First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported the artisans whose work I have featured here. The dollars I have sent back to them in Oaxaca and Chiapas have helped sustain families through this health crisis — Covid-19 — when there is no tourism.
I also want to add that there is a benefit to my being here in Durham, NC, right now — shipping cost is bundled and covers sending multiple pieces from Mexico to the USA, making these pieces much more affordable. Usually, it is $60-80 USD to send one piece from Oaxaca to the states or Canada. So, while I am here, I will continue to work with cooperatives to bring their work to you. I would not be able to do this were I in Oaxaca!
Tomorrow, October 19, I will feature five (5) rugs from the Taller Teñido a Mano workshop in Oaxaca.
Shop will open Monday, October 19, 1 PM Eastern Time
Elsa Sanchez, proprietor of Taller Tenido a Mano, dyes the wool yarn with natural plant materials and cochineal. Colors include cochineal, indigo, wild marigold, wood barks and nuts. These sturdy rugs are woven by my godson and Elsa’s husband, Eric Chavez. Cost will range from $195 to $295 plus mailing.
Here is one rug example:
2-1/2 ft. by 3 ft. — 100% wool, handwoven. Machine wash gentle. Hang to dry.
At the end of the week, I will offer handmade blouses from Aguacatenango, Chiapas, by Francisca. She works in embroidery using exquisite French knots. The bodice is so dense with embroidery you cannot see the base fabric, which is 100% cotton manta. This time, we will have more long sleeve pieces and more that are sized Large and Extra-Large. They will sell for $120 plus mailing.
Here is an example:
Machine wash gentle, cold water. Use mild soap. Hang to dry.
I’m doing my best these days from my little apartment in Durham, North Carolina, to help promote Oaxaca artisans, primarily those who work in textiles. Today, I am excited to announce that I am representing the work from the natural dye studio Taller Teñido a Mano located in downtown Oaxaca city.
See below for photos and prices:
3 beautiful designer wool rugs, tapestries for floor or wall (ONE LEFT)
10 indigo-dyed face masks, size medium (SOLD OUT)
3 canvas and leather market bags, sturdy, lined, gorgeous
SOLD. Last One: Buy it NOW for $12 plus $6 mailing. SOLD OUT!SOLD. #1: Indigo, cochineal, wild marigold, natural grey sheep wool, 23″w x 36-1/2″L, $295
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 per package for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends!
The studio creates textiles using only natural dyes from local sources: indigo, wild marigold, mahogany bark, pomegranate, cochineal, and more. Color variations are also achieved using overdyes. For example, green tones come from dipping in a wild marigold dye bath and then again in an indigo dye bath. Gray tones are achieved when the dyer uses a cast iron pot which creates a ferrous oxide chemical reaction.
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends!
THREE CANVAS MARKET BAGS WITH LEATHER
3 Sturdy Canvas Market Bags, Lined, Natural Dyes with Leather
There are so many uses for these sturdy, beautiful canvas and leather bags: market, beach, go-anywhere tote. Even use it as an overnight bag. These are beautifully crafted with excellent finish work. The solid leather handles are attached with brass grommets. The lining has two inside pockets, one with a zipper. The outside pouch is leather and is big enough to hold a cell phone. An elegant, practical shopping bag. Double straps are 28″ long — long enough to sling over your shoulder comfortably.
The studio also dyes cotton threads and hand-spun wool yarn that they sell to knitters and weavers. All pieces are unique and one-of-a-kind. Because of their handmade quality, there is variegation in the dyes and some imperfections.
#4: Mahogany-dyed canvas, leather pocket and base. 20″ w x 19″ h. $225#5 (L) 18×20, pomegranate in iron oxide pot, with pomegranate/indigo over-dye base. #6 (R) is also 18×20, pomegranate in iron oxide pot, with wild marigold base. $195 each. Each bag is lined, with two inside pouches, one with zipper
INDIGO-DYED FACE MASKS
Indigo-dyed face masks, $15 each. 2 left. Canvas, indigo dyed, face mask, $15 each
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends!
Beautifully sewn face masks with solid blue lining
We have a no returns/no refunds policy. Thank you for understanding. All proceeds are sent immediately and directly to artisans.
Las Sanjuaneras huipiles are here! Below are 14 beautiful pieces. On July 29, 2020, I posted the first batch of huipiles and we sold-out on the same day! Thank you for supporting this incredible cooperative of weavers from San Juan Colorado, Jamiltepec, Oaxaca on the beautiful Costa Chica. You can read more about them by clicking on the link above.
SOLD OUT! Next group arriving in 3-4 weeks.
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends!
Note: All measurements are in inches. Width is across the front (one side). Please double for circumference. Length is shoulder to hem. Most necks have an 8″ opening from shoulder to V.
First come. First served. First email in gets first choice.
SOLD. #1. Andrea. Wild marigold with iron oxide bordado. 37″ w x 44-1/2″ L. $345SOLD. #2. Maria Lucia. Mahogany, nanche, banana, indigo, 31w x 29L. $265.
These textiles are airy and gauzy. They drape beautifully. Even though they are wide, they are beautiful flowing works of art. In summer, wear with a tank top or bra. In winter, layer over a long-sleeve T-shirt or dress. The texture and colors are delicious, just like the natural dye materials used.
SOLD. #3. Camerina. Mahogany, beets, avocado, wild marigold. 31w x 30L. $265.SOLD. #4. Camerina. Indigo, beet, mahogany, marigold. 31w x 38L. $285.SOLD. #5. Camerina. Guava, iron oxide, indigo. 34-1/2w x 34L. $325.
The cotton is all locally grown in small plots, hand-picked. The cotton is rolled inside palm mats and then beaten with sticks to soften it. Women sit cross-legged to take out the debris, pods and seeds, caressing each cotton ball as they work. A few women are experts using the malacate or drop-spindle used to make the thread. This is a laborious process. All the threads used in these garments are made this way.
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends!
SOLD. #6. Brisaida. Indigo, guava, iron oxide. 37w x 30L. $265.SOLD. #7. Camerina. Indigo, banana, mahogany. 31w x 26L. $265.SOLD. #8. Rufina Nicolas. Mahogany, banana, natural. 30w x 34L. $310.
A back-strap loom is warped with this cotton. Then, the weft is woven into the warp threads. The designs are achieved using a weaving technique the Mexicans call bordado. These designs are not embroidered, but actually woven into the garment — a technique weavers know as supplementary weft. Often, as with some of these, the rayas or stripes add diversity to the design and an opportunity for color variegation.
SOLD. #9. Aurora. Wild marigold, indigo, banana, iron oxide. 34w x 32L. $240.SOLD. #10. Camerina. Indigo, mahogany, banana. 30w x 33L. $240.SOLD. #11. Andrea. Oak, marigold, indigo, natural. 33w x 29L. $265.
Before the loom is warped, the weaver will decide on the primary color of the piece, along with what colors to use for the patterning. She will take the raw white native cotton and dip it into dye baths she has prepared herself from native plants. Weavers here use wild marigold (sempesuchitl or pericone), mahogany bark (caoba), oak bark (encino), avocado leaves and dried fruit (aguacate), indigo (añil), beets (betabel), guava (guayaba), nanche (a fruit), and baby banana pulp or banana tree bark.
SOLD. #12. Aurora. Beet, marigold, iron oxide, banana. 37w x 36L. $285.
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends!
Sometimes these may be prepared in an iron pot to yield a dulled color or gray that results from the iron oxide chemical reaction. The plant world is in your huipil!
SOLD. #14. Brisaida. Mahogany, marigold, indigo. 32w x 29L. $345.
Thank you very much for your caring and support. We all appreciate it!
I promised it would give you advance notice about when I received this next shipment of 14 huipiles from Las Sanjuaneras, San Juan Colorado, Oaxaca. The box arrived today! Please keep a look-out for when I will post them for sale. It will likely be on Friday, August 21, 2020 or Saturday, August 22, 2020. Stay tuned!
Only 14 pieces because this is all by hand, limited production. Slow fashion.
The story behind receiving these huipiles: Camerina, the cooperative leader, and Ana Paula Fuentes send me photos and I select the ones I think you will most like. Camerina packages them up and takes them to the nearest town, Pinotepa Nacional, to mail to her daughter Edivigus who lives in Oaxaca. Edivigus had a few to add to the shipment. She found a Maria’s cookie box, put the textiles in a plastic bag, carefully sealed the box and sent it to me via Estafeta.
14 pieces of artisan-made huipiles, thread made by hand using a drop spindle
Estafeta is a domestic Mexican trucking company. Their shipping prices are very reasonable, however it takes two to three weeks for the package to arrive in the USA. When it gets to the border, what happens? They have an agreement with UPS Ground to transfer international packages to the Brown Trucks and get them to their destination. Very efficient, I think!
All natural dyes, hand-woven on a back-strap loom, native Oaxaca cotton
For the next day, I will hang and steam press each garment. Then, I will take the photographs and measurements. I’ll identify the weaver and which natural dyes are used for each piece. I’ll then post each photo along with the descriptive information here. It may be Friday or Saturday before I am able to complete everything.
Natural dyes include wild marigold, indigo, mahogany, beets
These are unique, one-of-a-kind hand-woven textiles made by one of the finest Oaxaca cooperatives. Since there are only 14 pieces I am offering for sale, please be sure you check back in the next few days so you don’t miss out!
Fragile cookies. Handle with care. Don’t step on the box.
Thank you for your support of this deserving group of women and for Oaxaca. All best wishes, Norma
Oh, dear, I thought. We have a textile tour to visit the cooperatives on the Oaxaca coast this January 2021. What if we don’t get there because of Covid-19? The best I can do now is bring them to us until we know if we hold this tour … or not. I contacted Las Sanjuaneras in San Juan Colorado, a pueblo located in the coastal mountains near Pinotepa Nacional. Why? Because they weave exceptionally fine garments AND they have no Internet presence for online sales — no website, no Instagram, no Facebook. They need our help.
Las Sanjuaneras weaving cooperative
15 Gorgeous Hand-woven, Naturally-Dyed Textiles for Sale
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, garment number, mailing address. I will mark your choice SOLD, send you a PayPal invoice and add $12 for cost of mailing.
So, I contacted Ana Paula Fuentes from the CADA Foundation. She worked with the group in the past. I selected garments from photos she sent via cooperative leader Camerina Cabrera and I prepaid shipping so Las Sanjuaneras would have no out-of-pocket expenses. As soon as the pieces sell, I will send funds to them via Western Union. It’s a win-win for all of us.
SOLD. #2. Maker: Delfina Quiroz. Dyes: nanche, indigo, almond. 38″ wide x 39″ long. $295 SOLD. #4 Maker: Brisaida. Dyes: Indigo and ferrous oxide. 34″w x 41″ long. $295
Here’s some background about Las Sanjuaneras sent by Ana Paula to share with you:
Five weavers started Las San Juaneras in the year 2000 — 20 years ago, in the Mixtec village of San Juan Colorado on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica region where 80% of the women are back-strap loom weavers and spinners. Today, their membership has grown to 16 women. Most are younger, invited by the elders to join them to keep their traditions vibrant, to become stronger, to share ideas, and to encourage and support one another.
SOLD. #5 Maker: Catalina Garcia Nejia. Dyes: wil marigold, mahogany bark. 34″ w x 41″ long. $265
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, garment number, mailing address. I will mark your choice SOLD, send you a PayPal invoice and add $12 for cost of mailing.
#6 by Margarita Nicolas Hernandez. Dyes: guava, wild marigold, Brazil wood, beets, iron oxide. 37″ wide x 43″ long. $325
In September 2017, Ana Paula with Maddalena Forcella were invited to collaborate with the group to build their creative competency, design innovation and quality. Their goal was to differentiate their weavings from others in the community and to create a more cohesive team. This included integrating the younger women and developing skills to transform lives in a positive, healthy and sustainable way. The important by-product was to revive and reinforce their traditional techniques and empower the community through shared knowledge.
SOLD. #7 by Delfina Quiroz. Dyes: Brazil wood, mahogany, guava, beet. 34″w x 36″ long. $295.SOLD. #8 by Delfina Quiroz. Dyes: indigo and nanche. 34″ w x 38″ long. $265.
They dye the native wild cotton that grows in the region themselves using only native plant materials — flowers, fruit, wood bark. They buy coyuchi cotton and the purple shell-dyed (caracol purpura) cotton from others in San Juan Colorado and Pinotepa de Don Luis.
Sold. #9 by Brisaida Garcia. Dyes: indigo & coyuchi. 31″ w x 45″ long. $285.Indigo-dyed cotton. Las Sanjuaneras. Photo by Ana Paula Fuentes.#11 by Camerina Cabrera. Dyes: indigo & nanche. 31-1/2″ w x 34″ long. $195.Sold #13 by Camerina Cabrera. Dyes: indigo & natural cotton. 35″ w x 41″ long. $195SOLD. #14 by Aurora Nicolas. Dyes: almond bark, indigo. 35″ w x 36″ long. $225
The garments represented here are some of the finest workmanship I am aware of in all of Oaxaca state. I hope you find something you will enjoy collecting and wearing. And, on behalf of the women, thank you for your help and support.
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, garment number, mailing address. I will mark your choice SOLD, send you a PayPal invoice and add $12 for cost of mailing.
SOLD. #15 by Brisaida. Dyes: mahogany, marigold, indigo. 37″ w x 40″ long. $225SOLD. #16 by Maria Ines. Dyes: mahogany, wild marigold. 36″w x 38″ long. $295.SOLD. #17 by Camerina Cabrera. Dyes: indigo, wild marigold. 21-1/2″w x 44″ long. $165.
All these garments are made with natural cotton native to the Oaxaca coast. The cotton is cleaned, beaten, and hand-spun using a malacate drop-spindle. Then the threads are dyed in the dye bath before they are put onto the back-strap loom. The process is labor-intensive and painstakingly precise. This is the work of women (and some men are now learning) that goes back centuries, millenia! Most learned to weave starting at age eight. Only a few are masters at spinning.
Las Sanjuaneras weaver. Photo by Ana Paula Fuentes
To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, garment number, mailing address. I will mark your choice SOLD, send you a PayPal invoice and add $12 for cost of mailing.
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma contributes personal essay, How Oaxaca Became Home
Norma Contributes Two Chapters!
Click image to order yours!
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
CANCELED. November 6-19, 2020: Japan Textile Study Tour. Explore indigo dyes, temple markets, food culture, aesthetics. SOLD OUT. Taking a Waiting List.
With a watchful eye for COVID-19, we are evaluating whether to hold the 2021 study tours to the Oaxaca Coast and Chiapas. WHAT DO YOU THINK? norma.schafer@icloud.com
Stay Healthy. Stay Safe. Wear your mask.
Questions? Want more info or to register? Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com norma.schafer@icloud.com
Maps: Teotitlan + Tlacolula Market
We send printable map via email PDF usually within 48-hours after order received. Where to see natural dyed rugs in Teotitlan del Valle and layout of the Sunday Tlacolula Market, with favorite eating, shopping, ATMs. Click Here to Buy Map
Dye Master Dolores Santiago Arrellanas with son Omar Chavez Santiago, weaver and dyer, Fey y Lola Rugs, Teotitlan del Valle
