Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to a Week of Black Friday Specials from Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. Today, we are offering amazing, designer baskets — home goods for holding just about anything. Plus, we have two hand-painted gourd bowls from Oaxaca, perfect for serving fruit, breads, and candy. Scroll down to see two gorgeous, colorful hammocks hand-woven in Mexico’s Yucatan.
First up, sustainable, hand-woven palm baskets, environmentally conscious shopping! Big price reductions. We want to sell these! I have brought back these wonderful palm woven bags from Oaxaca’s Mixtec region. In this mountainous area that borders northern Oaxaca state and southern Guerrero state, palm grows naturally. Artisans harvest the fiber and weave these baskets by hand — environmentally sustainable for interior design accents. I love the warm beige color mixed with fibers dyed black. The result is a stunning graphic design that goes well with any decor.
These beautiful baskets are perfect for storage and to hold:
- toilet tissue
- clothing
- rolled towels
- laundry
- trash
- hats and gloves
- throws and blankets
- French bread loaves
- houseplants
- anything else that needs containing!
How to Buy: Send an email to norma.schafer@icloud.com and tell me the item(s) you want to purchase by number, your email, your mailing address and which payment method you prefer: 1) Zelle bank transfer with no service fee; 2) Venmo or 3) PayPal each with a 3% service fee. I will send you a request for funds and then add on a flat rate $19 mailing fee because an oversize box is needed! Happy to combine shipping if you buy more than one piece. Note: Thank you for understanding that all sales are final.
SOLD. #1. Palm basket with lid, soft sided and flexible construction. Use as one piece or separate for two containers. 12” high x 10-1/2” diameter. Was $58. Now $38
SOLD. #2. Fringe Basket with Zigzag Pattern. 12-1/2” high x 11-1/2” diameter. Was $72. Now $58
#3. Diagonal Tote. 14” high x 12” diameter. Was $66. Now $38
#4. Criss-Cross Bag, extra large, with leather handles and snap closure. Sturdy handles fixed with metal grommets. 18” high x 20” wide. Was $97. Now $67
#7. Serpent bag with leather handles and magnetic tab closure. Sturdy. 14″ high x 19″ wide. I use mine to store rolled towels next to the shower. Was $72. Now $59
SOLD #8-Left and #9-Right. Hand-painted and enameled gourd bowls from Oaxaca. Perfect for serving and display. #8 is painted with a dusky blue background and is 5-/12” high and 10-1/2” diameter, Was $54. #9 is painted with a black background and 5” high x 10” diameter, Was $54. Take your pick. Now $44 each.
Look forward to spring! Both of these colorful hammocks are handwoven in the Yucatan, Mexico. They are made with sturdy, strong all-weather nylon, and extend to 15 feet. (Does not include ties or carabiners.) Suspend from trees or posts, or get one of those free-standing hammock stands.
#10. Persimmon hammock, extra large. Easily holds two people. Was $110. Now $72.
#11. Sky Blue hammock, extra large. Easily holds two people. Was $110. Now $72.
Note: These are heavy. Mailing cost is $22 each.
Celebrating Five Years of Blog Writing: Oaxaca Cultural Navigator
On November 28, 2007, I started a free WordPress.com blog and posted my first essay there about visiting, traveling and intending to live in Oaxaca, Mexico. Two years earlier, using iWeb on my Apple computer and the clunky URL web.mac.com/normahawthorne/iWeb/ [defunct, not searchable, remember those days], I started my original blog. However no one could find me! So, technically, I’ve been writing this blog for seven years!
Writing regularly is an act of commitment, love of place, and desire to share the experience. I want to mark this anniversary and share with you now what I published on November 28, 2007. I didn’t take as many photos then and most weren’t of publishable quality. Then, I was more interested in the narrative. The times they are a-changin’ — let’s celebrate!
5- Year Celebration Sale with Discount — Good Until December 25, 2012.
Take 15% off any workshop offered through August 1, 2013 (except Felted Fashion Workshop).
Take 15% off any Shop Mexico-Artisan Sisters Items still available.
Tell me you want the Celebration Discount!
Reposted from November 28, 2007: Navigating with Norma
An explanation: Navigating Oaxaca (pronounced Wah-Hah-Kah), Mexico, is a cultural arts and history experience that requires a certain sense of exploration, discovery and adventure. For me, it is going without a roadmap down the back alleys of a small village to see what I will discover next: a master weaver, an exceptional wood-carver, an accomplished potter or expressive painter. I am open to the experience of creating relationship by appreciating artistic creativity, cultural history, shared values and vision, and the possibility for multicultural exchange. After four visits of several weeks each over the past two years, and an invitation from Federico Chavez Sosa and his family to live with them in Teotitlan del Valle, I begin to call myself “cultural navigator.”
This blog is a way for me to share my experiences with you with the hope that it will excite your interest to visit this extraordinary place and appreciate the rich artistic and cultural traditions of Mexican immigrants. There are great artisans who live on the back alleyways, don’t show up in the tourist guide books, and aren’t willing to pay hefty commissions to have tour guides and tour buses pulling up to their front door. I am motivated to support fair trade so that 100% of tourist dollars go directly to the families who actually create the art.
In the next weeks, we will be preparing to return to Oaxaca through the winter holidays. There will be Posadas and fireworks. The ancient fife player will lead the village band in a Sousa march. Farmers will herd cattle and sheep through the streets. The guacalotes will chortle and the donkey next door will bray at sunrise. We will hike to the reservoir along the river through the bamboo and cactus forest, beyond us Picacho rises above the 6,000 foot plateau with a promise of a new archeological discovery. We will eat handmade tamales con pollo y salsa Coloradito with fresh nopales, and the adventure will begin anew.
Then and Now
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Teotitlan del Valle, Travel & Tourism
Tagged anniversary, blog, blogsherpa, discount, Mexico, Oaxaca, sale, WordPress