2025 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour
Arrive on Saturday, January 11 and depart on Sunday, January 19, 2025 — 8 nights, 9 days in textile heaven! This tour will not be offered in 2026! We go deep, and not wide. We give you an intimate, connecting experience. We spend time to know the culture. You will meet artisans in their homes […]
Pinotepa de Don Luis Weaver Dazzles Us on the Oaxaca Coast
Our first stop in Pinotepa de Don Luis is at the small home and workshop of weaver Sebastiana Guzman. Her work is always very fine — she uses the finest cotton from the best mill in Puebla state, as well as hand-spun coyuchi brown, white and green cotton. The village is known for its work […]
Tixinda. Purple Snail Dye. Caracol Púrpura. On the Oaxaca Coast.
Tixinda is the Mixtec word for the purple snail, also known as caracol púrpura in Spanish. It produces a rich purple dye used for ceremonial clothing in the Oaxaca coast village of Pinotepa de Don Luis. The weavers here make beautiful garments on the back strap loom using touches of this rare dye in the […]
Seven Huipiles from Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca–Sale Direct From Maker
When I posted about the process of sewing the embroidered collar onto my blusa made in Pinotepa de Don Luis, weaver Monica Hernandez from Pinotepa de Don Luis contacted me via Facebook messenger. She asked if I would help her sell handwoven blouses (blusas) and dresses (huipiles) she and her sister made. Her husband is […]
In Pinotepa de Don Luis, Home to Purple Snail Dye: Oaxaca Coast Textile Tour
Did I mention that the Oaxaca coast is HOT! At 90 degrees Fahrenheit and close to equal humidity, the Costa Chica, the area between Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, and Acapulco, Guerrero, is sultry, even in winter. Women here in recent memory, wore wrap-around skirts called posohuancos, and were bare-breasted. In the 1960’s, the Church (ie. Catholic […]
Guest Post: Thanksgiving Sale for Oaxaca Coast Textile Artisans
Most of us have made the difficult choice to NOT travel to Oaxaca at least until the pandemic is under control and a vaccine is readily available. I have heard from many people asking what we can do, absent of travel, to support indigenous artisans who have been VERY hard hit by the tourist economy […]
Oaxaca Mourns Mexico Dreamweavers Cooperative Founder and President Margarita Avedano Lopez
Oh, where to start … or continue. As if it weren’t enough to lose El Maestro Francisco Toledo this week, news comes this morning from dear friend Patrice Perillie that Margarita Avedano Lopez, founder and president of Tixinda Mexican Dreamweavers Cooperative, has died. The cooperative, one of the most famous on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, is […]
Oaxaca Artisans in Santa Fe, New Mexico 2019 IFAM
The 2019 International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has come to an end. The three-day extravaganza is a chaotic mix of tribal, ethnic, indigenous creativity from around the world. It brings together many talented artisans who have no other paths to reach international markets. Santa Fe is a destination for many reasons. […]
Purple Snail Dye, Pinotepa de Don Luis and Identity Markers
The caracol purpura is losing ground and so are the tintoreros, the dyers who milk them, applying the dye directly to the cotton cloth on the rocky Oaxaca coast to give up its extraordinary purple color, keeping the mollusk alive. The dyers, led by 78 year-old Don Habacuc Avedano, come from the Mixtec town of […]
Posahuancos and San Sebastian Fiesta, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca
After we visited San Juan Colorado, we made a stop in nearby Pinotepa de Don Luis. This is a village famed for its unusual striped posahuanco wrap around skirt and gorgeous huipiles. Not too long ago, because of the very hot, humid climate, the skirt and a gauzy shoulder scarf was a woman’s only covering. These […]