Adventures in Fiber Arts

Weaving: The Final Frontier

A part of my Guatemala trip that I didn’t get a chance to share with you was my foray into the fiber arts! (NOTE: I'm experimenting with my new Photobucket account, so apologies for the screwy picture sizes!)

I went with other students from my school to Momostenango (popularly known as "Momo" – how cute!), which is famous for its woven wool carpets and blankets. We visited the home of Thelma and Luis (for real!), a wonderful married couple whose entire family (kids and all!) work together weaving goods for sale. They give tours of their home, which is a equipped with looms and spinning wheels. Yup, they raise their own sheep, spin their own wool, and weave all the products. Really cool stuff. They let the students give it a try, too...

Look at me spin!



And weave (only with the help of awesome Luis, of course).



I also took Mayan backstrap weaving lessons during my time in Xela. This is really difficult! A backstrap loom is really simple – it just consists of a couple of rods and some rope (one end that you must secure to a column or maybe a tree, the other you must tie around your back). You line up your material on it and start a-weaving, which I can’t even really being how to describe. Unfortunately, there is no friggin’ way you can remember how to do this after making just one piece (this scarf took me about 11 hours to complete from beginning to end).



My finished scarf kinda looks like crap and, in retrospect, it would have been a lot easier to just buy a nicer scarf, but I really enjoyed learning more about the art of weaving. My teachers (Aurelia and Amparo, two Ki'che women who head the women’s weaving cooperative that runs the classes) were really sweet, and I definitely have a greater appreciation for the hard-working women who weave these pieces (they put in all the labor and are able to sell them for only ludicrously low prices).

Salcaja, a town just outside of Xela, is famous for the fabrics that its craftsmen weave. Each town in Guatemala has its own special pattern for traditional clothing (and many Guatemalans still wear traditional clothing on an everyday basis), so these guys work hard creating the different fabrics!



Keeping up with my usual nerdy, museum-going ways, I also visited the Textile and Weaving Museum in Antigua. Actually, it was closed, but the nice man running the museum opened it up just for me and walked me through all the exhibits, giving me commentary on the exhibits. He even let me take photos for free (usually you have to pay). How nice! The museum itself, although small, was interesting, and the fabrics inside were all beautiful.