How to Make Water Lily Handicrafts

Since the creek at the back of our house was cleared of water lily last February, it is still pretty much clear and without growth. I wonder what did they do? A salute to the Pasig city government for having done so and I believe they’re using the water lilies as raw materials for livelihood projects.

I’m also glad because probably it’s one of the reasons why we’ve not been bugged by mosquitoes for a couple of months now.  I’m not saying that our place is mosquito free but they’re not keeping me awake at 2 am just to hunt for them in our bedroom.

I also hope that since the creek is not clogged, it would also somehow help our streets and our houses flood free this rainy season.

Since I made that post about Making Handicrafts from Water Lily, I’ve had regular visitors coming to this blog through that post. It made me take a second look at the post to see if I’ve provided good enough information about making water lily handicrafts.

I, too, had an interest in how to make those water lily handicrafts. Apparently, the Philippines is not the genius behind this idea because it originated from other Asian countries. Thailand and Cambodia have been doing these type of products before the Philippines did.

I embedded some videos here about how to make water lily or water hyacinth (what these plants are usually called in other countries) handicrafts. The first video shows how it is done from harvesting, cutting and drying to different ways by which it is made or woven into handicrafts.

The second video showcases some nice products made from the water lily. These Thailand villagers are really good at weaving baskets. The finished products are so beautiful.

And this last video is from Thailand which shows how they use water lily to make furniture. It’s a very fascinating how automated they are in making furniture and how they were able to incorporate the indigenous touch of adding water lily into this craftsmanship. I wonder if this is also done in the Philippines now.

What other products can you think of that can be made from water lily?  I think it could also be used for making handmade paper. Do you think it’s possible to use it in making clothes as well?