Couple wedded to ancient folk art of making dough figurines for CNY
GEORGE TOWN: A deep interest and passion for traditional art and craft prompted Loh Ban Tatt, 54, and his wife Elaine Teoh, 53, to teach themselves to hand-knead dough figurines for the Chinese New Year, among other occasions.
It may sound foreign but according to Teoh, the unique hand-kneading craft is a folk art that originated from China with its depiction of legendary and cultural figures and animals and has existed for more than 1,500 years but is being forgotten by today’s buy-and-throw generation of assembly-line toys.
In fact, if Chinese folk arts exist at all, most of them are seen to have lost their original identity because figurine artists have converted to the use of other materials such as clay to mainly cast shapes from wooden or plastic moulds.
Teoh said she and her husband started making dough figurines six years ago and it took a whole year of experimenting with different techniques and measurements before they were able to produce the flour dough to perfection.
“We use a 100 per cent traditional method from the very beginning of the dough-making process until it is ready to form a figurine because we want to maintain its authenticity as made by our ancestors.
“However, if in the past the figurines produced were only religious figures (with characters of Chinese opera and folklore like the Monkey king; and the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac), now we have modernised them by making figurines with an animated concept (like pokemon) since we want to attract the interest of young people, especially children, to get to know this art,” Loh told Bernama at his residence in Paya Terubong here.
Teoh said the basic ingredients used to make the dough are a mixture of wheat flour, glutinous flour and water which is then steamed for 45 minutes. Next, it is kneaded while still hot and takes up to a week to get the perfection of a chewy, malleable and smooth texture.
After completion, the dough will be mixed with a certain colour and stored in a container to prevent it from hardening as it is difficult to shape if exposed to air for too long.
Every year, the couple, who have three sons, produce animal figurines according to the Lunar calendar of the Chinese community and in conjunction with the Chinese New Year this time, they have produced animated dragon figurines of various sizes.
All of the delicate figurines are kneaded and sculpted with great artistry by Loh to ensure that every detail produced is perfect. Despite being in lessthan-perfect health, he remains meticulous and enthusiastic and even when he was warded for a month in hospital recently, his artwork was brought to him because he deemed the pursuit of perfection to be therapeutic.
Meanwhile, according to Loh, the figurines are sold if there is demand at prices ranging from RM10 to RM68 depending on the size and apart from the decorative figurines, they also produce more permanent accessories such as key chains and earrings with contemporary designs.
Loh said he craves to carve a larger dragon statue for this Chinese New Year but had to temper the ambitious project as he is limited in movements due to health issues.
“To prepare one of these statues is not difficult. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes for a small figurine, but if it involves mastery and workmanship of complicated details, it can take up to a day, but the longest is the process of waiting for the dough for the statue to really dry and harden,” he said.
To ensure that the folk art is not lost in the modern day of made-to-order ‘factory clones’, Loh and Teoh actively receive invitations from various quarters including schools to teach the ancient art of making figurines based on flour dough.
“Many young people today are not interested in learning this beautiful art due to the complicated dough-making process but we hope that some will be curious enough to want to continue this legacy one day,” he said.
However, Loh said to his good fortune, he has handed down the skill to their sons Darren, 19, and Derrick, 18, who have inherited the art of hand-kneading and he hopes the ancient art can be continued and developed so that it will not be doomed to become a forgotten heritage.