now or never!! I am simply over the moon... Ha-Ha :-)
Finally I am gonne meet up with Ms BeBe Seet…Too excited for words :-p

A Teochew by birth and a Peranakan by choice

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Peranakan, Baba-Nyonya (traditional Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) and Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlements) are terms used for the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay customs in an effort (chronological adaptation) to be assimilated into the local communities.
Anyone been following Little Nonya which is showing in channel 8 at 9pm daily from Monday - Friday? I am simply intrigued by the Peranakan women and their way of life such as cooking up a feast, sewing their own beaded shoes and Kebayas and taking care of the men, etc. In this drama, the strong-willed Peranakan woman has to overcome all the odds and the traditional cultures to be together with her loved ones, etc. There’s a line that in this drama serials that goes liked this “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!” Hence, Peranakan women have been trained since young to cook and sew, etc so that they are able to attract good marriage proposal ar.
Oh dear! **Cold sweat** That’s meant l really need to brush up on my cooking skills as l must confessed to the world at large that l know nuts about cooking except to eat….Ha-Ha J

Jokes aside, this drama serials have indeed increased and cultivated my interests in anything Peranakan, l am wishing and hoping to learn how to make beaded shoes from BeBe Seet. Maybe a timely visit to her Shop-in-a-House, called Rumah Bebe and Peranakan museum would be a delight…. My wishlist….A tour to Malacca would be wonderful too…….