Weavers in the Andean highlands enjoy the meditative comfort of their long practiced skill in quiet moments free of home and farm chores, children, and other distractions. Their rustic looms (leaning frame) are propped up outside against a wall for light and to accommodate the 12 foot length. If the space isn’t sheltered with an eave or a roof as in a 3-sided shed, then the weaver doesn’t weave during the rainy season. The looms are quickly and simply made by trimming and notching 2 saplings and cutting them to equal lengths of around 12 feet. There are few photos in the PAZA archives and most were staged because of the rare opportunities of finding a weaver at her loom. PAZA’s first visit to Doña Narciza´s home on the far east side of Huancarani wasn´t until Spinzilla Spinning Week 2014 provided a reason and it was possible because a crude road had been bulldozed to that area. She had 2 chuspa straps of llama fiber on her loom. You can see in her expression her joy in weaving, a passion established early in life.
Vanishing Sight of a Weaving in Progress, Kami, 2007
When one gets a glimpse of a weaving in progress, it’s most often a phullu (blanket). They are the easiest and quickest to weave, as the yarn is thick and there are no motifs. The handspun wool is dyed with cheap aniline dye and runs when washed. For generations, a rural woman’s reputation was established while a girl based on her spinning and weaving skills. There are no secrets in the small rural communities, so any woman known to not weave at the least phullus for her family was branded a sluggard.
Doña Maxima´s 2010 Weaving Is In PAZA´s Textile Collection
Weaving the finer weavings on the rustic loom requires upper body strength to beat down the weft with a “wichuna” which is a carved llama bone tool. Doña Maxima has struggled with health issues since prior to the birth of
Doña Maxima, 2013 Tinkuy, Cusco, Peru
her 4th child who turned 20 this month. In 2010, PAZA took photos of her at her loom weaving what was to be her last weaving for 3 years. Her recovery from minor surgery was slow and at times she was uncertain as to whether she´d ever weave again. Good fortune smiled on her and by 2013 she felt strong enough to weave and to travel. In November of that year she was invited by the Center of Traditional Textiles to do a weaving demonstration at the 2013 Tinkuy International Weaving Conference in Cusco, Peru.
Doña Margarita Had Set Up Supports for Her Loom, Chuñavi Chico, 2011
In 2011, a Bolivian nonprofit organization encouraged PAZA to pursue “Hecho a Mano” (Made By Hand) certification for the traditional weavings. The government certification process required an inspection, and it took 3 months before an inspector could make the long bus trip requiring an overnight to Independencia. PAZA was working with 3 rural communities at that time and Chuñavi Chico being the closest was chosen for the inspection site. It was a wonderful photo opportunity because the weavers had been asked to be at their looms for the walk through. The inspector, being city-born, was duly impressed with the intensive hands on process from sheep to weaving. Unfortunately, an inspection for recertification to ensure no mechanization had been added to the process was required every 6 months. The agency had neither the funding nor the manpower for a second visit to certify an eons old traditional “Hecho a Mano” craft.
Faja in Progress, Doña Toribia´s Potato Storage Shed, Huancarani, 2008
Thank you to those of you who have inquired as to how the weavers are doing and what can be done to support them. During the weekly video chats with Doña Maxima she reels off a list of names of weavers who have asked if PAZA has sent a weaving order. Many adult children returned to the family farms prior to the national lockdown. Marleny, a member of the Club de Artisans, told Doña Maxima that her parents are accommodating her siblings and 22 grandchildren on the family farm in Sanipaya. Although the bartering system is still in common use, some staples and seed for next year’s crops will require a cash transaction. After 2 months in quarantine and the return of unemployed adult children and their families to the farms, there is little cash remaining in rural households.
PAZA would like to be able to send a weaving order by July, but must sell inventory already in the U.S. to be able to fund an order. Like so many supporters of artisans in communities in need around the world, PAZA was heavily relying on craft fair sales this year, specifically the Weave a Real Peace (WARP) Marketplace which was scheduled for May in Bozeman. Dorinda was the 2024 WARP Meeting Planning Chair and continues with the planning for next year.
Weavings For Sale in U.S.
The finished products are zippered pouches ($17, or $18 with wrist strap) and yoga mat straps ($22 for 1/8” sticky mat or $23 for ¼” thick exercise mat). The weavings for DIY projects are straps (78×1.5”, $21), fajas (used in Laverne Waddington’s classes and are 70” x 5”, $41), and larger weavings used for the zippered pouches (63” x 9.5”, $73). The total cost of the weavings is returned to Bolivia. Ninety percent of the cost was paid to the weavers, and they set pricing annually. Ten percent helps pay the rent for PAZA´s workshop/store and Doña Maxima´s wage on Sundays to open the store and attend to the rural weavers. Please send purchase inquiries to dkdutcher@hotmail.com.
Thank you Lolita for your recent PAZA support and thank you Ginny – enjoy the weavings! Dorinda Dutcher, May 21, 2024
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Doña Maxima & Vilma Collecting Suyku, 2024
In the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, March arrived like a lamb and roared out like a lion. When Dorinda bade farewell to Doña Maxima and the weavers following November’s Spinning Week, the plan was to reunite in April for the annual intensive dyeing sessions that takes advantage of the rainy season dye plants. Doña Maxima and the Club de Artesanas members did make a trip to the higher altitudes when the misiqó flower was at its peak and easily harvested in clumps and the suyku plant was still in bloom for a dye pot of the leaves and another of the flowers.
Produce Section, Sunday Market
Sundays are market day in Independencia, and Doña Maxima attends the PAZA workshop/store because the Huancarani weavers are in town. It´s always a good day for a WhatsApp video chat with Doña Maxima and maybe one or more of the weavers. During a call on Sunday, March 15th, Doña Maxima was aware of the Coronavirus, but her only comment on the topic was to report that because schools was cancelled her daughter Zoraida and 2 granddaughters had arrived from the city for an extended stay. A week later it was Doña Maxima who made the call due to heightened awareness and anxiety of the Coronavirus. She reported that Independencia was jammed with vehicles from the cities, filled with supplies and folks headed to their rural communities and family farms.
Sunday Shoppers on Market Day
On March 22nd Bolivia´s interim President Jeanine Añez, instituted a national quarantine through April 4th. The borders closed at midnight and a curfew was set. The curfew allows 1 person per household to leave the house for family errands between 7am and noon. The police patrol the streets and a steep fine for breaking the curfew is set at 1,000 Bs. ($144).
Katie’s 2011 Volunteer Year & Original Club de Chicas Above Road to Sanipaya
On Saturday, March 28th, Doña Maxima made a video call to express her worry that the trucks would not be arriving from the countryside with produce for Sunday´s market. Due to the quarantine, it was inevitable that there would be no Sunday market. In trying to accept that reality of this extraordinary time she did not want to believe the news until it could be verified from her own experience. She called from her home on Sunday to report that there was no Sunday market and that no cargo trucks had arrived with the vendors and produce. After a lifetime of Sunday markets, her expression asked, “How can this be?” It is fall in the Southern Hemisphere and the beginning of harvest. The impact of the Coronavirus may be devastating for the Andean agriculture based economy.
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Farming in Sanipaya, 2024
Today, Doña Maxima´s daughter Vilma called to check in. Although the 2 families only live a block apart they have to maintain the curfew. She said that 3 local truck drivers have been given a special dispensation to haul staples such as rice, noodles, and cooking oil from the cities. They have not been able to carry sufficient gas canisters to meet the demand for cooking stoves. Vilma said some of her family escaped the curfew last night in her father´s truck to go to Huancarani to collect firewood and harvest potatoes on their farm. The other 2 items that are becoming scarce are gasoline and the telephone company´s credit scratch cards required for phone service.
Doña Maxima Helping Her Neighbor Mary with Firewood Load, 2009
Vilma stated that the city of Oruro is quarantined so tightly that, “not even a fly is flying”. Time will tell if the decisive strict lockdown measures of interim President Añez´s government were in time. On March 22, there were 22 reported cases of Coronavirus in Bolivia. As of today there are 132 reported cases with 9 deaths, although with such a large rural population without health posts it´s possible the actual figures will tell a different story.
Five years ago, neither Doña Maxima nor Dorinda had a smart phone (Doña Maxima got hers first). Both are thankful to be able to check on each other through a video chat. The resilience of humans will weather this crisis, and the silver lining is it has forced us to reach out to each other regularly connecting us with our humanity.
Passengers Offload and Slop Through the Mud on Narrow Corners
A huge thank you to Ginny Chrisenton a PAZA supporter who sent the following link of Noarly, a Dutcher motorcycle adventurer’s, foray through Independencia. Ginny spotted Doña Maxima in the video (it took Dorinda 2 viewings). There is footage of Noarly driving down the street past the Sunday market. Since Dorinda´s first visit in 2006, the dirt road from Independencia to the tarmac has been greatly improved by the widening of many of the curves. There are still 3 scary landslide spots.手机端突然无法使用 · Issue #344 · shadowsocks ...:您好。 同一网络下，电脑端正常使用。手机端突然无法使用。 手机端之前一直轻度使用偶尔看推，前一天新装国外游戏玩了一整天，睡一觉就不能用了。 表现为能连接，绕行模式下能上国内网，国外网和那类应用均无法使用，错误提示为dns解析错【dns_probe_finished_no_internet】。
Thank you to Lyn Lucas for your long years of support for the Bolivian weavers. Thank you Marjorie for you gentle hint that the blog was been idle much too long. And to Jane and her Angel a great big hug. And to all please be safe, Wishing You Good Health! Dorinda Dutcher, April 3, 2024, dkdutcher@hotmail.com
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Plow Team, Sanipaya
Doña Beatris, long-time member of the Club de Artesanas, splits her time between Independencia and farming in her home community of Sanipaya. She has organized the Sanipaya based Spinning Week participants for the 5 out of 6 years that they´ve participated. Doña Bea was in Sanipaya when blockades were thrown up at the crossroads to protect the community the evening word spread that marauding motorcycle groups were moving through the countryside burning vehicles and public works built during President Evo Morales’s +13 years in office. The Sanipaya blockades were up for a week.
Carrying the Measuring Equipment to Doña Bea´s
The red Toyota truck with Don Julio at the wheel, Doña Maxima riding shotgun, and Vilma, Claudia, and Dorinda in the backseat was on the road to Sanipaya the morning after the blockades were lifted. The bed of the truck held the measuring table, chairs, short stools, a couple of men headed to Huancarani and Vilma´s husband. Sanipaya lies another 45 minutes west of the turnoff to descend to Huancarani. Not so long ago, Sanipaya offered schooling through high school, today there are only 2 teachers who teach up through 4th grade. Older students must study at one of the two schools in Independencia. Piles of rocks and downed trees that had formed the blockades remained on the road in 3 places with a path cleared for motor cycles and small vehicles to pass around one end.
Doña Maxima and Claudia Measuring
The measuring paraphernalia was quickly unloaded and carried across a path through a plowed field to Doña Bea´s house. Vilma´s husband trotted down the mountainside to join his parents in harvesting potatoes. Birds sang and flitted overhead under the sunny sky, the peaceful pastoral vista soothing after the long week of wild rumors and political tension in town.
Doña Bea Resting a Hand on 1 of her 2 Looms
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Fava Bean Purchase
Doña Bea prepared a lunch spread of boiled potatoes, noodles, fried eggs, and a salad of thin sliced onions and 4 cans of sardines. After lunch, all helped move the furniture used for measuring to the truck. Doña Maxima did some grocery shopping. She purchased an aguayo full of fava beans from team member Doña Reyna. The truck headed downhill to load 100 pounds of potatoes purchased from Vilma´s in-laws. Claudia had run down earlier and was across the road on her family´s farm digging carrots. Watching her struggle back uphill gave some sense of the steepness of the mountainside.
Doña Bea´s mother, Doña Rufina, is a formidable spinner and has placed 2nd or 3rd in past Spinning Week competitions. In Huancarani and in Sanipaya the spinners talked about the help she gets from her husband. He does all the chores and helps her clean the debris out of the fleece and align it for spinning. For the first time she won first place. There was also talk of Doña Juana´s husband´s insistence in taking over her chores during Spinning Week. The team Phuskadoras Alegres spun 42,528 meters of yarn beating the team Warmis Phuskadoras by 6,137 meters.
Vilma Loading Up a Gift of Potatoes for Dorinda
Doña Maxima is worried about how she is going to break the news to the team Warmis Phuskadoras that they came in second, and the prize will be a sweater. Although Warmis Phuskadoras spinner, Doña Casimira won 2nd place overall, 3 strong spinners from Huancarani were on the winning team. There are going to be problems and discussion, but problem solving has become an important component of Spinning Week. The increase from one to two local teams was a big change this year, and the experience will be discussed and improvements made for next year.
On Sunday November 10th, the final day of Spinning Week, many of the spinners from the rural community of Huancarani who were in Independencia for market day stopped by the PAZA workshop/store. More than a few commented on tired fingers from the endless whirling of their drop spindles. All were looking forward to meeting the following day at the Catholic Church in Huancarani for the measuring of the yarn.
PAZA contracted Don Julio, Doña Maxima´s husband, and their 4×4 red Toyota pickup for transport to Huancarani. The truck headed up and out of Independencia with Vilma and Dorinda in the backseat of the cab, and the measuring table, chairs, buckets for holding balls of yarn, low stools, and Toby the dog in the truck bed. Following a week of rain and cool temperatures, the climbing dirt road towards Huancarani had dried except for puddles in deep rutted flat sections. Crossing creeks on the descent into Huancarani was exciting, and the drive came to a halt at a landslide blocking the road just above the flat area where the soccer field, school, church, Organization of Men´s meeting house, and medical post are located. A few men showed up with shovels and pick axes and the women pitched in throwing rocks into the ravine below. It wasn´t long before the truck was driven across the loose rock and down to the church, although all passengers chose to head down on foot.
It was the 6th Spinning Week for the participants, so all knew the routine and in short order the measuring began. The results of 20 spinners were to be measured including the entire Warmis Phuskadoras team of Huancarani and the 4 Huancarani spinners on the Phuskadoras
Two Help Doña Toribia Untangle a Bird´s Nest
Alegres team. PAZA paid a day wage to Vilma and Maribel rather than depend on volunteers to measure out the tens of thousands of yards of handspun yarn. Don Julio pitched in, so there were 4 measuring teams. He and Maribel marked off 1 meter lengths on the walls of the church and measured while the owner of the yarn being measured rewound her yarn into a skein or a ball. Another spinner volunteered to mark the results. Doña Maxima, Vilma, and Dorinda worked at the measuring table which was marked off at a meter on two sides. Two measured while the third sat at the head of the table and tallied. At times the measurers would get well ahead of the spinner rewinding the yarn and someone always stepped in to help keep the pile of yarn from becoming a tangled bird´s nest.
Doña Eulalia Rewinding 3,255 Meters of Yarn
The yarn was measured meter by meter and the person measuring hollered out “cinco” for every 5 meters measured. The person recording the results made a tally mark per holler. During the 4 years the team competed in Spinzilla Spinning Week the results were measured in yards. Last year Doña Maxima organized an unofficial Spinning Week and since Bolivia uses the metric system it was probably automatic to measure in meters not yards.
It´s not a first come first to be measured system, because an allowance is made for those with flocks to be measured first. Doña Eulalia was quite anxious to get her goats headed out to pasture. However, it took almost an hour to measure her yardage because out of the 32 spinners on the 2 teams she placed 5th with a total of 3,255 meters. Unfortunately, for the home team, she spun on the mixed community team, the Phuskadoras Alegres. Maribel´s mother-in-law, Doña Andrea (and sister to Don Julio) was the only spinner who spun black wool. Doña Dionicia, the eldest spinner, was the only spinner who spun a thicker yarn to weave tapa bancas (cover the benches).
Doña Andrea Getting Help from Her Grandson, Daniel
Since the first Spinning Week in 2014, three spinners have vied for the #1 position. Doña Casimira only lost the top spot once and that was in 2016 to Doña Justina. The other top contender is Doña Rufina of Sanipaya. The total for the Warmi Phuskadoras team totaled 36,391, and all had a lively curiosity regarding the total yardage of the other team. A trip to Sanipaya was scheduled for the next day to measure the results of the 7 spinners living there as well as the efforts of the spinners residing in Independencia. At stake was the first prize of a petticoat, which all seemed to prefer over a new cardigan.
Doña Casimira Spun 4,004 Meters This Year
On the drive home Vilma listened to the news on her cell phone, it was the despedida (farewell) of President Evo Morales. The leader of the Movimiento a Socialismo (MAS) party and President for +13 years had abruptly departed Bolivia on a Mexico Air Force airplane having accepted asylum in that country. The move stunned his populous base of indigenous supporters, and rural Andean Independencia is MAS country. Protests and blockades in the cities had rocked the country since the suspicious results of the October 20th national election. The Organization of American States reviewed the results and discovered fraud. The plan to head to Sanipaya the next day to measure yarn was put on hold as rapidly changing events spanned the next week. Dorinda Dutcher, November 23, 2024
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Spinning Week in the Andes
This year’s Spinning Week was held November 4th through the 10th in Andean Independencia Bolivia. Doña Justina resides in Huancarani and was captain of the 16 member Warmis Phuskadoras (Women Who Spin with Drop Spindles). Her duties were to communicate with her team to remind them of the day to begin and end as well as where to meet for Wednesday´s photo day and the November 11th measuring day. The second team was captained by Doña Maxima and was composed of the 6 members of the Club de Artesanas, 6 women from the rural community of Sanipaya, and 4 Huancarani weavers. The Club members live in Independencia, but 3 have roots in Huancarani and the other 3 in Sanipaya. It took until measuring day in
1st Stop with Doñas Julia, Alicia, Maxima, and Vilma
Sanipaya for the team to settle on the name “Phuskadoras Alegres” a mix of Quechua and Spanish which roughly translates as “Happy Spinners of Drop Spindles”. It is a special week of socializing and sharing a craft that has been passed through generations of women through the millenniums. It is a merry week of giggles, chuckles, and deep belly laughs and no big feast to prepare which is a shared task during all traditional celebrations.
After an hour of spinning and chatting, the women scattered to their homes for a variety of reasons before meeting back up to ride to the other side of the community to spin and socialize. Doña Narciza headed at a brisk walk back to her home with Claudia and Vilma trailing further and further behind. The truck headed down the road towards Doña Narciza´s house coming to an abrupt halt at a steep ravine where the road had sloughed off leaving a narrow foot path. Independencia had run out of eggs and Claudia returned wearing Doña Narciza´s aguayo (woven Andean “backpack”) and carrying a colander full of eggs that were purchased by the Independencia dwellers. Vilma was carrying a live rooster, who was spotted a few days later happily resettled in Doña Maxima´s yard lording over her hens. Doña Narciza stayed behind to attend to a few tasks before joining everyone and continuing on to Independencia in the truck.
1st Group Walking and Spinning to Meet up with the 2nd Group
The truck backtracked and picked up Doña Alicia and Doña Julia then bumped across the rough road to where the majority of farmsteads are located. Don Julio headed off to use a friend’s tractor to plow his mother´s corn field. It was a cool overcast day, with rain showers passing through the surrounding mountains. The altitude is such that at times clouds rose majestically from the river valley below to join the clouds above.
Vilma Measuring Her Aunt Narciza for a Petticoat
The first place team will win petticoats and the second place team will win sweaters. Vilma measured all the women at the waist and for length for the petticoats which will be sewn by the Club de Artesanas members. Initials will be embroidered into the waistbands. All the women were sized for a sweater and chose a color from a variety of markers. Doña Maxima will head to Cochabamba after the results are in to purchase the sweaters.
Doña Antonia Spinning With 1 Eye on Her Flock
Doña Maxima and Dorinda headed down the mountain to take photos of Doñas Toribia, Dionicia, and Antonia who were pasturing their flocks. Doña Eulalia was out of sight, but her white goats were visible as specks on the mountainside further west. The sun had come out for the trudge back up the mountain, but happily all had decided it was lunchtime and appetite does make the best sauce. Lunch was communal as always with pots, plastic containers, and cloth filled with boiled potatoes, noodles, rice, and fried eggs. The corn kernels had been boiled with ash to remove the casing, and were still warm. The flavor was not sweet but a hearty corn flavor reminiscent of a fresh tortilla (which are not made in Bolivia).
Such a fun day, and all too soon the spinners began heading home walking singularly or in small groups. Doña Narciza climbed into the bed of the pickup and settled in beside her rooster and spun all the way to Independencia.
Thank you to Marjorie, Margaret, Lyn, Claire, Liz, Kristen, Mary, Rose, and Maja for your gifts that made Spinning Week possible. It brought such joy to these dedicated Bolivian spinners. Dorinda Dutcher, November 22, 2024
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Spinning Week, 2016 (Spinzilla)
The countdown is 7 weeks until November’s “La Semana de las Phuskadoras” (the Week of Women Who Spin with Drop Spindles).Tracking Spinning Week preparation is done between Bozeman and Bolivia through WhatsApp video calls. They are a hoot because Doña Maxima´s phone is passed around to whoever´s nearby, which could be her children, her grandchildren, women in the Club de Artesanas, the weavers of Huancarani, or a visiting neighbor. The reminder of the strong communal life in Independencia is always heartwarming.
Rinsing Fleece in the River
Doña Maxima reported that 2 of the 3 sheep hides that she´s going to shear for Spinning Week are washed. She sounded quite smug about the quality of the fleece saying that it has beautiful long fibers and is very white. This week she plans to wash the third hide which will involve scouring it in a big pot outside over a wood fire, loading the heavy wet hide into a wheelbarrow, and trundling it down to the river for a thorough rinse. Doña Maxima chose her fleece while still on the hoof from her neighbor’s flock. The neighbor sells mutton at the white tiled meat counter in Independencia’s morning market.
Navigating Heavy Load of Wet Wool Up to Road
Doña Maxima said that her sister Doña Narciza had also purchased hides from the same fleece purveyor. Doña Narciza lives in Huancarani and spends many hours a day herding her huge flock of ornery goats. Doña Alicia, a neighbor of Doña Narciza (and weaving rival for over 50 years), had asked Doña Maxima about purchasing hides. Doña Alicia pastures her flock of sheep daily but said the fiber quality is poor because so much of it is pulled out by the spiny trees and shrubs. She plans to take a look at Doña Maxima´s neighbor´s flock.
Doña Maxima Cutting Fleece from Hide, 2016
There are few black sheep in the flocks. Black yarn is used in the background of the pebble weave motifs in the traditional weavings, so all need a ball or two in their stash of natural and natural dyed handspun yarn. With a huge sigh, Doña Maxima stated that Doña Beatris had visited Oruro and brought back a spectacular black hide to prepare for Spinning Week. Oruro is situated at over 12,000 feet above sea level and that cold treeless environment produces superior fleece much coveted by the weavers of Independencia.
Fleece Buying Frenzy When Highland Weavers Visited in 2009
Spinning Week provides Doña Maxima, Doña Beatris, and Doña Justina who captains the Huancarani team opportunities to assume leadership roles and that is empowering. The women are passionate about spinning, so it´s a week of socializing while doing something they love and have lived their lives sharing with one another. There was no fundraising last year and the Sanipaya spinners were disappointed in not been invited to participate. This year they are participating on the mixed team that includes 3 Huancarani spinners and the spinners living in Independencia. It is the first time 2 local teams will compete against each other. Please view the Spinning Week videos on the sidebar!
How You Can Be Involved
Measuring Spinning Week Results, Sanipaya, 2016
This is the second in a series of fundraising postings for the November 4-10 Spinning Week. We´ve raised $650 of the $1,200 needed for this year´s event. Any additional funding will go into the Club de Artesanas operating budget. It would be impossible to coordinate a once a year event without a local organization in place. Doña Maxima works year around managing the Club de Artesanas and the workshop/store which provides a headquarters for the spinners and weavers. Please make a donation using the button above to support La Semana de las Phuskadoras and the Club de Artesanas.
Fleece on the Hoof
The purchase of a weaving allows for a continuous supply of orders to be sent to the women, and offers them a sense of security by being able to anticipate an income. The current inventory in the U.S includes weavings for weavers and designers who would enjoy working with the lengths of cloth and straps to create their own bags or incorporate into clothing. Ready made products include the zippered pouches and 2 sizes of yoga mat straps. Inquiries may be made through dkdutcher@hotmail.com.
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Spinning Week in the Andes
This month is the official kick-off of “La Semana de las Phuskadoras” (“The Week of Women Who Spin with Drop Spindles”) in Independencia, Bolivia. Registration opened on July 7th and will close at the end of the month. Spinning Week will be November 4th through the 10th, and for the first time 2 local teams of 16 will compete against each other.
History
Between 2014 and 2017, the ClothRoads Spinzilla team “Warmis Phuskadoras” were the only Latin American representatives. The Andean spinners consistently placed in the upper 40%, competing against
Mid-Week Check-In
spinners and spinning wheels from around the world. The Spinzilla founders organized the spinning competition as a way to raise awareness of the joys of spinning and to encourage a global connection of spinners. Thanks to the personal notes and financial support from spinners on other Spinzilla teams and PAZA supporters the Bolivian spinners learned of the existence of the big fiber world outside of their isolated mountain communities.
The “Semana de las Phuskadoras” is estimated to cost $1,200 which will cover the prizes, local wages, logistics, and transportation for the visits to the 2 rural communities involved. Trips to the communities are made for the mid-week Spinning Week check-in, measuring the results, and the prize awarding and annual feast. Any funds raised over the cost of Spinning Week will help meet the challenge of raising the monthly operating expenses of $175/month.
Doña Casimira Always Places in the Top 3
The two “Semana de las Phuskadoras” team captains will be Doña Maxima Cortez who is the PAZA Coordinator and manages the Club de Artesanas in Independencia and Doña Justina Vargas who does an excellent job of managing the Spinning Week logistics in the rural community of Huancarani.
Dorinda Dutcher began PAZA as a Peace Corps project in 2007 when she began working with the spinners at their request. She moved back to the U.S. in 2018, but maintains a home in Independencia and will be on hand to provide oversight of this year’s event.
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Doña Maxima Preparing Roving for Spinning Week
You can help to make the Spinning Week competition a success and support the Bolivian spinners in two ways:
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Purchase a weaving which will provide cash flow to the spinners as well as building their sense of self- esteem in knowing that their skills will allow them to care for their families. Inquiries may be made by contacting Dorinda Dutcher, dkdutcher@hotmail.com. Information about the weavings: http://ebxpcq.wcbzw.com/2024/04/13/bolivian-weavings-have-arrived/
Spinning Week Provides the Women a Rare Opportunity to Socialize
Updates on the “Semana de las Phuskadoras” and the spinners and weavers will be posted regularly to this blog. Dorinda will personally respond to all forms of support as well as inquiries for further information or weaving orders. We thank you in advance for your help in keeping this global connection intact and look forward to November’s Spinning Week. Finally, thank you to the BritSpin spinners for encouraging the Bolivian team to register – maybe next year! Dorinda Dutcher, July 20, 2024, dkdutcher@hotmail.com
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Doña Maxima & her Husband/Van Driver Collecting Masiq’o
The gatherer’s urge runs rampant during the rainy season in the Andean highlands. Clusters of the tiny misiq’o flowers wave in the breeze and each is capable of adding its tint of sunrise orange to the dye pot. Chilka bushes line the roads; their leaves washed clean by the daily rains and when mordanted with millu produce a forest green. The suyku stalks crowd together offering the dyer an easy harvest and multiple dye options by use of the leaves and flowers separately or together.
Doña Maxima and the members of the Club de Artesanas (CdA) prepared for a 3 day dyeing extravaganza last April during Dorinda’s short visit. The Huancarani weavers left 77 skeins with the Club along with requests for the color each skein should be dyed. The majority wanted cochineal reds and oranges with a few requests for the light green produced from suyku leaves when mixed with just salt and vinegar and the darker moss green when a touch of millu and sulfate of copper is added to the dye pot.
Searching for Skeins in the Suyku Leaf/Millu Mordanted Dye Pot
The dye days were scheduled so that the dye plants could be collected a day prior on the way home from the meeting with the weavers in Huancarani. As the road began it’s descent from the highest point, Doña Maxima, Vilma, and Dorinda alighted from the van with empty mesh bags and headed down the road picking the bright yellow blooms of misiq’o. The profusion of plants petered out within a narrow range of elevation. Continuing down the mountain the suyku plant began to appear, it to has a narrow altitude range where it proliferates. The tall stalks were in full flower; those buzzing with bees were left alone. The back of the van was packed within 15 minutes.
Discussing How to Resolve the Streaks of the Tumeric Dyed Skeins
The delicate masiq´o flowers provided just enough dye for the Club members to each dye a small skein. The Huancarani weavers know that masiq´o is a dye plant that each must collect on their own or with a few friends for small batch dyeing. PAZA purchases alum in Cochabamba, and it is available for sale at cost to the weavers. It is always used with masiq´o flowers to brighten and fix the dye. The Club weavers saved the dye bath to mix with cochineal.
Photographing the Day’s Labors
On the first day a cochineal dye bath was mordanted with alum to produce a range from dark red to pink. On the second day of dyeing the cochineal dye bath went from red into orange tones with the help of citric acid and cream of tartar. A dye bath of powered mixed with dried chunks of turmeric produced a bold orange. The turmeric was purchased in the health supplement aisle of Cochabamba´s huge vendor stall market. A year ago, fresh roots along with fresh ginger were sold by mobile vendors from crates on cargo dollies. No fresh roots this year. On the 3rd day the various dye baths were mixed.
Skeins Being Rinsed, Laundry Being Washed
Vilma’s house did not boast an outdoor sink so the skeins were laid on plastic sheeting in a drainage ditch and washed with a hose. On the 3rd and only sunny day of dyeing Vilma, mother of 4, lugged out a huge hamper of family laundry. She filled a washtub with soapy water and patiently scrubbed each item inside and out with a brush, using a board to support the item.
The 2 lessons learned this year were that turmeric is sensitive to the sun and cochineal needs to be properly stored. The glorious sun had finally broken through the rain clouds, and the skeins hung like jewels across the clotheslines. The sun caused streaking in the turmeric dyed skeins, and the Club discussed ways to level the color on a future dye day. The cochineal had been poorly stored in their abandoned club house in Huancarani. It was the last of 2 kilos purchased for the weavers in 2012. When it was ground in the cereal grinder the resulting powder was gray instead of the usual deep red. All the recipes needed additional cochineal. We were later told by another weaving group that it should have been soaked. We used to soak the cochineal prior to a dye day, but began skipping the step when we didn´t notice a difference whether it was soaked or not. The older poorly stored cochineal definitely should have been soaked.
Day #1 Lunch
GitHub - shadowsocksrr/shadowsocksr-csharp:
Huancarani Weavers Waiting Anxiously for Their Dyed Skeins
Many of the Huancarani weavers returned the Sunday after the dyeing to pick up their skeins. All were happy with the results. Well, except for Doña Felicidad who decided on the spot that she preferred Doña Alicia’s suyku dyed green skeins to the cochineal reds that she’d requested.
The next blog posting is going to have background information that you are all familiar with having followed this blog for some time. It is to be a fundraising posting for PAZA activities especially Spinning Week which is scheduled for November 4/10. Thankfully, Liz Gipson, who was a founder of Spinzilla and instrumental in the Bolivian team participating in Spinzilla for 4 years will be lending a hand with the fundraising for, “La Semana de las Phuskadoras”.
Thank you to those who have contributed to PAZA this month, although the blog postings have appeared erratically, the expenses to support the Club de Artesanas and Huancarani weavers continue to be steady. Dorinda Dutcher, June 27, 2024
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PAZA Store/Workshop, Doña Maxima Tagging Skeins for Dyeing, Doña Narciza Finishing a Chuspa
Is there anything more wonderful than a joyous homecoming? The bus ride from Cochabamba to Independencia at the end of the rainy season is spectacular with the vivid green of wheat fields and pale green of the high mountain grasses that will soon fade to drab tans. Bright yellow flowering shrubs reaching 8’ tall line the road descending into the Palca River Valley where a growing Independencia is nestled.
Spigot by the Church, Huancarani
PAZA has been in transition since April 2018 when Doña Maxima took over management of the Independencia activities and Dorinda relocated back in the U.S. The time had come to evaluate if PAZA will continue and if so how. There was a happy reunion between Dorinda and the Huancarani weavers who had come to town for market day. Many brought handspun skeins of wool for the upcoming Club de Artesanas dyeing extravaganza. A year ago, the PAZA workshop/store was relocated a few doors down from its former location and Dorinda´s home for 12 years. The walls of the new smaller space were lined with equipment and supplies. The little bit of free space in the middle of the room was packed with women sitting on low stools and spilling out the door.
Waiting and Spinning
A meeting of the weavers of the Centro de Artesania, Huancarani had been arranged for the following day. Doña Maxima, Dorinda, & Vilma loaded into the family van driven by Doña Maxima´s husband. The meeting was held on the church´s covered porch, and as always there was a wait. Most of the weavers had been in Independencia the day before, and had to pasture livestock before heading to the gathering. The rain gods took a break and although overcast the rain held off. The weavers arrived in ones and twos from all directions, many with their drop spindles whirling. Doña Narciza, Max’s sister, was absent. She’d been in Independencia the day before and mentioned that her goats were dropping kids. Over the next week her flock increased by 54.
The purpose of the meeting was 2-fold. The first was for the weavers and Dorinda to confirm their commitment to continue working together. The repeated statement of, “I’ll weave until I die with your support” was a strong affirmation for PAZA to carry-on.
The second topic was what to do about the lack of a Spinzilla sponsor and the lack of clarity as to Spinzilla’s future. Dorinda put forth the idea of a 16 member Warmis Phuskadoras team made up of the first 16 Huancarani spinners to sign up. A second team would be comprised of the Independencia spinners, the spinners from Sanipaya who were excluded last year, and Huancarani spinners who sign up late. The 2 teams would compete against each other. The excitement and an animated discussion of the idea went on for over half an hour.
Weaving Quality Discussion
The 4 years of official Spinzilla participation as the Cloth Roads Warmis Phuskadoras and last year’s local spinning event have turned Spinning Week into a much anticipated tradition. Spinzilla Spinning Week has always been the first week in October which is a downtime in the Andean agricultural calendar. The spinners titled Spinning Week 2024 as “La Semana de las Phuskadoras” a mishmash of Spanish and Quechua that means “The Week of Women who Spin with Drop Spindles”.
On the return to Independencia, the van stopped a few times and the occupants spilled out to harvest dye plants along the side of the road. Not having a home any longer in Independencia, Dorinda was staying at the local modern hotel run by the Centro Cultural Ayopaya. After 4 nights and a conversation with her former landlord she rented two of her former rooms and moved back home. With biannual visits planned, it made economic sense to rent by the month while offering tangible proof of her commitment to the weavers. The larger of the rooms is the former PAZA workshop/store and will allow Doña Maxima to store unneeded equipment and supplies to free up space in the current workshop/store.
Vilma & Doña Maxima Collecting Suyku on the Way Home
The fundraising efforts for PAZA have been minimal the past year due to the uncertainty of PAZA’s future. The weavers are doing their part in Independencia and Dorinda´s doing her part in Bozeman. We appeal to PAZA supporters to do their part to support this grass roots textile preservation effort by clicking on the “Donate” button above. The budget for Spinning Week is $1,200, and the monthly budget for the Club de Artesanas in Independencia is $175 per month. Another way to support the weavers is by purchasing weavings. The current inventory in the U.S. is tying up ¾ of the revolving fund limiting PAZA´s ability to keep the orders and cash flowing to the weavers. There is woven cloth for your own projects in the form of 63” x 9.5” weavings, fajas, and straps. There are also zippered pouches with and without wrist straps and yoga mat straps in 2 sizes. Thank you! Dorinda Dutcher, May 28, 2024
Bolivian Weavings Have Arrived!
Large Weaving, 63″ x 9.5″
Two PAZA orders of Andean weavings with their unique color palette of dyes from local plants and cochineal have finally arrived in the U.S. The motifs are woven using the painstaking pick-up pebble weave technique. The weavings are wool and the yarn handspun and plyed with drop spindles.
The weavers had additional weavings for sale, but most of those gorgeous textiles had to be left behind for lack of luggage space. The next trip is tentatively scheduled for September and intrepid textile aficionados are welcome to join to make their textile selection directly from the weavers. Weaving classes to learn Andean motifs may be arranged with Doña Maxima. Travelers wishing to teach sewing, knitting, or crochet workshops will fill a resource need.
Large Weavings, Fajas, Straps, & Pouches
Future blog posts will tell the tales and announce the news of upcoming fun activities planned by PAZA and the Bolivian weavers during the recent dye days and meetings in Independencia. The priority today, is to get the word out and sell the recently arrived textiles so that another order can be placed. Purchases may be made between April 14th and 21st and again after May 15th.
For those of you who would like to purchase the weavings as cloth to use in your own weaving projects, there are:
Larger weavings, which are 63” long by 9.5” wide, $68
Dye Day 1 of 3 Earlier This Month
Straps, 75” long x 1.5” wide, $18
Ready-made products available are:
Zippered pouches, 5” x 8” wide, $16; or with a wrist strap, $17
Dye Day #1 Results
The yoga mats have been discontinued, but there are still a few dozen of each of the 2 sizes available. The straps for thin 1/8” sticky yoga mats are $22, and the straps for thicker ¼” thick exercise mats are $23.
On Sunday November 10th, the final day of Spinning Week, many of the spinners from the rural community of Huancarani who were in Independencia for market day stopped by the PAZA workshop/store. More than a few commented on tired fingers from the endless whirling of their drop spindles. All were looking forward to meeting the following day at the Catholic Church in Huancarani for the measuring of the yarn.
PAZA contracted Don Julio, Doña Maxima´s husband, and their 4×4 red Toyota pickup for transport to Huancarani. The truck headed up and out of Independencia with Vilma and Dorinda in the backseat of the cab, and the measuring table, chairs, buckets for holding balls of yarn, low stools, and Toby the dog in the truck bed. Following a week of rain and cool temperatures, the climbing dirt road towards Huancarani had dried except for puddles in deep rutted flat sections. Crossing creeks on the descent into Huancarani was exciting, and the drive came to a halt at a landslide blocking the road 
just above the flat area where the soccer field, school, church, Organization of Men´s meeting house, and medical post are located. A few men showed up with shovels and pick axes and the women pitched in throwing rocks into the ravine below. It wasn´t long before the truck was driven across the loose rock and down to the church, although all passengers chose to head down on foot.
