Three Days at Wat Sukato — Eco Printing with Kids at a Thai Temple

Gigi Payne runs workshop at Wat Sukato Temple

Wat Sukato is a forest monastery in central Thailand — quiet, old, serious about practice. In spring 2026, GIGIPAYNE Studio spent three days there running a workshop for children attending the temple's seasonal program. Kids aged 6 to 14, most of them in the middle of a monkhood summer camp, learning discipline and ritual and how to be still.

We brought eco-printing.

The workshop introduced a different kind of question — not one with a single right answer. Which leaves hold color? Does pressing harder change the print? What happens if you layer two plants on top of each other? Children moved between the garden and the work table, choosing leaves, arranging them on cotton, bundling the fabric, and waiting for the steam. The waiting is part of it. You don't know what you'll get until you unwrap.

For many of the kids, it was the first time they'd made something from materials growing around them. Teachers and monks accompanying the group noted how naturally the children engaged — the process asked for attention and patience, which fit the spirit of the program. Younger children worked instinctively, filling their cloth with bold shapes. Older ones took their time, thought about arrangement, came back to adjust.

Every child left with a hand eco-printed cotton piece they made themselves — from plants found at the temple, during these three days in the forest.