More Colors of Oaxaca 2014

On our first day Syd and I took a quick trip to the Mercado to look around and get a few supplies.

So much to see and beautiful things to look at...friendly people selling their wares. 

Handmade dolls and then a stop for  a delicious lunch.

Loved the handmade tortillas!

On our first field trip we headed off to visit the Mercado at the weaving village of Teotilan del Valle.

I had to get one of these wonderful aprons.

The Meng sisters, Molly and Kaari found some fun things to bring home.

I loved the colors on this shopping bag. I use if for grocery shopping now that I am home.

Our guide, Juan took us to the beautiful church next to the Mercado. Some of the ancient stone carvings were on display in the patio reminding us of the weaving we were yet to see.

so many beautiful statues of saints inside...

colorful costumes and painted walls...

Fresh and wax flowers adorned the church. 

We later got the visit the makers of these beautiful flower covered candles.

Syd in front of the weavers studio where both silk and wool are used to make beautiful blankets, rugs and shawls.

Some of the handspun wool.

Some of the looms are very large...needed to make the rugs this village of 5,000 weavers are famous for.

I especially loved the colors of this rug.

Next we were off to visit the Mendoza family of dyers of cochineal and indigo. We were given a demonstration of the processes to create the beautiful colors using natural dyes native to Oaxaca. The prickly pear cactus pads hang on a rack while the cochineal bugs grow and mature and are later harvested to make a lovely red dye.

Grinding the cochineal for dye. 

We admired the many

 beautiful rugs and yarn for sale in their shop.

And we got to visit the shop where the beautiful wax flower candles were made. The whole process from start to finish was demonstrated. The Candles are used for courting and in the many churches for decoration.

The shop had many lovely pieces on display.

So delicate...all white...nice for a wedding.

We got to have our photo taken with our hostess and exquisite candle maker.

After an amazing lunch at Abigail Mendoza's beautiful restaurant we headed back to the city of Oaxaca.  Got in a bit of textile shopping....loved the stitching of this blouse- both machine and hand embroidery.

Some fun pieces that I picked up from a shop specializing in Guatemalan huipils.

I could not resist this piece with the embroidered birds!! Not sure if I will ever wear it, but just to look at all the different birds is enough for me. 

We needed to prepare our cloth for the indigo dyeing at the Museo de Textiles and here are Carol, Amy, Kick and Molly getting their pieces tied up in preparation.

Mary, Madelyn and Pamela busy preparing their pieces at the Museo.

At the Museo we were given a great lecture on the history of indigo dyeing by director Erik Chavez. Our indigo vats were not quite ready for us so we left our cloth to be dyed for us and we picked it up a few days later and had our reveal at the Casa where we stayed.

Sisters, Susan Halme and Colleen Darling made our trip extra special. Colleen has been visiting Oaxaca and Mexico since 1969 and arranged all of the details for our amazing trip from our field trips to restaurants and shopping and museums to visit. Syd and I are still pinching ourselves that we get to share this experience with so many lovely like minded adventurers. We are already planning for our next Oaxaca textile workshop.

More Photos coming up....