The annual meeting of the Centro de Artesanía de Huancarani (CAH) and prize awarding for 2023 Spinning Week took place on January 10th. Annual discussion points included a unanimous vote to continue Spinning Week, maintaining the current pricing on weavings due to market uncertainty, and having another series of knitting machine workshops. PAZA will fund 2024 Spinning Week for the spinners of Huancarani and 4 knitting machine workshops. New topics included the phasing out of PAZA, the possibility of cultivating cochineal in Huancarani, and a report from Doña Maxima about the challenges of dyeing with indigo.
The PAZA blog posting, “A Tale of Cochineal”, was written last summer upon the discovery following online research of a cochineal project that took place in Huancarani in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Doña Maxima was a young mother at the time and during a video chat said she didn´t pay attention to the project. During an in-person chat she made an obvious effort to revive any memories. She remembered that her father had been given cacti leaves to plant. She remembered wondering how the horses and the burros with their cargo of nopal leaves would be protected from the spines during the long steep walk down the mountain to the river. Her father planted his nopal leaves along a bluff above the river. That land has since sluffed off onto the riverbank and is no longer accessible.
At the CAH meeting, the weavers discussed what they could remember of the cochineal project. The grandfather of the young weaver, Angelica Calle, participated in the project and it seems that only his land retains nopal and cochineal to this day. The family is interested in learning how to cultivate and harvest for local sales and export. PAZA communicated the information to Bolivian professional, Breny Ugarte, who is researching training possibilities for an agriculture technician with whom she works. She’s pursuing cochineal cultivation as a Bolivian product for her family´s export business. If she´s successful in training a cochineal cultivation technician she will include the Calle family in her program to ensure that their harvest efforts result in export quality cochineal.
The Club de Artesanas (CdA) 1st indigo dye vat concocted on January 9th was occasionally stirred through mid-February waiting for the CdA to convene following the school vacation. It fermented with an ever-increasing odor. Doña Maxima, Doña Beatris, and Vilma dyed with it once but due to the lingering odor on their hands, even using rubber gloves, they disposed of the vat and began a 2nd vat. The experience put Vilma off indigo dyeing. There was just enough time before Dorinda´s departure to weave 2 sample weavings to see how indigo coordinated with the natural dye palette in use. Although challenging Doña Maxima and Doña Beatris are intrigued and hope for future indigo dyeing opportunities.
Doña Maxima and Doña Narciza, her sister, talked over who would weave a faja de doble special order. In 2015, Doña Narciza had rescued the zigzag pattern with ñawis (eyes) by asking Doña Francisca, who hadn´t woven in years, to teach her. Doña Narciza turned 60 in early January and after pasturing her goats all day decided that she wouldn´t have the energy before light disappeared with the sun to focus on the intensive weaving technique. The sisters warped the weaving in Huancarani. Doña Maxima took the warp home and set up her loom in her kitchen only to discover she couldn´t get the weaving started. She had woven the pattern once over 30 years ago for income after Vilma, her 1st child, was born. She took the warp back to her sister´s early one morning after lying awake an entire night trying to remember the pattern. Initially, Doña Narciza was stymied as well. It took them all morning to get the weaving to a point that Doña Maxima felt that she could carry on alone. Both women now understand the importance of archiving samples. PAZA paid for synthetic yarn so that Doña Maxima could weave a sample before the memory of the pattern and double weaving technique fades. Synthetic yarn is easier to work with than the handspun wool and is used in “traditional” weavings today because of the brilliant colors that became popular when aniline dyes appeared generations ago.
Dorinda hopes to return to Bolivia next January with indigo dyeing supplies and to pick up weavings woven with the indigo skeins dyed this year. There is a large inventory of ch’uspas, weavings, zippered pouches, and yoga mat straps with the natural dye palette of local Andean plants and cochineal. The pricing and weavings available for purchase are listed in the “Weavings for the Holidays” blog posting. Inquiries can be made via dkdutcher@hotmail.com. Please put “weaving inquiry” in the subject line.
Thanks to those of you who have donated, purchased weavings, volunteered, and supported the PAZA activities. Your efforts offered a way for the weavers to feel that they have actively participated in connecting their textile heritage to a bigger world. The youngest of the original Huancarani weavers turns 50 this year so cataracts, arthritic fingers, and loss of upper body strength are taking a toll on weaving production. Many of the weavers are over 60 and their small government pension of about $30 a month offers them a sense of security.
Doña Dionicia, a 93-year-old Huancarani weaver, demonstrated the collective gratitude extended to all PAZA supporters. When she heard that Dorinda had arrived in Independencia, she slowly limped her way up the mountain from the Sunday market to the PAZA workshop. She arrived out of breath leaning on a thin stick too short for her height to be a trustworthy cane. In her other hand she carried a heavy mesh shopping bag filled with an enormous squash and a mountain of freshly dug potatoes as thank you gifts. I savored them with all of you in mind. Dorinda Dutcher, April 12, 2024
PAZA 