Weavings at work?!

As I mentioned before, we didn't take enough photos of weavers working when we were in South America & Central America.  However, here's a nice one of a woman in Guatemala using a backstrap loom.  And check out her huipile, the top she has on.  She's probably weaving another; I'm sure I asked, but do not remember.  

Anyway, because I didn't take enough pictures for the "Weavers at Work" series, I'll post a few that I call "Weavings at Work," people wearing amazing woven clothes while going about their business...

Don't worry, we do have others of Weavers at Work, but you'll have to wait until we get to the Oman, Asia & Africa photos...

The second photo is a huipile shop in Antigua, Guatemala.  We saw an awful lot of beautiful, high-quality huipiles for sale in the big market towns (Antigua, Chichicastenango, etc.), and it rather boggled my mind; I mean there are only about 14 million people there; it felt like each of them was trying to sell 3-4 huipiles!

Finally, the women in the third photo are a the market in Nebaj, and are wearing typical northern Guatemala dress.  (It's pretty easy to tell where women--and sometimes men--are from, if they're wearing their traditional dress.)  Can you see the woman on the right?!  In her hair is braided this amazing ribbon, which is woven & embroidered.  We have such a "ribbon" but it's only 6' long--we saw some that were 12'.  This is the problem w/ traveling while poor--I could have easily bought 10 of them, but instead had to make a choice!  We did buy 7 huipiles, though!

At Work - weavers & spinners the world over

We started travelling a l o n g time ago, and though we were interested in textiles, we didn't go out of our way to find weavers & spinners and take their picture.  (Bummer--I guess we'll have to go back?!)

I did want to show you a few photos that we did take...not scanned in from postcards, which we also have many of.  Anyway, this first one is a family we met in Otavalo, Ecuador in the early 90s.  The Maldonados were great, so friendly (this was taken at their home, but we met them in the market).  They gave us dinner, too!  That's me on the left peeking out.  The family's main source of income was the weavings the husband, Segundo, made, and which his wife sold in the market.

Here's another photo of a woman spinning in Guatemala in 1997.  It's not a very good picture...sorry.  We tried to be polite when taking photos, and sometimes people just seemed irritated, or ignored us.  You can see the combed wool to her left, turning into yarn on the wheel to her right.  Magic!

We'll be going through our many photo albums & scanning in what we find to share w/ you.  Stay tuned...

From the Collection: Weaving Accoutrement Part III

Drop spindles!  Of course you can spin wool into yarn with a spinning wheel (got to go round/drop all your troubles by the riverside...)!!  But if you're learning to use a drop spindle, what you drop, along with your troubles is the spindle.  And you drop it a lot.  I never learned to use one, but the Roommate knows how; he is however, a bit out of practice.  But he told me at his first class, there was little talking, but lots of clunking (spindles hitting the floor).

Once again, we're back to why decorate something that is for utilitarian purposes? (I know why, but I get a kick out of it, so you'll probably hear about it again.)  Sorry the photo isn't any better; you'll have to take my word for it.  The spindles above are from: Ladakh, Laos, Oman and Thailand.  The largest one, and the one on the bottom, come apart completely, I'm not sure why--for transport?  They are all heavily used, very worn.  They're simple, beautiful, and do the job (once you know how).

Here are two Tibetans using drop spindles somewhere on the road to Kailash.

There are plenty of videos on youtube showing how to, and videos of spinners from all over the world.  I don't want to discount anyone's spinning skills because I can't do it at all, but I was especially impressed with the women in Peru & Bolivia...they do it standing up & sometimes while walking (and we didn't see many sidewalks or paved roads when we were there).  I can't even being to think how that works; I can text & walk, but I have to think hard and I only do it on routes that I take every day.

If you've ever seen anyone spinning (with a wheel or a drop spindle), it's mesmerizing.  I find it so relaxing.  The old fairy tale about straw into gold?  It's about magic--and when you see wool being spun into yarn, you'll realize you're seeing magic, too.  And a skill that's probably at least 20,000 years old.  More on that later.  Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.  Questions? Comments?

BTW, the Met has an exhibit on Andean Huipiles (Tunics)! Unbelievable weaving & dying techniques on these masterpieces--some of them over 2000 years old.