The Straw Weaver

Publication Date：04/01/2004
Byline：JIM HWANG

To the delight of the nation's children, Sun Yeh-chi has been transforming organic materials, such as straw, into vivid figurines by weaving, folding, and twisting creations that echo the natural world.

When things made of synthetic materials were still not a part of daily life, people had to make do with what they had. In agricultural societies, natural fibers from plants and produce byproducts were some of the most convenient materials available, so weavers would make baskets from bamboo, merchants and housewives made brooms from straw, and cobblers made sandals from tree bark. Kids had to make their own toys with these materials, so they made bamboo dragon flies, straw rings, and watches. Sometimes they learned weaving skills from their peers, sometimes from their parents, which would result in a child learning how to make toys and practical objects.

For most children, toys made from natural fibers have long been replaced by Gameboys. For those who made their own toys when they were kids, the skills are a distant memory. For 35-year-old Sun Yeh-chi, however, the toys and skills that accompanied his childhood were not only not forgotten but matured into a passion. A couple of straws or leaves, with a few tools, through folding, weaving, and twisting, morph into an ant, a grasshopper, a frog, or any of the 12 Chinese zodiacs. Every year at the Ilan International Children's Folklore and Folk Game Festival, Sun's demonstration is always one of the major attractions for children and their parents.

Born to a military family, Sun grew up near a military base in Lintoutien, Taoyuan City. He learned to make toys with whatever was available, just like the other children in the neighborhood. During the summer and winter vacations, Sun would stay in Tainan County with his grandparents. They often used bamboo to make household utensils and objects for religious ceremonies. Bamboo fiber is different from straw and other materials Sun uses, but many of the bamboo weaving skills, with a little modification, can still be applied to Sun's other materials.

In addition to the skills he gained from his friends and grandparents, some of Sun's weaving skills came from his interest in Chinese knots. In the early 1980s, tying Chinese knots became popular in Taiwan. One of Sun's elder sisters bought a book about the art, and tied a lot of the knots. "I asked her to give me some of those nice-looking knots but she wouldn't, so I stole the book and learned to tie the knots myself," Sun says. "The more I looked into it, the more I learned the intricacies of weaving, and I was hooked."

Sun soon learned that there were other benefits he would accrue through his weaving talents. During his junior-high school days, one of his major "side jobs" was to help the girls with their embroidery or wool-weaving homework. "You know how teenage boys act," he says. "The girls say something nice and the boys feel like they're closer to heaven and will volunteer to do even more." Those days ended when Sun entered a vocational high school with an all-male student body. Sun soon found himself busy with another job. "At that time, boys would send homemade gifts to their girlfriends, so all the boys came to me and asked me to make something special for their girlfriends," he says. "I think I actually impressed some of the girls and thereby may be responsible for the success of a few couples." Each gift was expected to be personal, with the details of a girl's name or her hobbies alluded to in the weave. This offered Sun ample opportunity to hone his weaving techniques.

Once Sun began his stint at the university, his extracurricular activities inspired him to begin working with straw, stems, and other natural fibers. He organized an art-education community service group that would visit communities during the summer and winter vacations. Toys made of natural fibers attracted the children's attention more than conventional knick-knacks like Chinese knots. "Maybe kids found it interesting or maybe they thought it was weird," he says. "I'm not comparing the value of natural-fiber weaving with those of other forms, but it certainly was a good ice-breaker within those communities."

Sun also spent a lot of time researching the history and techniques used by other cultures. Combining tradition and invention, and local and foreign skills, he began to create some unique works. Some of his ants, for example, combine weaving skills derived from Chinese knots, traditional Taiwanese children's toys, and Thai weaving techniques.

Usually, Sun's pieces are about the size of a finger or a palm. The largest piece he has made is a life-size horse, and the smallest is a 4 mm ant. Sun chooses the size, shape, and skills needed for a piece by the strength of the fiber, which varies from plant to plant. Sun knows his materials. Yet what is different about his approach is that most craftsmen will work from a single material, whereas Sun deals with dozens of varieties of straws, stems, and other plant fibers. He tends to favor using some varieties of rush and eucalyptus leaves. There are occasions, however, when Sun needs to compromise with fibers that are not ideal. Rice stems, for example, are not strong enough to withstand some weaving techniques, but they are the byproduct of Taiwan's most commonly grown crop, so Sun is frequently asked to use rice stems when he attends events that focus on promoting rice.

Many think it difficult to preserve objects made from straw or stems, but Sun says properly "processed" plant fibers can be preserved for a very long time. Sun says that the oldest pieces made from such materials have survived for more than 200 years. The key is to dehydrate the material before using it. Different dehydrating methods are applied to different materials and depend on other factors such as humidity and temperature.

In addition to knowing and preparing the materials, a lot of his time is spent on design. Sun writes or sketches down his ideas, and gives them a thorough going over. After he has completed the planning stage, the weaving itself is quite easy. He often makes a series of the same subject. For example, he will make ten different frogs while changing his technique with each one. Some can even jump.

Just as Sun prefers to work with natural materials, his objects reflect the natural world. His pieces generally portray birds, insects, and other animals. This is in no small way attributable to his passion for nature when he was growing up. His interest in the outdoors played a key role when he began planning his education: he attended agriculture-related departments both in vocational high and in junior college, and his four years at National Chung Hsing University's Department of Entomology was especially helpful for Sun's knowledge on the detailed structure of insects, making his pieces all the more lifelike.

Despite his passion for nature, Sun turned to a career in computer engineering at one of Taiwan's leading companies in the information industry. "I probably wasn't going to make much of a living weaving straw," he says, "so I thought I'd deal with my stomach first, and practice my art in my spare time." He found it difficult to schedule a few hours for his art as the duties of his chosen profession piled up.

As Sun began to build a following after doing a number of demonstrations at children's events, invitations to children's festivals and other activities multiplied. He began taking time off to participate in the festivals. "I would return to the office and find that my workload was steadily increasing," Sun says. "It wasn't fair to the computer company that I couldn't give my all to the job, and I really couldn't justify sitting in front of the monitor day in and day out."

Sun decided to resign so he could devote all of his time to his art. He hasn't had a day job since January, and has been trying to make ends meet by teaching fiber arts in community colleges and other short-term classes given by cultural centers and other organizations. "It's certainly not as financially rewarding as my old job, but I win in every other respect," he says. "I get to work full time on what I like, I have more time with my family, and I can introduce fiber arts to more people, without worrying about a whole bunch of work I'd need to deal with when I returned to the office."

Although his classes are popular, Sun realizes that the natural-fiber toys are no longer as essential to today's children as they were to those who grew up a few decades ago. "The only thing about straw weaving that appeals to people now is an object's appearance," he says. "I'm taking advantage of people's interests--or curiosity--in how my pieces look, and I hope I can interest people in these skills so that they don't become a quaint memory."

Sun's decision to devote himself to the craft full time is a boon for the island's children. They are likely to see his skill at every children's festival in the country, where there will be a small kiosk and a young man who demonstrates how to transform straw into a swan.