The first time I saw Balinese wood carving is when I went to visit Barbara’s parents in New Hampshire, in 1972. Barbara’s father had visited Bali in 1976 time frame when no one had known much about Bali and discovered exquisite wood carving of Bali. Ever since I saw for the first time I saw those wood carvings, I fell in love with those beautiful wood carving from Bali. I have not seen any wood carving from any other part of the world so intricate and so beautiful. About 20 years back we did find a couple of pieces of Balinese wood carving in Singapore. So now that I am in Bali I had decided I am going to have my own collection of Balinese wood carving. Mah-day took me to this area of Bali called Ubud. Those of you who read Liz Gilbert’s book Eat, pray, love, this where she had stayed. Ubud is the wood carving center of Bali. There are craftsmen all around Ubud who ply their craft and there are a number of reputable galleries where you can find hundreds of varieties of pieces of wood carving in varying sizes, shapes, themes and of course prices. Most of the wood carving is from two types of wood – Mahogany and Ebony. Mahogany pieces are cheaper than the Ebony pieces. They told me that Ebony comes from Tim or and there is ban of cutting down of Ebony trees and also export of Ebony wood has been cut back. As a result Ebony pieces are lot more expensive. Ebony is an extremely hard and almost black looking wood. Because of its hardness the carvers can carve really intricate patters and designs. They also take fantastic polish. I bought pieces in both kinds of wood. One thing is for sure prices have gone up a lot since Barbara’s dad visited Bali in 1967. The world has discovered Balinese wood carving and the prices reflect that. I went to two major galleries looked around bargained and ended up buying between two galleries 15 pieces of varying shapes, themes and sizes. One of the worries is how do you make sure that I am not getting fleeced. Mah-day was not of much help since this is the first time he has been to these galleries. As a matter of fact I knew a lot more about the Balinese woodcarving than Mah-day. After much negotiation we settled on a flat 50% discount on all the list prices. I have no idea how well I did. I am happy with the pieces I bought and looking forward to using them to fill up many of the display surface all around my home. They told me once shipped it would take about two weeks to arrive. Two weeks have past and I am expecting my wood carving pieces to arrive anytime now.
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