Welcome to Paper Dome blog!

This blog was created to provide information in English about beautiful Taiwanese eco village Taomi and Paper Dome there. Here you can find following articles:

• Introduction to the Paper Dome blog

• How to reach Taomi village

• Taomi community history

• Paper Dome story

• 10 things to do in Taomi village

For more information please use Paper Dome official web site (in Chinese).

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Natural Dye Class Graduates!

As part of being an ecological village, Taomi villagers are also very good at conceptualizing and constructing handicrafts from naturally found materials.

Traditionally, Taiwan has been known for its blue-dye handicrafts. Taomi Villagers have since taken it further by exploring various dye colours using different naturally found ingredients under the guidance of a local artist.

Over the course of 4 months, the participants of the natural dye class have learnt the craft of dyeing anything ranging from scarfs to door curtains. They have transformed from their initial shy homemaker selves, into confident budding artists ready to showcase their newly honed talents. We are pleased to see their evolution and honoured to showcase their masterpieces.

At the end of every chapter is a new beginning.

As this series of lessons have come to an end, we await anxiously for the start of the next (:

Brief Introduction to (Warm) Natural Dye

1. Collect and chop the required plant parts.

2. Boil required amount, add in enhancers if necessary.

3. Design your cloth to be dyed using string and other materials to create the pattern.

4. Soak cloth in softeners to enhance dye effects.

5. Place into boiling hot dye.

6. Dismantle the strings and air the cloth.

7. ALL DONE!

GRADUATING CLASS OF 2011

NEW HOMELAND FOUNDATION NATURAL DYE CLASS

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Discover Bliss @ Paper Dome Photography Competition

The long anticipated Discovery Bliss @ Paper Dome Photography Competition is finally here!

Don't worry if you're an amateur, as long as you have a camera, you are all set!

Simple Steps to participate:

1. Visit Paper Dome and Taomi Village, use your camera to capture people and scenes.
2. Choose 3-5 of photographs related to the theme "Discover Bliss @ Paper Dome, Taomi Village"
3. Write a short description summarizing your masterpieces in general (less than 500 words)
4. Upload your photographs together with the description to Paper Dome's Facebook Fan Page to qualify. You can also choose to post them on your blog, subsequently share your blog link on Paper Dome's Facebook Fan Page.
5. Limited to one entry per participant.
6. Deadline: 4th Sept 2011
7. For more information, check out the Paper Dome's Facebook Fan Page or send a facebook message to Paper Dome.

Attractive prizes to be won!

What are you waiting for?

Grab your camera and start taking photographs now!

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Community Art Program for Senior Citizens

As part of community involvement, the New Homeland Foundation organizes art lessons for the community.

The difference is, participants are all senior citizens! Grandmothers and great grandmothers alike, they enjoy painting lessons, guided by a teacher. Though many of them used to be farmers, who are used to holding spades rather than holding paint brushes, you will be surprised, many of them have gone from novices to artists qualified to hold art exhibitions! (Paper Dome holds an exhibition to showcase their work regularly)

Whether you want to view them or even better, join them, feel free to drop by every Wednesday morning at the Experimental Kitchen, 3 min walk from Paper Dome back gate.

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Music Concert Series @ Paper Dome

Paper Dome saw a bustle of musical activities this weekend,

all of them leaving the crowd very entertained (:

On Saturday, we cheered to the energetic dance brought to us by young Tap-Dancers from Tao Yuan Elementary school performing with their principal,

and even included a short performance by the Mummies! :D

While on the beautiful Sunday of 10 July,

music-lovers gather for the assemble of talented musicians from Puli:

Family Band - yes music is truly in their genes!

the daughter has even managed to be selected for a prestigious music school which only takes in 6 students majoring in GuZheng per year!

Tao Yuan Elementary School Wind Pipe Ensemble

if you found some of the kids familiar, yes some of them performed tap-dance on Saturday as well! This is because Tao Yuan is a very small school with only 40+ students, many of their students have multi-membership in different student clubs.

sparks flew when the wooden portable drum meets the wooden classical guitar

even the little boy couldn't help swaying to the beat!

Violin Prodigy - ever since the age of 2, her life has been intertwined with the strings of the violin.

to summarise, it was a beautiful Sunday spent with our beautiful host :))

do look out for more exciting performances in August!

check the Paper Dome website for more details

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10 July - Music Concert @ Paper Dome

Paper Dome is hosting a music concert on the 10th of July!

Performances ranges from jazz pieces and flute melodies to guitar tunes and drum beats.

We also welcome you to join us in the lotus seeds plucking activity happening twice in the day: 10am and 3pm, where for TW$100, you can pluck as many fresh lotus seeds as you want to bring home!

On top of that, there will also be an art exhibition from 10am - 9pm, where it will be a showcase of local artists' talents.

Do join us at Paper Dome for a day of fun and enjoyment on this beautiful Sunday morning! :D

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Unprecedented Heavy Rainfall

The recent large amount of precipitation has caused water to gush from the mountains to the Taomi river. Ecosystem has been largely affected as fishes and other small animal suffer the fate of being washed downstream as well. Natural elements are yet another hurdle for the Taomi villagers to overcome in maintaining their beloved hometown as an Eco-Village.

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