Product Releases

Ten Thousand Villages Introduces New Artisan Partners

Fair Trade Retailer Begins Relationships with New Artisan Partners around the Globe
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Ten Thousand Villages Offers Educational Toys for Back-to-School

Handcrafted Puzzles, Musical Instruments and Games Make Learning Fun
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Company Releases

Ten Thousand Villages Introduces Heirloom Anthology

New Collection Inspires Theme: Preserving Cultures, Sustaining Lives
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Ten Thousand Villages Introduces Carved Home Decor Featuring Angkor Motifs

Artisans in Cambodia Inspired by 9th Century Carvings
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Ten Thousand Villages Named to World’s Most Ethical Company List

Fair Trade Retailer Named to Top 100 List by Ethisphere Institute for Third Year in a Row
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Ten Thousand Villages. One Incredibly Harmonious Singing Bowl.

Handcrafted singing bowls reflect tradition and art.

(AKRON, PA) – Looking for a piece of art for your home that encapsulates history, beauty and music? Consider a Nepali singing bowl from Ten Thousand Villages. Nepali artisans intricately handcraft traditional singing bowls—recreating a musical instrument that has been used for thousands of years for meditation and worship, while also creating a functional work of art for your home.

Nepali artisans’ careful selection of raw materials, mastery in molding and artistic finishing makes a perfect singing bowl. The quality of the bowl’s sound depends upon the proportion of the raw materials used. Traditionally, artisans use seven different ingredients to make the bowl: tin, copper, brass, silver, gold, aluminum and manganese.

Artisans create the bowl with a “sand casting” method. An artisan places sand and clay into a mold with a die in the required size. He steps on the mold to press the sand and clay into the mold firmly. Then, the artisan melts the raw materials in a pot in a traditional fireplace and pours the molten metal into the mold. He sets the bowl aside to cool. Once the metal cools, he separates the mold and reveals the singing bowl. He allows the bowl to cool further and then places it on a spinning machine to chip off the rough edges, shape the bowl to size and polish it. If fine polishing is needed, the artisan grinds the bowl and then polishes it. In some cases, the artisan will add decorative art by embossing or etching the bowl with traditional designs.

Believed to have originated in Asia 3,000 years ago, singing bowls are traditionally used in meditation, prayer and religious ritual in Nepal, Tibet, India, China, Korea and Japan. In Buddhist tradition, worshippers use singing bowls to highlight particular phrases in a sutra, mantra or hymn.

Singing bowls are a type of standing bell. The metal sides and rim of the bowl vibrate to produce an incredible singing ring; high quality singing bowls generate multiple harmonic overtones simultaneously. To play a singing bowl, musicians hold the bowl in their open palm and hold the stick upright against the side of the bowl. Then, they firmly rub the stick around the outside of the bowl until the bowl begins to sing.

Ten Thousand Villages offers exquisite singing bowls handcrafted by skilled artisans in Nepal in a variety of designs and prices.

Silver Lotus Singing Bowl

This miniature singing bowl, cast in copper, zinc and tin, is silver-plated and embossed with a lotus flower. Artisans cover the singing bowl’s hand-sewn pillow with a printed fabric that matches the accompanying box. The singing bowl comes with a dark-stained wooden stick, which you can use to make it sing.

The bowl measures 3×3 inches. Handcrafted in Nepal. Suggested retail price, $48. For a high-resolution photo, click here: http://thewire.tenthousandvillages.com/product_images/59/5911210_CP.tif

Embossed Singing Bowl

Artisans sand cast and emboss this beautiful bronze singing bowl. To make the bowl sing, sit it on your open palm. Hold the stick upright against the bowl. Move it steadily around the outside, keeping firm contact until the bowl starts to sing. The bowl measures 6Dx2H inches. Handcrafted in Nepal. Suggested retail price, $98. For a high-resolution photo, click here: http://thewire.tenthousandvillages.com/product_images/59/5934300_CP.tif

Bronze Singing Bowl and Stand

This beautifully embossed bronze singing bowl creates a magical humming sound, which touches deep and comforts. Accompanied by an intricately designed stand and singing stick, this bowl offers the beauty of Nepali tradition and the harmony of sound. The bowl measures 7Dx4Hx10HO inches. Handcrafted in Nepal. Suggested retail price, $175. For a high-resolution photo, click here: http://thewire.tenthousandvillages.com/product_images/59/5934290_CP.tif

A fair trade retailer, Ten Thousand Villages offers Nepali Singing Bowls and other home decor, personal accessories and gift items rich in ancient global traditions. Ten Thousand Villages features products from more than 130 artisan groups in 38 countries and offers a network of more than 155 retail outlets throughout the United States.

For more than 60 years, Ten Thousand Villages has established fair, long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans lack opportunities for stable income. Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit program of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). 

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