Here at Laos Essential Artistry, we are delighted to be able to offer high quality Hmong storycloths woven by a Hmong women's cooperative in Vientiane. On our website our item photos are larger than normal (just click on the item photo) because we want our customers to see as much detail as possible. The hand embroidery is exquisite and on our extra-large storycloths we're thinking about zoomifying each of the photos so viewers can really zoom in on the beautiful detail. Examples of zoomified images are below. Isn't this technology neat?

My first image original zoomified image was a Southeast Asia Map

The next set of images are of Hmong storycloths I have purchased in Laos.

This first image is of a smaller Hmong History Storycloth that incorporates Wat Tham Krabok. I was extremely surprised to come across this cloth and would like to talk with the woman/women who designed/embroidered this cloth to find out what motivated them to change the basic design (taken from Dia's Storycloth).

This second image is a large 41 inches by 68 inches / 84 inches by 110 inches w/border storycloth which features the three different major ethnic groupings in Laos. The Lao Soung represented by the Hmong and Mien, Lao Theung and Lao Loum. There's so much going on in this cloth, so many traditional activities represented including all aspects of rice production, and the embroidery is exquisite. The zoomified image allows one to zoom in fairly close without a loss of quality. Laos Essentail Artistry has other similar cloths, in both horizontal and vertical formats for sale.

This third image is a large, 41 by 74 inches / 63 by 96 inches w/border, storycloth based on the Hmong history storycloth seen in the children's book, Dia's Storycloth, by Dia Cha. These storycloths aren't too common, though I've seen about six or seven, and all are variations the theme. I have three of the storycloths and have zoomified the one I like best. There's great discussion material here for students and teachers...