Oaxacan Adventure: Family Affairs

While cultures like the Zapotecs and Mixtecs are no long thriving, there are aspects of their heritage that remain in modern-day Mexican culture, as well as a few new advances. Many of the craft products here are hand-made, and the ways to make them are passed down generation after generation within families. We visited different fabricas or "factories" of various types of crafts, but they were far from being the factories we think of. They were all within homes of families who are masters at their selected trades, utilizing primarily natural processes. It was incredible to see how talented these people are, and how they create such beautiful pieces with so little.

At the Fabrica de Tapetes, or tapestries, all the dyes were natural and everything was spun and loomed by hand.

They let us try our hand at doing what they do, but it was a LOT harder than it looked! I struggled to work the wool with the brushes, and it took a bit of time for my classmate, Rihanna, to get the hang of the spool.

We also visited a Fabrica de Alebrijes! It was essentially within a family's farm, and it was a lot of fun to see the different animals roaming around. But it was really neat to see the process of making Alebrijes, or incredibly intricate animal sculptures carved (using only 3 different kinds of tools) out of a native wood.

Say cheese!

The last craft fabrica we visited was for Barro Negro, or black clay. The family we visited was related to the woman who invented the process of getting the black, smooth shine of barro negro pottery!! Her great-grandson gave us a demonstration! Again, he used only the simplest of tools to craft something beautiful. It was phenomenal to watch.