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Norma Writes for Selvedge Latin Issue
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma Contributes Two Chapters!
- Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university program development experience. See my resume.
Study Tours + Study Abroad are personally curated and introduce you to Mexico's greatest artisans. They are off-the-beaten path, internationally recognized. We give you access to where people live and work. Yes, it is safe and secure to travel. Groups are limited in size for the most personal experience.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Designers, retailers, wholesalers, universities and other organizations come to us to develop customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Our Clients Include *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Selvedge Magazine
Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
PRESS
- WEAVE Podcast: Oaxaca Coast Textiles & Tour
- NY Times, Weavers Embrace Natural Dye Alternatives
- NY Times, Open Thread–Style News
- NY Times, 36-Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico
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Indigo Dye Workshop in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
Making a shibori scarf using indigo dye was a highlight of the Penland School of Crafts visit to Oaxaca.
Some people called it tie dye, but we know better since the technique was originally developed in Japan. Lots of ways to make designs and patterns in the cloth that will resist the dye that coats its surface.
It is a long seven month process to grow the indigo plant. It needs the right soil and climate plus the knowledge of how to extract the blue color from the plant so that it becomes a stable and strong dye.
The Museo Textil de Oaxaca now has an excellent exhibit and video that explains the fermentation, dye extraction and drying process. What you end up with is a hard chunk of material that looks like coal. It’s then ground into a powder and carefully added to a water bath so that the oxygen molecules are not activated.
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