From seemingly discarded forest almond leaves, the hands of Mr. Vo Ngoc Hung in Hue have made unique, transparent hats.
Selling bicycles to get money to cross mountains to find wild almond leaves
For many years, the image of a transparent, shy forest eagle leaf hat next to a gentle girl in an ao dai has attracted many tourists to buy as souvenirs when coming to Hue.
The hats are made by the talented hands of Mr. Vo Ngoc Hung (67 years old, Kim Long ward, Hue city).
Mr. Hung confided that when he was young, he struggled with many jobs to make a living. “Actually, I worked through 28 different jobs before coming to the hat job like now,” Mr. Hung calculated.
As a lover of art and beauty, in the past, he had success printing paintings on Bodhi leaf bones, but the product was not popular. Not discouraged, he researched and created new things based on the previous technique of soaking leaf bones.
In 2018, while going to the stream with a group of friends, he discovered that the wild almond leaves were large and thick. Picking it up and bringing it home, he began experimenting with making hats with this material.
Initially developing the idea, he encountered many failures because the leaves were damaged due to insufficient thickness, tears, worms or young leaves, and he had to persistently “hunt” for raw materials and continue testing.
To make complete hats, he had to spend a lot of time choosing the right materials. After that, he spent half a year researching to produce almond leaf bones that could be used to make hats.
“Twelve people worked but could only make one hat, and it was very ugly,” Mr. Hung said. He had to throw away many broken and unsatisfactory hats before making the first successful hat. He had to sell his bicycle to have money… to do experiments.
The day the first hat was completed, many people in the small village were surprised. Everyone seemed interested and asked to try it out and take pictures. It was the photos shared on social networks that later caused many people to seek him out and place orders.
Hats only cover the rain and contain love for Hue
Holding a thin, transparent forest leaf hat in hand, many guests are not confused about its sturdiness. Mr. Hung reassured: “It won’t tear. Feel free to go in the rain, don’t worry about getting wet.”
“This hat is only not used to shade the sun,” Mr. Hung laughed and said that it was a “crazy” product that was different from his traditional hat products.
“The hat does not block the sun, but why do they still love it? Because when worn, it will penetrate the light and see the beauty of a woman’s face more clearly. That is the passion that I have researched for many years,” Mr. Hung explain.
His almond leaf hats are very enthusiastically received, especially by tourists in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Even foreign tourists often come to buy hats as souvenirs.
To get unique hats, Mr. Hung has to put in a lot of effort, with many stages of hat making.
The stage of finding and selecting almond leaves takes about 1.5 months. Standard almond leaves are cooked and soaked, and the rotten parts are removed to remove the leaf bones. This step requires meticulousness and perseverance because it is all done by hand. If you are not careful, it will tear immediately.
Once you have perfect leaf bones, you can put them on the cone frame, then treat them to prevent moisture and waterproofing to avoid mold and maintain the pristine beauty of the conical hat.
Each hat he sells for 450,000 VND/plain hat, 600,000 VND/painted hat. But for him, selling hats is not to get rich, but to convey culture to those around him.
“I love Hue very much, so the hats always have the image of my homeland and when the hats reach customers, it will contribute to promoting the image of Hue to international friends,” Mr. Hung expressed.
($1=24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)