Artisans in the village of Teotitlan del Valle, in southern Mexico, have been weaving rugs as their ancestors have for centuries. Found just east of Oaxaca City off the main road to popular archeological sites of Yagul and Mitla and just a little past El Tule, the giant super cypress tree, Teotitlan del Valle is a WanderShopper’s paradise. Most homes in the village of about 5,000 have a workshop attached for weaving. The wool used today is a relatively recent innovation since the Dominicans arrived with the Spanish and introduced it as a replacement for the locally grown cotton.
The town is beautifully situated in a valley at the foot of the northern Sierra and in the indigenous language of Nahuatl, Teotitlan means “Place of the Gods.” I discovered that Nahuatl has influenced Spanish, and then later English, in many ways including the words for avocado, chili, chocolate and tomato. The Zapotecs settled here at least 2,000 years ago and they called this area Xa Quire, or “Foot of the Mountain.” The Zapotec civilization began in the valley around Oaxaca and much can be learned while visiting the many archeological sites scattered around the area including the UNESCO Heritage Sites of Monte Alban, Yagul and Mitla. You can still see the Zapotec influence reflected in the arts and crafts in the region including the decorative patterns woven into many of the rugs and bags found in Teotitlan. In the photo at left, sheep and goats graze on a scenic hill near the town’s dam.
Creation of the rugs of Teotitlan is a very time intensive process. The wool, once sheared from local sheep, is carded, then spun and dyed by hand using traditional methods. I visited the weaving co-operative El Colibri and co-owner Victor Gonzalez Matias gave me a thorough account of the process. You may remember that my visit to El Colibri made my list of the Twelve Best WanderShopping Experiences of 2012. Much of the natural materials used for preparing and dying the wool is gathered locally. The wool is first washed with amole, a root that when ground up and mixed with water creates a sudsy soap. It is also commonly known as soaproot or soap plant and can be found throughout North America.
Once clean and dry, the wool is carded. This is a process where bits of wool are placed between two paddles covered with rows of small wire pins known as card clothing. The paddles are pulled across each other in different directions which forces the wool fibers, being continuously brushed over time, to become aligned. Weavers may choose to card together different colors of wool or even different fibers. Through the process of carding, everything becomes incorporated, aligned and made uniform so that the wool is then ready for its next step of spinning the wool into yarn.
At El Colibri, Victor showed me how yarn was created using a spinning wheel. The spindle is mounted horizontally at one end and it is rotated by a cord connecting it to the large wheel at the other end. A crank turns the wheel with your right hand as the wool in your left hand is held at just the correct angle providing the twist as it spins onto the spindle. Watching a practiced spinner makes them seem like a very simple process. People have been creating yarn and thread for textiles this way since the eleventh century. I was allowed to try it and can say it really does require some skill and practice. It is very easy to create alternating thin and then lumpy yarn which is a bad thing. It is also easy for the yarn to work its way off the spindle and wrap around other parts. I was not a natural to be sure.
Now its time to create the colors needed for the pattern a weaver wants to make. At El Colibri, they work exclusively with natural colors from plant sources in the area, nothing is synthetic. Some of the yarn used is created by mixing different colors of wool from their sheep. Variations can be achieved through mixes of grey, brown, black and white wools. For the brighter colors a dying process is required. To create shades of blue, indigo and charcoal may be mixed with the wool in the dying vat. Wood ash is added to help set the color. For the additional shades of brown, pecan shells are selected. If you like the color yellow, you can get it by dying the yarn with marigolds. Green is obtained by using moss. And shades of black come from a local bean. These colors can be set using salt in the vat.
Another popular substance for color is cochineal which creates brilliant reds. Oaxaca is the center of cochineal production for the world as the little ladybug-like insect that reproduce and thrive on a specific cactus in a very specific climatic zone. The source of red for royalty, the empires of Europe all desperately tried unsuccessfully to find other locations for raising cochineal in the world as Spain had control of the Mexican production. As part of my art museum docent book club, we read the book A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage and and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield (look for a link at the end of this post) which gives a detailed account of this once import dye source. Cochineal is making a resurgence as a natural and organic food and cosmetic additive that you may see listed as carmine. While in Oaxaca, I visited a cochineal farm and I will share the images and more information about cochineal in a future post. At El Colibri, 46 different shades are created from cochineal mixed with other additives. I was amazed at the wide spectrum of colors. For example, mixing cochineal with lemon will change the deep red to an orange color. Mixing it with baking soda will create purple.
Once satisfied with the selection of yarn colors, the artisans are ready to begin weaving their creations. Weaving is a method of creating a fabric or textile, like the rugs from Teotitlan. Two different sets of threads and yarns are interlaced together at right angles to each other to create the textile. They are known as the warp (the longitudinal threads stationary on the loom) and the weft (the horizontal yarn) that is threaded between different warp threads to create the pattern. The design has been sketched out on large sheets of paper to provide a guide for the weavers to follow as they work through their creations. Many of the designs featured at El Colibri are inspired by traditional patterns from the Zapotecs.
El Colibri is a co-opertive of weavers, mainly women from Teotitlan del Valle. Founded by Rafaela Alavez Gutierrez and her husband Victor Gonzalez Matias, their group currently has 40 looms. Some designs they produce are very intricate and can require many weeks to complete. They had a beautiful selection of rugs and I had a hard time choosing which one to bring home with me. In the end, I chose a traditional Zapotec design that was created exclusively with shades from cochineal. They also had a large collection of bags and purses and I brought several home as gifts for family and my pet nannies.
I encourage you to visit El Colibri when you come to Oaxaca. It is an easy drive to Teotitlan del Valle and well worth your effort. Make it part of your day as you visit El Tule, Yagul and Mitla. You will be welcomed into their workshop and shown a demonstration on the effort and skill required to craft their unique creations.El Colibri means hummingbird in Spanish which is a perfect symbol for their co-operative. Not only is the hummingbird bright and colorful like their rugs but in Mexico, one in the house is a symbol of good fortune. Who wouldn’t want to introduce a hummingbird creation into their home? And the best part is at the end when you get a personal showing of their creations offered in their extensive shop. To me that makes a perfect shopping experience. Meeting artisans, learning about their craft and then supporting them through shopping in their store.
I also want to share with you a WanderShopper secret. I had a wonderful guide while I was in Oaxaca, Raul Felix. He provides private tours customized to exactly what you want to do and has been for the past 20 years. He and I explored sites, markets and artisan workshops all over the valley. Many of the locations were special finds that I never would have visited without him. When in Oaxaca or Mexico City, I suggest you get in touch with Raul and talk with him about how he can help you see another layer of Mexico that will make your trip that much more rich. You can find his contact information at the end of this post.
I have many more images of my time at El Colibri and exploring Yagul and Mitla than I can share with you in this post today. If you would like to see more, you can find them in my Mexico Album on WanderShopper’s Facebook Fan Page. Please check them out and let me know what you think. To be alerted to future posts as well as be notified of Facebook only content, please “like” WanderShopper while you are there.
Contact Information: El Colibrí
Address : Casa el Colibrí , Avenida Juarez Km 2 , s/n .
Teotitlán del Valle ,
Oaxaca 70420 .
Mexico
Home (951) 166 61 19
Mobile (951) 248 39 01
Email:
[email protected]
Contact Information:
Raul Felix
Mobile (951) 135 69 97
Home (951) 144 36 37
Email: [email protected]
To learn more about cochineal, I can recommend the book A Perfect Red: Empire Espionage and and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield.