The weaving of each piece is a work from the heart. LPC interviewed the artisan weavers, creators of amazing pieces, and they all agree that weaving is the best work they can do.
Meet María Magdalena from San Pedro Cajonos, she has been weaving silk pieces for 3 years. Before she used to weave with a hook like her parents, but one day her aunt invited her to a meeting of silk artisans, and she fell in love with all the work.
"From there I liked it, I was very interested, the process of the silk worm is very interesting...there began to be textile workshops and I said yes I want to learn...and I saw my classmates weaving very beautiful...that's why I decided to do it.... the beautiful thing about textiles is that you learn many things, you learn every day, because suddenly you get an idea, and if I do it this way, as everything is manual, it lends itself to do it."
María Magdalena Hernán del Cruz, Weaver artisan from San Pedro Cajonos
María told us how she created this piece "I had made a blue one, which I decided to open the neck...with this yellow piece was different...each thread has a different texture, there are threads that shrink a lot and there are threads that don't shrink at all, and my fabric shrunk too much...and it didn't look the way I wanted it to, so I decided to do it like this..” María not only weave using the waist pedal, but also the pedal one “I learn other techniques that I bring from the pedal loom to the silk...and it was beautiful.”
Weaver Artisan: María Magdalena Hernán del Cruz
Weaving Time: 1 month
Weaving Technique: back strap loom
Materials: 100% artisanal handmade silk and 100% natural inking yellow pericón (extracted from pericón plant)
Special Final Weave: Flowers
Weaving is a complex technique but also a very enjoyable one. "You need a lot of patience and I've always said that part of us is there in each piece in each garment. if you're happy, the piece will express it, when you are in a hurry or desperate, the piece will will set many traps, it cuts your thread, it stretches...you need to have a lot of patience to carry the work.” - María Magdalena.
Lidia Cruz Méndez, Weaver artisan from San Pedro Cajonos
Lydia Cruz Méndez, who has been weaving silk for more than 30 years, thanks God that she has "a very beautiful job, very laborious...I am raising the little worm, I am spinning, I am weaving...I do it with a lot of love.”
Weaver Artisan: Lidia Cruz Méndez
Weaving Time: 1 month
Weaving Technique: back strap loom
Materials: 100% artisanal handmade silk and 100% natural inking with nutshells
Most of the times, weaving is a work that you learn since you are a little kid…Consuelo Santos an artisan that belongs to the social cooperative Unión de Artesanos de Santo Tomás Jalieza since 20 years ago, said that “ The mother is who teach kids to weave since they are 6…7 years old.” She teaches her three children since the age of 5 and they are taught the whole process, from preparing the loom to weaving. Children start to weave small things like the handles of the bags, for example, and once they master it, they move to another level “They start to make drawings or as we say the weaving of 5 threads, which are pure rhombuses, and when they are 15...16 years old they start to make the table runners.”
Consuelo Santos, Weaver artisan from Santo Tomás Jalieza.
“We, the moms, have the responsibility to teach them, and when they grow up they decide if they want to dedicate themselves to this or look for another job, and it is a job that, thanks to God, helps us a lot, because even when they are already professionals when there is no job they rely on handicrafts, and thanks to God we have a very blessed job, they have a base to support themselves in case they are unable to study, my son depends on handicrafts to pay for his education.”
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