I often recommend that folks learn to write the characters first and not to focus on transliterations. Developing a flow is important, just as you would when writing in roman alphabet. Remember learning how to write when you were a kid, then learning how to write cursive? It takes practice. Challenge yourself and write Baybayin. Write it for yourself and to honor the written literary aspect of the Philippine culture. Because as we all know, Baybayin is not dead.

I now introduce you to Sueat Haguisan/Malaya. My chart that anyone can use as a guide to learn how to write and practice Baybayin. Please refrain from using or distributing my images for any reason, permission is neither given nor implied.

This project began with my research into Philippine motifs and patterns by way of textiles, pottery and the tattoo culture. Patterns that convey meanings for an individual or a community.

I put the pen to paper and experimented with just a few motifs and eventually narrowed it down to two patterns. Motifs which conveyed community and being connected with one another, and yet allowing that piece to stand on its own as an individual.

If you’ve followed my work for a long time, I’m really known for my work with Baybayin, the Philippine script. While that has been a great success, I wanted to diversify and add to my body of work. By using the same craft methods as my pendants and create something totally different. So from pen to paper, I’ve taken it to wood burning tool to bamboo. The result, something uniquely Malaya Designs.

This pattern is just one of several that represent “Minamata”, representing the eyes of the ancestors keeping watch. Placed next to one another, in whatever orientation, it becomes a part of a larger motif. It becomes a pattern that is similar to a woven basket or even a mat. Each piece is an individual but is a part of a larger community of pieces and other people. There lies our association with one another, of being connected.

The Ten pictured above are my newest addition to my project and are the very first made. What makes these different is that these are smaller pieces than those I developed in the late summer of last year. Measuring about 1″ X 1″ square bamboo pieces. Handcrafted from the same bamboo stalk, wood burned: and finished with a sliding, adjustable 2mm black cotton cord, a wooden bead locked in place with a specialty knot original to a Malaya Designs piece. These Ten are also signed, dated and numbered 1-10 and are ready for prime time.

The original posting can be seen here http://www.baybayin.com/alibata-scripture-shirt/

Misinformation or disinformation, regardless, it’s wrong information.  The current Baybayin renaissance experienced in the RP is being fast tracked but plagued with alot of wrong information despite a bevy of academic scholars and practitioners, including those who are US-based.  Baybayin enthusiasts and practitioners in the US have experienced their own growing pains but in my opinion are just ahead of the game and have a better foothold due largely to community outreach.  Yet, we Fil-Ams aren’t Filipino enough to be taken seriously when it comes to maintaining our identity.  Well, at least this Fil-Am can recognize when someone is trying to cheat themselves and their own with the wrong information.

"May pag-asa" There is hope.

A Malaya Designs X Bayani Art Collaboration.

It’s not an easy task to promote cultural identity and takes a lot more effort than you might think.  Collaborating with other artists makes it a bit easier.

I have and will always promote cultural identity through my work with Baybayin. It’s what I know best and what I’m best known for. It’s a legacy I can leave behind for my kids to keep them grounded to their roots.

As long as people continue to look to their roots, there will be folks like myself and Bayani Art reaching out to the community using their talents to propagate, promote and educate. I’ve dedicated many years writing these squiggly characters providing something tangible for people to identify with and hopefully an avenue for more discovery.

The next time you attend a Filipino Festival, I urge you to visit with local artists and vendors. See and understand what they have to offer and perhaps even support them. Artists put so much of themselves in their work, even a small gesture of conversation goes along way.

I know I’m rehashing this but I have an obligation to keep. This is a shot at any and all irresponsible tattoo artists and their victims.  I know who are true practitioners of Baybayin and unless you have gotten something from one of them or your work has been validated you need to stand down.  I also know tattoo artists who will pass on doing Baybayin because they can’t validate the work, to those few responsible folks, thank you!

Baybayin tattoos have grown tremendously over the years and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Over the years I have seen a lot of tattoos.  I’ve had people show me their tattoos at festivals that I’ve participated in.  Many of them done beautifully and transliterated perfectly or at the least “acceptable”. However, I’ve also seen MANY MORE transliterated incorrectly to the point that the recipient would have been better off getting it done in Roman alphabet instead.  I’ve been in very awkward situations where I had to tell someone their Baybayin tattoo was wrong. Please do not turn Baybayin into a disposable trend.

Now, I can understand if it were 15 years ago, back then there weren’t many resources.  The chances of a transliteration to go bad was much higher. With today’s technology and online resources, there just isn’t any excuse that someone can still get it wrong and permanently mark their skin or allow and PAY someone to do so.

Getting a tattoo is a personal journey. There is the excitement, anxiety, pain and gratification.  You just can’t get anymore personal than that, and the artist is there with you on that journey.  Don’t cheat yourself or allow yourself be cheated.

I dislike being a Baybayin cop.  I honestly do not find any pleasure in telling people of their infractions.  If you are a tattoo artist, I would hope that you did your homework on Baybayin before you start inking up folks. NO!, “artistic license” will not get you off the hook and neither will “interpretations”.  WTF!? does that mean?

Baybayin is a writing system, there is nothing mystical about it.  A writing system reflects the spoken language. Do you know that means? It means you cannot and I repeat CANNOT take English words like LIVE or LAUGH or LOVE and write it in Baybayin as LI BE, LA U G H, LO BE. Really? Are you serious? Here’s a tip; take those English words and find the Filipino equivalent.  Use a dictionary, remember those things? An English to Filipino one.  As the artist, you either know what you are doing or not, period.  You are doing a disservice to yourself as a tattoo artist, your shop and the people who came to you.

I’ve seen what’s been posted online, social networks and what’s been sent to me via email.  I can tell you, folks are getting ripped off and those who end up with these horrible tattoos have cheated themselves.  The artist is not entirely to blame, the clients are also at fault for not doing their homework.  Oh, and just because the artist is Filipino, does not automatically make that person an expert nor does it mean he/she knows how to write it properly.

Research the artist and ask questions, lots of questions and if the artist becomes aggravated and slow to assist, move on and find another resource.  Do not become a victim of ignorance.  If you are able to use a smart phone or computer, are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you are perfectly capable of educating yourself.  A terrible tattoo is a sorry ass excuse for “I didn’t know.”  Remember my mantra, “Think before you ink, laser removal ain’t cheap.”

For those of you curious about what I wrote in the picture above, and you haven’t figured it out, it’s the incorrectly transliterated word MANDARAYA.  It means cheater in the absolute most prejudiced way possible.

Like I mentioned, this is a project that I will be experimenting with and in no way am I saying that this is THE direction Baybayin should take, rather a direction it could take to modernize.  Is there more freedom by using this? Yes there is.  Can you use it to tranliterate non Filipino words?  Yes you can, but should you?  Hard to say but you could.  I can tell you that this could be controversial within the Baybayin community especially with those who are just starting to experience the Baybayin renaissance themselves.

It’s easy enough to sit and play armchair quarterback, criticize or even indirectly belittle an individuals efforts, but someone has to take the risk.  Someone has to put it out there for everyone.  It’s folks that take the risk that perhaps, help create the spark, to light the fire under passive Baybayin practitioners to help the script evolve.  I think there has been enough research and debate to modernize, take it to the next level and apply those proposed changes for practical use.  Practical use, that is ultimately what we all want right? Validity and adoption, right? Debating and showing off research is much like politics where it’s all talk and no action.  Should Baybayin stay pure? Or should it evolve? Ask the Mangyans, they seem to have had no problems making evolutionary change to their living script and I highly doubt it took the pulling of teeth to do it.

Again, to make it perfectly clear, in case anyone plans on trying to flame me for experimenting with Rizaleo, I am not in any way trying to impose that Baybayin should evolve following the Rizaleo method or variant.  For me it makes sense and it could be done this way.  No, I am not a Rizalista, my interest lies in the way dipthongs are handled, purely Baybayin based.  So while the debate and note comparisons continue, I’ll be here continuing my advocacy to teach and share my craft and my knowledge.  For those of you who have taken risk and may or may not have been shot down in flames, thank you, maraming salamat sa inyo.  I would not be here if it weren’t for you.

Gumagalang, Ray

I somewhat touched on the subject once before…right here: http://malayadesigns.net/2009/12/02/so-you-think-you-know-baybayin/, HOY! WAIT A MINUTE!, don’t be so hyper and just randomly start clicking just because you were presented with a hyperlink.  Read on please.

Malakas vs. Malakas.  Technically it’s the clash of two schools of thought, Traditional Baybayin vs. Modified Baybayin (spanish).  Most of you already know of Baybayin aka (alibata) and are more or less familiar with it’s history and it’s fundamental basics.  For those of you who don’t, then I suggest you google search Hector Santos and Paul Morrow for a concise introduction to Baybayin.  Why these gentlemen?  Because they top my list of Baybayin contributors.  Mr. Santos was the first to publish Baybayin on the web making him a pioneer and gave us a peak at Mangyan.  Paul Morrow, because he’s Paul, is a badass, and has delivered in so many ways.  The fundamental basics is what everyone should begin with, and the basics of Baybayin is non-modified writing.  That means, you learn to write and appreciate Baybayin in its purest form without introducing an outside influence to the writing system.  Easy enough right?  You would think so but things are not what it seems.  Apparently, there is a wide acceptance that the modified Baybayin version is the most proper and correct method of writing rather then the traditional.  In fact, the impression I am getting is that alot of people don’t even know there is a traditional way of writing Baybayin.  So i ask you, how can you truly learn to run if you have yet to walk grasshopper?  Stop your run, turn around, look what you’ve missed in your hurriedness.  Sure, adding that cute  little plus sign makes things so easy, it makes sense! Eureka! it really does, but that’s not the point.  The point is, turning your back or simply ignoring pure Baybayin does the writing system and those who wrote it before us a disservice.  Sure you can argue that by modifying it, the writing system becomes relevent to todays standards, you get a thumbs up and a gold star!  I’m good with that.  But I’ll be the first to blow holes in your so called research, if you tell me that traditional Baybayin writing is wrong or that I’m wrong for not using the modified script or using it enough.  I’ve defended my personal stance on Baybayin far longer than most as an artist and practitioner.  I make it a point to educate people in both the traditional and the modified, and you know what? Folks appreciate it and prefer a traditional transliteration when given the option.  Education is what sets Baybayin practitioners apart from mere writers of the script.  Educate yourself and pass that information along, it’s your chance to pay it forward.  As I have said in numerous conversations before, lack of resources can no longer be an excuse for ignorance.  If you can’t stand on your own merits, at the end of the day you have contributed absolutely NOTHING.

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.

For those of you still rockin’ a MotoRzr and bragging about T9, you probably think this is just a phone, a cellular phone.  Crawl out from under that pet rock of yours and bask in the light of Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G “Supersonic”.  It isn’t just a phone, it’s a “smartphone” damnit.  So what’s the big deal and why is this a worthy item to blog about?  Because it’s my little piece of technological heaven and it’s my blog.  There are fanboys and there are fanboys, I happen to be the latter…a benign one at that.

The HTC EVO has a; 4.3inchtouchdisplaya1GHzSnapdragonprocessor8megapixelcameraand1.3megapixelforwardfacing camerawith3G/4GhotspotcapabilitycurrentlyrunningonGoogle’sAndroidOSversion2.2FroYo(FrozenYogurt).  Did you miss that?  Pay attention next time.  Google uses dessert names for it’s OS, prior to this newest release there was 2.1 Eclair, 1.6 Donut and 1.5 Cupcake.  The next release, perhaps on a more powerful handset will be 3.0 Gingerbread.  Makes you hungry doesn’t it.

I’ve been asked about the EVO and my thoughts on it since release back on June 7th.  Ok, so it’s over 3 months late but the honeymoon stage is over.  I was looking to upgrade my aging Android G1 so I jumped from Tmobile and headed for Sprint.  This handset is a beast! in a good way, it’s big…the screen in 4.3″ SON!  It’s approximately 2.5″ W X 4.75″ L X .50″ thick.  For you 40+ folks, you need this, trust me.  Progressive lenses plus this screen means no blind dialing but won’t help with drunk dialing or drunk texting.  The processor speed is snappy and if you happen to be in excellent 3G coverage or on Wifi, it’s a demon, like bat out of hell stuff for a smartphone.  4G? meh, the SF Bay Area doesn’t have it yet and doubt the $10 permium I pay is gonna speed up Sprint’s buildout.  If you are out in Modesto/Fresno, I dislike you.  You Los Angelenos, your Dodgers suck but you got 4G. 

The UI, user interface, differs depending on the manufacturer. The UI is skinned on top of the Android operating system.  HTC uses Sense UI, which is very smooth like that of the iPhone.  Motorola uses their MotoBlur UI and Samsung uses TouchWiz…which to me sounds kinda pervy.  My TouchWiz experience recently did not impress me, it’s choppy and awkward…yeah.  MotoBlur, not much better IMO.  If you want a true Android experience, try getting a hold of a Nexus One using Vanilla Android.  Vanilla Android really refers to a plain desktop, pretty sterile and no wow factor.  This is actually better for processor speed but the N1 is not an EVO.

But is it an iPhone killer? Nope.  They are two different animals, period.  Yes I agree the iPhone is much more polished, but what sets these two apart is control and flexibility.  What “Jailbreaking” is to the iPhone, “Root(ing)” is to Android.  In laymans terms, you can hack the crap out of the Android platform and customize it to your liking.  You can get rid of all the branded items from the carrier, which results in increased memory storage and faster processor speeds. Why do you need it to go faster?  Because fast is good, slow is bad, it’s that simple.  Stock Android runs very well and for most folks that’s all they want, and that’s just fine…mine is currently stock, for now. 

Like the iPhone, there is the Android Market with a plethora of apps to choose from.  Some apps are going to suck and others are just lame, literally there is an app for your needs.  You have a Twitter account?  There’s TwidRoyd, Facebook for Android, WordPress, AnyPost(Ping.fm client), QuickOffice Connect, DropBox, and of course “Push” email via Gmail.  If you live your day by phone, this HTC EVO is a great platform.  It’s clearly a viable alternative to the monster that is Apple and is gaining momentum.  It’s not just hype folks, you can multitask with this handset and it doesn’t even flinch.

Now while the EVO is a great piece of hardware, it does have one particular shortcoming.  The battery life can drive you insane, it’s not so much an OS issue but more of a carrier issue as it is constantly searching for a network for voice and data.  Network coverage where I work sucks.  This in itself drains the battery faster than any running apps in the background.  Sure, there are some tweaks to extend battery life but why cripple the phone entirely just to squeeze an hour or two more juice?  All together I currently have 3 spare batteries and recently purchased a battery wall charger.  While this sounds crazy, for me it’s all about and being prepared.  I’ve never had to switch to a 3rd battery ever and I suspect most of you never will either. 

If you’re into; surfing for mobile versions of bomba movies, like to have every single service turned on even though you’re not in a 4G area, poll for or post updates every 30 seconds from or to FB or Twitter, Text, MMS, IM, take random pics, post random pics, watch movies or Youtube when you should be working, playing games when you should be working, receive bulk email or playing Pandora like it was going out of style, this EVO can handle it…just carry a spare battery.  This is hands down the very best Android handset to date, it does what I need it to do and recommend it to anyone who wants to jump on the smartphone train.