Oaxacan Textiles: Tres Colores, Natural Dyes – Indigo, Cochineal and Caracol

In January/February 2011 at the Museo Arte Popular Oaxaca – in San Bartolo Coyotepec (south of the city of Oaxaca) there was an exhibit of the very best textiles that the state of Oaxaca has to offer. We might even say – the MOST exceptional textiles of the highest quality. These were commissioned and collected by Remigio Maestas, who has been working with 250 indigenous Oaxacan artisans for many years, throughout the state, to encourage and support development and production of fine textiles. The theme of this exhibit was ‘Tres Colores – Indigo, Cochineal and Caracol” since the textiles, which were hand-woven on backstrap looms, demonstrated the natural dyes of the state of Oaxaca. All the textiles; huipiles, some in lienzos (woven strips), garments, shawls were traditional in design – but each artists interpreted her/his traditional textile using the three natural dyes in a very personal and creative way. The outcome was an outstanding exhibit full of beauty and grace and even some surprises! Remigio’s goal is to elevate traditional textiles from artisania (hand-craft) to ART…well demonstrated by this exhibit.

Attached is my YouTube slide show of the exhibit listing the village from which the textile came. I will also provide the artist’s name if you contact me. Enjoy the fine textiles and the Tres Colores de Oaxaca!

If you are in the city of Oaxaca you can visit Remigio’s store Los Baules de Juana Cata inside the entrance to Las Danzantes’ Restaurant on Alcala #403 – 2 – near Santo Domingo church. Also Remigio has a Los Baules in the Museo Texitle de Oaxaca. A wonderful textiles museum shop.

Grant from LADAP for Mazahua ‘Rescate Traje’ Project

WONDERFUL  NEWS! Los Amigos de Arte  Popular (LADAP) a Mexican folk art collectors group from the US, has just awarded Living Textiles of Mexico a grant for materials for the Flores Silvestre, a Mazahua revitalization group project in Santa Rosa de Lima, Edo. Mexico.

The materials that will be purchased are indigo and cochineal dyes from the State of Oaxaca. This will facilitate the last stage of their revitalization project to produce 30 traditional wool skirt. If you read a few posts ago, the skirts are woven in 16 foot lengths to produce the wool enredos (circular skirts) woven on a back-strap loom which weigh about 7 lbs when completed.

These natural dyes previously came to the project from north of Mexico City at 300 times the cost of the materials here in Oaxaca. The wool for these skirts is harvested from local sheep, cleaned thoroughly and then sent to Toluca where is it carded and made into a loose ‘roving’.

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It is then hand spun with malecates, the most ancient of spindles, dyed with cochineal, indigo and wild marigolds, then hand woven on traditional back-strap looms. The final skirt in stripes of blue, orange, yellow and red (and sometimes green) is embroidered with tiny white patterns on the top and bottom side of the skirt. A magnificent traditional Mazahua skirt worth preserving.

The Color RED…..Cochineal

Beautiful color RED…..COCHINEAL. What is it?

Here is the short story.

A little bug lives on the nopal cactus and has babies that make a fuzzy cover for protection while they grow into mature adults. After they mate, the males fly away and eventually die, the mother is incubated in a little woven tubes. The babies crawl out and spread on the cactus while mothers then die and become the dye (carmenic acid) after they are dry. Many thousand of dry cochineal bugs make up a pound of dye.

The nopal ‘paddles’ are the host for the cochineal bug and are harvested from the parent cactus and set in dirt as pictured at the Rancho Nopal Cochineal, a cultivation farm in Oaxaca. They can also be suspended on a frame as seen at Bii Dauu rug weavers studio in Teotitlan del Valle.

The cycle takes about 3 months from incubation to full maturity, depending on the warmth of the air and season. Dried cochineal bugs are then ground either on a matate or in a coffee grinder. Different mordents, when added to the yarns or the hot dye bath, create different colors. Limon, an acid, creates a orange color and soda, an alkaline, creates a deeper red.

Cochineal can be seen in several indigenous garments below. A wool skirt from the Zapotec village of Teotitlan del Valle and a quechquemitl (cape) and a striped skirt from a Mazahua village – Santa Rosa de Lima, State of Mexico. Cochineal dyed garments stay vivid for a long while, as seem the bright pink Mazahua gaban (poncho) which is over 130 year old.

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Inter-Artisan Exchange – Zapotecs and Mazahuas

“Mazahua Week’ at the Museo Textile Oaxaca was very dynamic time for Regina Torres, revitalization project coordinator for the Santa Rosa de Lima, Edo.Mexico. Besides a full schedule of presentations, demonstrations and teaching a small workshop at the museum, she also visited the Bii Dauu weaving co-op in Teotitlan del Valle, several times. While sharing natural dye recipes and weaving methods she also brought her spectacular wool skirt enredo and quechquemitl (cape like top). The skirt alone weighs 7 lbs. and is 16 feet long. These garments are made with hand-spun wool yarn, naturally dyed with indigo, cochineal, and wild marigold, woven on a telar de cinta (back-strap loom) and finished with fine wool embroidery, taking almost a year to produce.

Several young Bii Dauu Co-op member tried on the costume apparently enjoy its warm thermal quality. Santa Rosa de Lima lies at 9000 feet above sea-level so it’s climate is very different than warm Oaxaca. Regina’s visited the Bii Dauu Co-op’s huerta (country plot) where they are growing the dye plants and mordents crucial for the natural dye processes they use on wools yarns for their beautiful carpets.