BAN BU COMMUNITY: MAKERS OF STONE-FINISHED KHAN
Khan are large, earthenware bowls used for storing water. Flowers were sometimes floated
in them to give the water a pleasant aroma. They could also be used to hold rice to be donated to monk as the flowers would impart fragrance to the rice. The most highly regarded khan is the stone-finish type.

Making stone-finished khan has been an industry carried on in the community since the Ayutthaya period. When Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese, the villagers fled to the Banglamphu area before settling in Ban Bu, where they remain to the present day.

The industry relies entirely on human labour. No machinery is used except at the final polishing stage. In the old days, people used thong mar lor, believed to be gold sent from China to make khan.Today they use copper and tin mixed with fragments of gold from old khan thought to be thong mar lor.

The three molten metals are combined in a single mould and fired again. The resulting alloy is hammered into shape and turned on a lathe. In the past, fine crushed stone and water wrapped in a cloth were used to polish the surface of the khan. Today this is done by crushing the moulds after casting. As they have been in the fire during the
casting process, they make a good polishing medium.