Tuesday, June 13, 2006

The Rugs of Teotitlan

The white clumps on the cactus are cochineal insects, the things they use to make the natural red dye. The white is just a thin layer on the outside; the inside is very red.
Inside the storage and indoor exhibit room at my friend's place in Teotitlan. Two of the walls are lined with stacked tapetes like those you can see here. All the walls are covered with hanging tapetes.
Some of the things they use to make their natural dye. The green bowl holds dried cochineal. When it's dry, it's kind of red. When it's ground it makes a very dark red powder. Some other things they use for dyes are moss, rock lichen, marigolds, walnut husks, indigo, and certain vines.
The courtyard at my friend's place in Teotitlan. They prepare some of their natural dyes here. On the left you can see a red container full of something fermenting for about six months. When it's done it will be a natural brown dye.
My friend and his mother doing a demonstration for a tourist group. Here they are showing how to card the wool.
This is just a pile of dyed wool ready to be used in the rugs/tapetes.
Looking up the road to the town of Teotitlan. Once you get just over the little hill there are more houses/workshops on both sides of the street.
The spinning wheel with some yarn and some rugs in the background. I'm not sure if they actually use this spinning wheel or if they use another one, because I know they use this one for demonstrations.
The looms are worked with foot pedals to move the strings up and down.
A typical workshop along the road into the town. Almost all of the places make tapetes, have some hanging out front, will give a demonstration, and (most importantly) want you to come and visit their place and not someone else's place.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't give up on the Blog site. I never have commented but I love your photos and stories. Keep it up.

Oaxacakid said...

Well, thanks for commenting now! It's nice to know that people enjoy my pictures and what I write.

Timothy

Anonymous said...

I have a tapete from Teotitlan in the living room... it is from one of the makers there... I had the privilage of going into the maker's home, saw the dyes,yarn,spinning wheels,looms, etc... facinating. These color pictures are inspiring. I enjoy enlarging them to see the details of everything. Excellent pics.
Carrie D.

Oaxacakid said...

If you ever want higher resolution copies of any of the pictures on my blog, let me know. I can email them to you or something.

Timothy