[ Where to see umbrella and Sa paper making ] [ Where to buy Sa paper products ]
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Concerning umbrella making, there were not many of the villagers who were interested in practicing and in helping the monk. When the final product was eventually available, some of the villagers made use of them when traveling to protect themselves from the sun or rain. When people from other villages came and saw the umbrellas, Bo Sang became known somewhat more.
Finally people began to place orders to buy umbrellas and it became a source of income. From that time until the present more of the villagers became interested in umbrella making. But we humans must agree that there is gradual evolution and so the process was modified as time passed. Bo Sang villagers began to make more umbrellas, the work was a profitable hobby as a supplement to rice farming. Once the harvest was completed the villagers began making umbrellas throughout the village. When the umbrellas were finished, villagers took just a few, maybe 20 or 30 umbrellas, to the city to sell.
Later some people in Sanpatong District, in a village called Mae Wang, produced umbrellas similar to the people of Bo Sang. It is not known where they learned the craft of making umbrellas from silk or cotton.
When the cloth and Sa paper umbrellas were finished they were brought into town to sell. The Bo Sang village keenly observed the other designs and skillfully thought up a way to make cloth umbrellas as well. They developed this gradually and changed from using tree resin to using Mameu oil which was softer and stronger. They also used the oil mixed with Haang to good effect. (This Haang is a dust-colored pigment and at present is only sold in Burma at a very expensive cost.)
After the villagers learned the method of making cloth umbrellas, things develop the point that in 1941 the villagers got together and formed a cooperative within the village. The villagers called this cooperative "Bo Sang Umbrella Making Cooperative Ltd". At that time, the organizer was Mr. Jamroon Suthiwiwat, the head of cooperatives in the province. The villagers produced umbrellas of many different sizes, such as 14 inch, 16 inch, 18 inch, and 20 inch umbrellas as well as large ones of 35 and 40 inches, both cloth and paper umbrellas.
The umbrellas were painted with oil paints mixed with Mameu oil of many different colors, such as red, yellow, blue and green. (A that time these oil paints had begun to be imported.)
The have succeeded progressively to the point that in approximately 1957, the "Center for Industrial Promotion" for the North assisted the villagers by teaching them to make Sa paper and to print cloth in a fine plaid such as we can see up to the present.
Umbrella making developed prosperously to the point that they began to be painted with flowers and landscape view scenes of various kinds. This prosperity is the result of the assistance given and the fact that these umbrella products can be exported and sell well abroad.
The villagers have also been invited to give demonstrations of umbrella making that the citizens of other countries can see this craft at various fairs and shows to the extent that Bo Sang umbrellas have been transformed into one of the symbols of Chiang Mai.
The villagers of Bo Sang should remember the monk's benevolence that he brought this art form to become a vital occupation up to the present. It is all a result of the foresight and wisdom of Luang Por Inthaa which cannot be forgotten.
The villages around Bo Sang village are the home of both traditional Sa paper making and umbrella making.
Umbrella Making Center
111/2 Bo Sang, Chiang Mai 50131.
Hrs. 08:00-17:00
Sa paper and umbrella making.
Tel: 338324 Fax: 338928
Preservation House
29/3 Ban Ton Pao, Chiang Mai 50130.
Hrs. 08:00-17:00.
Sa paper production & shop with lots of paper products.
Tel: 339196
Umbrella Village
Bo Sarng. San Kamphaeng Road, Km. 9.5
Tel. 331324
Jantana Sa Paper
2nd Fl. Room #79, Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, Chang Klan Road
Tel. 235575, 232797, 234235-6
G.T. Sa Paper Tree Ltd. Part
230/9 Bo Sarng Bazaar Center, Moo 3, T. Ton Pao, A. San Kamphaeng.
Tel. 338851 Fax. 338877
P.K. Collection
No. A11-13 Galare Food & Shopping Center
Mobile:(01) 9806945 Fax. 818044.
Ton Sa
11 9/8 Moo 1, T. Ton Pao, A. San Kamphaeng
Tel. 386389 Fax. 386389
U.M. Thai International Trading Co., Ltd.
Showroom: 230/6-7 Bo Sarng Bazaar, A. San Kamphaeng
Tel/Fax. 387243, 338529