Indigenous Materials for Handicraft Making

• Indigenous Materials - natural resources found in the forest, swamps, hills, or plains.
• Philippines - a nation rich in raw materials that can be converted into various kinds of handicrafts articles.
• The ingenuity of the Filipinos to create projects artificially out of these materials makes it possible to make them easily marketable here and abroad.
• Wood - used extensively in producing handcrafted articles for the home, office and commercial establishments.
• Wood - aside from furniture, decorative pieces such as ashtrays, wall decors, and racks can be made.
• Different Groups of Philippine Wood:

  1. First Group
  2. Second Group
  3. Third Group
• First Group of PH Wood:

  1. dao
  2. molave
  3. narra
  4. tindalo
  5. ipil
  6. yakal
• Second Group of PH Wood:

  1. Banaba
  2. Tanguile
  3. Red Lawan
  4. Apitong
• Third Group of PH Wood:

  1. langka
  2. santol
  3. white lawan
• Rattan - another indigenous materials, which is widely used for making handcrafted articles.
• Rattan - among its many uses are for making furniture, baskets, and hats; for trying rims of baskets; and for caning the bottoms of chairs.
• Two Kinds of Rattan used in Handicraft:

  1. Palasan
  2. Sika
• Palasan - a kind of rattan that has a big stems, which are suited for furniture.
• Sika - a kind of rattan that has small stems, which are good for trying rims of baskets and hats and for caning.
• Fibers - woven into cloth or made into twines, ropes, and thread. From these materials, several handcrafted products are made.
• Fibers - bags, slippers, baskets, bed sheets, handkerchiefs, table napkins, table runners, and macrame products can be made.
• Different Kinds of Fibers:

  1. Abaca Fiber
  2. Pina
  3. Cotton Fiber
  4. Kapok Fiber
  5. Coir
• Abaca Fiber - a kind of fiber that is a white, glossy fiber extracted from the stalk of an abaca plant which closely resembles a banana plant.
• Pina - a kind of fiber that is taken from leaves of pineapple plants and can be extracted by the scraping method using broken pottery objects, bamboo, and the like.
• Cotton Fiber - a kind of fiber that is one of the most popular fibers found in the Philippines and is best for weaving cloth.
• Kapok Fiber - a kind of fiber that is derived from the kapok tree abundantly found all over the Philippines. The tree bears plenty of fruits which are filled with seeds loosely surrounded by fine silky hair that are elastic but short.
• Coir - a kind of fiber that is extracted from coconut husks and is flexible and can be bent, twisted, and knotted without breaking.
• Leather - comes from the skin of animals.
• Leather - one of the most versatile materials for handicrafts.
• Leather - known for its durability and usefulness.
• Leather is classified according to:

  1. Origin = natural , artificial or synthetic
  2. Size = hide , skin , kips
• Natural - a leather origin that is true leather of an animals.
• Artificial or Synthetic - a leather origin that is man made.
• Hide - a leather size that is leather of big animals.
• Skin - a leather size that is leather of small animals.
• Kips - a leather size that is leather small or young animals.
• Bamboo - grows in all parts of the archipelago.
• Bamboo - one of the most common materials found in shores, plains, forest, hillsides and mountains.
• Bamboo's Commerical Value:

  1. Kawayang Tinik/Bambusa Spinos
  2. Bagto
  3. Gigantochloa
  4. Dendracalamus
• Kawayang Tinik/Bambusa Spinos - spiny and is the second highest bamboo species.
• Bagto - good for making chairs, bamboo matting, flutes, weaving looms and paper.
• Gigantochloa - used to make water pipes and fish traps.
• Dendracalamus - used for construction purposes, vehicles shafts and ropemaking.
• Philippine Shells - called balay, talaba, kaligay, paros, pilipit, halsan, kabibi.
• Varieties of Shells:

  1. Giant Clams
  2. Mother of Pearl Shells
  3. Capiz Shells