Ok, so I’ve been experimenting. Actually, I’ve experimented with this back in 1999 in Sacramento, Ca. at a Festival setting. There are actually pendants out there with this written on it. Thoughts of modernizing Baybayin (alibata) has swirled in my head for a long time as well as in the minds of countless Baybayin artisans and practitioners. I’ve never been adamantly opposed to modernizing it, I prefer to transliterate traditionally but I have become much more flexible as modifying the script has become more acceptable by the Baybayin community at large. What I am most opposed to is the ease of novices to overlook and ignore traditional Baybayin as their introduction to the script…then turn around and tell me I’m writing it incorrectly, AS IF!. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, seen here http://malayadesigns.net/tag/rizaleo/, the Rizaleo version of a modern Baybayin is my candidate for consideration. I know there are many other practitioners doing their research, experimenting with new found material and their efforts are commendable. I hope to see more of their continued work. The scans of the Rizaleo I have are the only things I have to work with, the book by Marius V. Diaz is out of print and I just can’t find one. Interestingly, this is exactly how I was introduced to Baybayin in the first place, a xerox copy of a short article, a character set, and library hunting…now look at the trouble I got myself into. Can any of you figure out what I wrote out? I’ve supplied what you need to decode. Lastly, if any of you have a copy of this elusive book or have an extra copy, Father’s Day is coming up.
Category Archives: My Craft
Baybayin Artists Got Swag
Gotta love it when folks put in a request for original artwork to be used for body art. This one reads “Nothing changes unless somebody asks.”
As most of you have noticed, Baybayin artisans have a distinct writing style. A trademark style that sets them apart. No, I do not use fonts, nor do I use fonts as a base, then graphically manipulated. However, I do employ a graphic Wacom pen and tablet when creating artwork for individuals.
I am pretty much known for running my characters into one another, in either a calligraphy or bold stroke. I tend to write different each time, depending on my mood, and what I am writing. My writing has evolved over the years and I am constantly experimenting with different ways to write each character. When I see Baybayin art on someone’s skin, I can usually identify who designed the artwork just by the writing style. Most often however, it’s going to be one of Paul Morrow’s Baybayin fonts. In some rare cases, I’ve seen stuff that was lifted from one of my pendants.
Just because I use a pen and tablet for my work these days, that doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t create a more organic piece by hand. I used to roll old school with an actual calligraphy pen or Sharpie, and a Xerox machine with reduction/enlarge features. I haven’t done that in a long while but if that’s what you might be interested in, maybe I can do something on a napkin and send it to you. Yes I have actually done this.
My Craft feat. Narciza, Holgado
Baybayin individual client requests on Bamboo and Philippine Narra. Man, I absolutely dig my craft. Not very many folks do what I do and the few that can, can’t do it like this. Aside from pyrographic aspect of my craft, it’s the complete process, that culminates in what many have come to know as a Malaya Designs original.
There is nothing impersonal about what I do and the approach that I take to create. The process is a journey in itself; the harvesting of bamboo, milling of the wood, cleaning, sanding, splitting, cutting, drilling, burning, stringing and beading. I am in personal contact with each pendant, with each line I burn and each inscription I write. Hopefully, folks get it by now. It isn’t just making pendants, it’s a craft.
Christmas Rush, thanks for the patronage.
http://ping.fm/p/xrUnc – Took on this last minute order for 10 pendants at 7am being sent via USPS Express to Long Beach by Xmas.
The Brand That Started It All…
