Guatemala's Tradition of Textiles

My recent visit for Guatemala was wonderful, for many reasons. The food was simple but delicious, the people friendly and kind (though some of them can be very aggressive sales people!) and the bathrooms cleaner than I would often expect in the US. But for me the best part was that everywhere you look you can buy handwoven works of art, and even learn a little about how they are made!

One day, we visited a weaving cooperative, where twenty women make woven works of art by hand. Here are all the things they need to make yarn: 

All of the white and brown fluffy stuff is cotton. The little black spots in the bowl near the top left are cotton seeds that are picked out before the fiber is spun into yarn. Next, they spread out the cotton as shown above and beat it with one of the forked sticks to soften it up. Then it is ready for spinning!

This lady is spinning the cotton into thread on a spindle. I got a chance to try and it seemed much more difficult than my drop spindle, because it kept wanting to spin right out of the bowl! The women who work in the cooperative are pros at it, though.

Once there is enough yarn for a skein, it's time to dye! Just about any color can be made from plants, tree bark or even bugs! It's pretty amazing. In order to help the color stick, the yarn is first dipped into a bowl of clear stuff (which I think was banana sap, but I don't remember for sure) before being soaked in the dye. The darker you want the color to be, the longer it needs to soak. Then it is hung up to dry!

I was inspired so I bought two skeins of yarn at the cooperative. Two skeins was only 30 Quetzales, which is less than $4! It's a very thin lace weight but there is a lot on a skein, perfect for a lace shawl.

On another day we visited a pueblo, or village, called San Antonio Aguas Calientes. They are considered the best weavers in the country because they are the only pueblo whose weaving is double-sided! Backstrap looms, like the one this lady is using, are very common. There are also big floor looms, but those are mosly used for weaving very large pieces.

Everywhere we went in Guatemala we saw women wearing traditional hand-woven garments like what you see in these pictures. I loved all the bright colors! Unfortunately, it is much less common to see a man in traditional clothing.

Where do you like to go when you travel? Where have you met people who inspire your creativity? 

-Assunta