WS Art Studio Balinese Handicrafts — Attraction in Bali

I really don’t know whether to recommend this studio or not, so I just give my first hand experience on the silver jewellery class:

We arrived 15 minutes early only to find some others already sketching on some paper. As we sat down, we got a pencil and four blurry photos with the words “draw your design” - no official welcome, no waiting for others, no explanations what kinds of jewellery or techniques are possible whatsoever. A bit unsure, I sketched out my design for a simple ring with some stencilling. Then, the instructor came around and measured everyone’s finger and cut out a piece of silver, that was nice. Then he pointed at the little tools in front of us, that was our sign to start filing the edges. Alright, I thought, no explanation too, nice. After the piece of silver was smooth, we got some tools to stamp the metal, but again, no explanation about nothing. It was kind of simple to get the hang, but I don’t really want to ruin a 60€ piece of silver by not knowing how to handle it. After an hour so far, my design was stamped into the metal. After another hour of just waiting, my flattened out ring got collected, was put into ring-form, made round and got polished. In the end, I got a nice little souvenir I was proud of, just to find out that a whole $h!t ton of other design would have been possible. I would have done another design, if someone would have simply told me!

In conclusion: if you want to sit in a nice studio in the middle of a rice field and watch silver smiths do their work for two hours, go do this. But if you expect a class with instructions, examples and a detailled explanation of what techniques and jewelleries are possible - skip this place. You find so many small local jewellery studios that offer more detailed courses in the centre of Ubud, no need to...

Went for the wood carving experience with my wife. Upon arrival, we were told to sit at a table with other people who had booked and we had to wait an hour until we got to begin as they needed to prepare the wood for everyone which took a long time. The two professionals move between people to 'help' with the carving which means that if they are not with you then you are sat waiting for a long time as wood carving is pretty difficult and hard to do on your own without guidance. When they do come, the 'help' provided is just them progressing the carving for you and telling you to do a very small section until they come back. The entire experience was about 4 hours in total so 4 hours of this got boring pretty quick especially when trying something for the first time! Potential to improve if they have another expert to assist or a limited selection of carving objects to copy from so they can help more people at once. Also there was no information regarding carving and very limited communication from...

Went for batik painting class. Classics was around 10people, split into two groups. Staff were patient to explain the steps taken to make the batik art. Good to think beforehand what patterns you would like to draw. If not there are templates for you to follow.

Felt that some of the materials (eg wax pen) were a little faulty and had to interchange a few to get a good one to outline my pattern.

Whole experience will take 2-3 hours depending on how fast you are. My cloth was 70-80% dry when I left the class.

There are two puppies running around the studio so be comfortable with them.

It’s easy to get Gojek there but be careful of locals just outside the studio who might force you to forsake the car you booked on Gojek and take their ‘taxi’ when making your way out. Stay at the studio and wait for your car, do not walk out even if the car you called on Gojek lose their way. That was a misstep on my part. The driver you booked will eventually be able to find you and bring...