Monthly Archives: February 2017

Register Now! Oaxaca WARP Textile Conference, June 8-11, 2017

Since early 2016, I’ve been working behind the scenes with Weave a Real Peace, otherwise known as WARP, to help them plan their 2017 annual meeting/textile conference in Oaxaca. Attendees will arrive on June 8 and the events go through Sunday, June 11. There are also many optional activities planned, too.

CLICK to Find Out More About the WARP Conference.

A panel of designers, artisans and academics will explore how indigenous traditional design elements are used in contemporary fashion, the issues and ethics of ownership and recognition, and ways to innovate responsibly. We’ll break into round-tables so you can participate, too.

Innovative materials combine with traditional at Porfirio Gutierrez studio

My role as conference planner has been to help program chair Judy Newland with on-the-ground logistics and administrative details. I’ve also helped her make connections with some of Mexico and Oaxaca’s most notable textile experts and artisans who will participate in the program.

Variations of indigo blue, depending on wool color and number of dye dips

On Saturday, June 10, I’m organizing a one-day textile study tour for all the conference participants. This is included in the conference fee.

We will go out into the Valle Central de Oaxaca (Central Valley of Oaxaca) to visit only artisans who weave using naturally dyed fibers. We will see natural dye demonstrations with cochineal, indigo, wild marigold and other plant materials. We will meet weavers who work on the pedal and back strap looms. We’ll have a traditional Oaxaca lunch at a great home-style restaurant.

There will also be an expoventa (exhibition and sale) of the best Oaxaca folk art courtesy of the Fundacion Alfredo Harp Helu project to promote Arte Popular de Oaxaca.

Selection of Teotitlan del Valle wool rugs from the tapestry loom

I hope you will join me at the conference. The cost is reasonable and the benefits are many.

What is WARP?

Founded in 1992, WARP members strive to support long-standing textile traditions as a means for cultural preservation and economic development. We do that by fostering a global network of textile enthusiasts, artisans, academics, wholesalers, retailers, and many others.

Natural dye workshop participants experiment with color

Pop-Up Textile Fiesta Sale: Mexico and India Cloth and Clothes

Gosh, so many textiles, so little time. Just back from weeks of textile travels in Mexico! After a month of textile adventures in India!

Ikat rebozo on the loom, Tenancingo de Degollado

And, in my desire to support the weavers and block printers of Bhuj, Gujarat, India; Tenancingo de Degollado, Estado de Mexico, who make ikat rebozos; the embroiderers and back-strap loom weavers of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico, and the beaders and embroiderers of Puebla State, I have collected too much.

Pop-Up Textile + Jewelry Sale 

Tuesday and Wednesday,  February 28 and March 1

Noon to 4 p.m. 

Where: Norma’s Casita Alegria, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca

RSVP: email norma.schafer@icloud.com to get directions

  • Rebozos, shawls and scarves
  • Huipiles, dresses and blouses
  • Bolsas, bags and totes
  • Array of jewelry — some new, some vintage
  • Miscellaneous — come see what you will find

I have invited an excellent local cook to come with her amazing tamales. She will offer these for sale at village prices, plus hand crafted hot chocolate made from cacao beans she roasts herself! Come and spend the day on the terraza.

Block printed cotton collected over weeks in India

Textiles from the village of Cancuc, Chiapas

 

Take Heart Day, Dear Valentine, A Parody: Breaking News by Ellen Benson

Ellen Benson, my Oaxaca artist friend who has wintered here for the past umpteen years, wrote these three pieces in the voice of Agent Orange as her way of getting through the political grief and PTSD that many of us experience.  Ellen is  the famed Philadelphia Dumpster Diver Diva and her art also reflects the way she sees the world.

Our Oaxaca hearts stretch out to you around the world

I hope you enjoy this. It is witty and funny. Perfect for a Take Heart Day.  I asked her permission to share it with you. I think we need this.

ONE: Congratulations from Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny

Yesterday Santa Claus called from the North Pole to congratulate me. Yes he is real,  and i’ve known him personally for many, many years. A fantastic, fantastic guy. He promised: no presents going to Mexico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To keep those presents here,  Mike Pence has given Santa Air Force One, since I have my own plane,  but all reindeer will keep their jobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. The Mexican children will get coal in their stockings which will also help the coal industry make a comeback. A win/win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Santa will be working directly with Ben Carson to move all low income housing to the border!!! Not just walls but whole housing complexes!!!!!!!!!! I’ve put Jared Kushner in charge, but Santa and 3 mice will administer the “blind trust.” Let’s see if the “failing New York Times “ even reports this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also got a call from the Easter Bunny. Yes he is real, i know his whole huge family. A terrific terrific guy. He called to report that his personal hackers have found that a hamburger joint in D. C. has been putting pot in all its deluxe burgers with fries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This hamburger joint is a front for the Clinton Foundation. Jewish columnists Tom Friedman and Paul Krugman have been seen in the vicinity. Information verified by National security Advisor-elect Mike Flynn!!!!!!!! Enough said!!!!!!!!! I’ve not even been sworn in and already Mike is arranging a  landing pad for UFO’s on the White House roof!!!!!!! Good work Mike.

The Tooth Fairy was also on the line but I couldn’t take her call. Yes, she is real. I definitely know her. On her day off from overseeing  her teeth- for -money program, she does hair dye jobs. And she’s the best. The very best. 

Melania and Ivanka are busily planning the inauguration. Unfortunately, due to construction on the White House to make it look more like the Hermitage, the inauguration will be held in New York. Any country where i have business dealings will have the chief executives of its BIGGEST COMPANIES invited to the festivities!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing expected in return!!!! this is how business is done!  Many of these execs are graduates of Trump University —so you can bet they understand the Art of the Deal!!!!! We are just now nailing down the entertainment. Very exclusive. Very in-demand.  It’s top secret classified but I’m the President-elect so i can tell whoever i want. The star attraction at the biggest and best inaugural ball will be the cast of the new musical, “PUTIN”!!!!!! Very hard to get tickets—believe me!!!  

TWO:  Breaking News, A Call From Humpty Dumpty

Mar-A-Lago seems to be sinking so I called in Al Gore just to hear his preposterous statements that people, like the overwhelming landslide number of people who absolutely love me, are the cause of so-called global warming. He thought i would offer him a Cabinet position but he did not give me a huge campaign donation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And even after his movie and speaking engagements he is not yet a billionaire or even a multi-millionare and he never even worked for Goldman or Exxon or even the World Wrestling Federation!!!! A loser! Everyone knows there is NO AIR POLLUTION IN THE USA!!!!!!! The Chinese have been manufacturing it cheaply and shipping it over here!!!!! I don’t need a focus group to know why Mar-A-Lago is sinking—my very large, enormous and gigantic brain tells me everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   And it is verified by my National Security Advisor Mike Flynn—The problem is caused by the lost continent of Atlantis rising!!!!!!!!!! Also—he saw a man jumping over the moon—and everyone knows the moon controls the tides!!!!! There will be a big big investigation of this after Jan 20!!!!

My good friend Humpty Dumpty called to warn me that many people want to see me fall!! I’m sick of all the lying media criticizing my Cabinet appointments!!!!!!! They have about as much credibility as Graydon Carter’s failing VANITY FAIR restaurant reviewer in the things he said about the Trump Grill!!!!!!!!!!Terrific terrific restaurant!!! Chris Christie and Jack Sprat love it!!!!!!!!!  I took Mitt Romney there!!!!! People think it was to discuss Secretary of State job. WRONG!! Obviously it was for Mitt to convince me as to why i should endorse his niece for RNC chair over the very very qualified BABAR, who i may still change my mind and endorse!!! And i keep creating jobs! just this week alone, i opened up positions at Goldman Sachs and at Exxon!!

Ben Carson was honest enough to admit that he knows nothing about housing or running a government agency. That’s refreshing! Just the kind of experience I’m looking for! He tells me his decisions will be guided by the invisible hand of the market. Rep. Tom Price will not only repeal Obamacare but will cut out all waste in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. As I’ve said many times, it is a BIG FAT WASTE to cover disabled people!!! We will keep the good parts of Obamacare: lobotomies, breast enhancement and hair transplants will still be covered. 

Full steam ahead on the inauguration!. Kanye West, if he had voted, said he would have voted for me!!!!! We are working in how to blend mental health meltdowns, inflammatory tweets and the Kardashians into a program that THE WHOLE COUNTRY WILL LOVE!!!!!! There will be heavy- duty medication at every banquet table instead of flowers!!!! (Kanye’s idea!  Brilliant!!)The Breitbart event will be giving out free taco bowls and free tickets to the new big hit musical PUTIN!!! which Rex Tillerson and I are backing!!!!!! And of corse, catering by Hardee’s! Kudos to Labor Secretary-elect Andy Puzder for a brilliant idea: food of the little guy! All servers at the inauguration will get free Hardee’s gift certificates in lieu of minimum wage! Can’t wait to see Ivanka’s dress! The president of Taiwan made it herself!!!!

THREE: Breaking News, I would have won the New Hampshire primary

I just want to remind the American public that i would have won in New Hampshire if outside voters had not been bussed in by the thousands, a FACT that is WIDELY KNOWN!!!!!!!!! What you don’t know because the failing New York Times refuses to report it, is that drones also transported hundreds and hundreds of people from Nigeria and Ivory Coast  to polling places in North Carolina and other places EVEN THOUGH THOSE PLACES ARE HARD TO FIND because we had to shut down so many polling places where the blacks might vote!!!! Some of Obama’s Kenyan friends got in too! Somehow they found polling places and i will have the FBI look into it!!!!!! I will have a floating wall built the length of the Atlantic Ocean to prevent such blatant disregard of our borders. As we speak, Mike Flynn is trying to shut down the underground tunnels to the pizza parlor in DC that is now the hub of voter fraud activities!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAD!!!!!!

I am sooooo proud of Jack Kingston, Representaive of Georgia for his stand against free lunches for poor children! of course they should sweep cafeteria floors to earn their keep and learn the value of a buck! My little Ivanka had to go all the way to China to check out the floors of the manufacturing sweatshops that make her clothing line !!!!They made her look through fabric swatches for hours before they even gave her an egg roll for lunch!! And when they were kids, Donald Jr. and Eric had to pick up all their candy wrappers from the floor of the limo, right outside the BEST PRIVATE SCHOOL in the U.S., maybe the world!!! —before their private chef would even give them a taste of their grilled salmon with caviar!!!!!!! 

And contrary to what the lying media are saying, the fCalifornia  armers are doing just great!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, we did have to round up thousands of their best workers and put them on cattle cars back to those swamps they came from!! !! But now, under my new regime, poor school children can be hired after school to work off their subsidized health care!!!! It’s a WIN-WIN!!!!

Can’t wait til Neil Gorsuch is confirmed!! EVERYONE wants him!!!!!!!!! He has told me privately that not only are corporations PEOPLE with rights to free speech, but cars and refrigerators are people too!!!!!! That’s why the new cars  cars  can drive themselves!!!!! Next year, cars and refrigerators get the vote in all red states!!!! And—cheeseburgers, in their role as citizens, are inundating the Republican party with contributions to fund our agenda, whatever it may be!! Even the little guys—Big Mac Jrs.— are getting in on it with small but important contribtions!!! 

Putin requested that nukes be considered people but i’ll let Gorsuch decide—we DO have separation of powers, you know!!!!

Rebozo Weaving Technology in Mexico: How to Make an Ikat Shawl

On our textile study tour to Tenancingo de Degollado, Estado de Mexico (State of Mexico) we met ikat rebozo weavers, called reboceros, who use up to 6,400 cotton warp threads on a back strap loom.

Evaristo Borboa, grand master of Mexican folk art, weaves on a back strap loom

About 3,000 to 5,000 cotton warp threads are used on the fixed frame pedal floor loom.

Rebozo weaver Gabriel Perez at his floor loom

The technology is simple. The fabric created is complex.

The floor loom is faster.  Weavers can produce a rebozo in about a week using this loom. It takes three months or more to make a rebozo on the back strap loom.

Weaver Jesus Zarate defies imagination with his ikat butterfly design

Because fewer warp threads are used on the floor loom, the cotton threads can be thicker and the finished cloth might be coarser.

A weaver’s took kit

As you might imagine, the cost for a rebozo made on a back strap loom is much more than one woven on a pedal loom. Except for the rebozos woven by Jesus Zarate! What do rebozos cost? From 400 to 16,000 pesos.

Bits and pieces of supplies that might be needed for dyeing

Would you work six months to earn $800 USD?

The pattern can be more blurred and not as detailed as those created on the back strap loom. Except for the rebozos woven by Jesus Zarate!

Fermin Escobar marks stiff bundles of thread with ink to make a pattern

There are fourteen different steps required to make an ikat rebozo. The most difficult and time-consuming part is the preparation of the threads before they are dressed on the loom.

Threads are soaked in starch to dry and stiffen before marking.

Ikat pattern markers are coated with ink, rolled along stiffened cords.

The weavers we met all repeated that the actual weaving is the simplest part of the process.

Weavers throw hardwood bobbins between the warp sheds to make the weft

Dipping the yarn into the starch to stiffen it

A better view of the pattern marked on the stiff cotton cords

Separating the cords so they dry evenly

Each mark must be hand tied to create the dye resist

Once the cords are marked in ink with the pattern, each mark is hand tied. The cloth will then be dipped in the dye bath. It is then washed and dried. The knots are cut and the pattern emerges on the warp thread, ready to be threaded on the loom.

Mexicans innovate and cobble together materials to keep things running

For rebozos with multiple colors, they can be hand-dipped in the dye pot or the part that is already colored will be tied off so it does not absorb the new color.

Over 4,000 warp threads pass through the hettles of these looms

The loom might be considered low technology, but it is a complex system for making cloth. Today, industrial cloth is made totally by machine. We are interested in the hand-made process.

Bobbin making system — a bicycle wheel

Making ikat for a rebozo on the pedal loom

One of Evaristo’s beautiful blue ikat shawls in blue, finely detailed

The enpuntadora hand ties each knot to create fringe, the finishing touch

Knotting the rebozo can take equally as long as weaving it — three months or more, depending on intricacy. We know one enpuntadora who takes a year to tie a complex fringe.

The fringe must equal or exceed the beauty of the shawl

Ikat Rebozo Fashion Show: Tenancingo de Degollado, Mexico

The rebozo is to Mexico what the sari is to India — integral to cultural identity. Worn by women, the rebozo or shawl has its Mexican origins in the Spanish conquest. Many historians and cultural anthropologists believe the rebozo was adapted from the Philippines, which adapted it from China’s silk shawls.

Lanita with 90-year old Evaristo Borboa, and his new graphic design.

Last year, after our rebozo textile study tour to Tenancingo de Degollado, Estado de Mexico, I wrote at length about the history of the rebozo.

Camelia Ramos shows Elizabeth how to wrap a rebozo

We just finished an intensive nine-day study tour through the rebozo capital of Mexico, Tenancingo de Degollado. Here, beautiful ikat cotton shawls and scarves are woven on pedal and back strap looms.

Patti with rebocero Gabriel Perez and his work

We also took a day trip to visit Violante Ulrich at the Spratling Ranch in Taxco de Alarcon, Guerrero. I’ll write more about that later.

Cookie loves this blue beauty.

Meanwhile, our group of fourteen enjoyed meeting the rebozo weavers, visiting the Sunday rebozo market, watching women hand-knot the fringe of the rebozo into a web of lace.

This is Linda’s butterfly rebozo woven by Jesus Zarate

The fringe, called the punta, is equally as important as the woven cloth. Fine, tightly knotted, long puntas of eight inches or more can make an average rebozo into something magnificent!

Sandi and Janet learn to tie fringes with empuntadora Fidelina, while Cheri looks on

We visited eight different rebozo weavers during our time in Tenancingo de Degollado. Each has a different weaving style. Only two we visited are working on back strap looms, a dying art form.

Sandi with rebocero Luis Rodriguez who works in shibori

The back strap loom is able to hold over 6,000 warp threads, so the ikat design on the fabric is much more detailed and the material is denser because it uses a finer cotton thread. It can take three months or more to weave a rebozo using this method.

Christine wears a fine rebozo woven by Jesus Zarate on the back strap loom

An ikat rebozo woven on the pedal loom is much less expensive and can be completed after about a week on the loom.

Sandi loves purple and this rebozo by Gabriel Perez is a stunner

That does not take into account the preparation time, which includes counting the threads to form cords, washing them in a paste to harden the cords, marking the cords with a design, then tying the cords, dying them, and then threading the loom. All tallied, it’s a 14-step process.

Cynthia found this lovely one in Malinalco

We found some great spots for lunch, like Don Chano’s and El Meson, and some nights we were so tired from visiting rebozo weavers that we opted for pizza and a mezcal or soft drink on the terrace.

Rebozo shopping at the workshop studio of Adofo Garcia

At the end of the trip we were going to offer up confessions of how many each of us bought. We never got around to it, but I heard that one of us went home with eleven rebozos.

Susanne studies the details of this rebozo as she decides whether it’s for her

Ikat rebozo weaving in Mexico is a dying art. In the 1960’s there were over 250 rebozo weavers in Tenancingo. Now there are fewer than thirty. With the strength of the U.S. dollar in Mexico now, it was easy to justify an extra purchase to give one of these beautiful textiles as a gift.

Cheri with rebozo woven by Gabriel Perez. He showed us how to wear them.

Most importantly, each of us felt we were supporting artisans whose hand-work is special and valuable. Without tourism, we risk losing Mexican artisans to an industrial economy where the labor of creating beauty, one article at a time, will fade into non-existence.

Janet, our translator, shows us how to wear yellow!

Thanks to everyone who participated this year. It’s likely I won’t be offering this study tour again until 2019 or later. Stay tuned for new 2018 textile study tours with destinations to Oaxaca and Michoacan and/or Chiapas.