Foot-Loom Weaving in Central Mexico

Foot-loom weaving is dying out in Central Mexico because most people are not willing to pay for hand-woven cloth when inexpensive industrially-woven cloth is available. Although a few artisans continue to weave serapes, blankets, bedspreads and towels, it is only a matter of time before they, too, will be forced to stop production. The quality of their work is excellent, but the market is too small to support many of them. Although some weavers are using synthetic threads, others weave with cotton and wool, even though natural materials require more work to process and dye.

Graph paper patterns are used as a guide for complex tapestry-woven areas. Simple tapestry patterns are woven from memory.	To weave a photographic image, a photograph is enlarged, then delineated. The main lines are traced onto the warp to guide the weaver.	Knotting the fringe on hand-woven acrylic cloth at Sarapes "Ruelas" at Colegio Militar #34, Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico, C.P. 98600

Don Glafiro Guerrero from Villagarcia, Zacatecas.	Colegio Militar #117-A, Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico, C.P. 98600 Telephone from the US: 011-52-492-92-34939	Telephone from the US: 011-52-492-92-38191 or 011-52-492-92-32379

Tapestry weaving with multiple wefts.	Winding a butterfly.	Checking warp tension.

These weavers are from Victoria, Guanajuato. The warp is either wool or a wool/acrylic blend; the weft is wool.

New warp is tied to old warp, thread by thread. The new warp is then pulled through the heddles one by one.	A small part of the new warp is woven, then the tension is adjusted by pulling the new threads, one by one. This loom is set up with double warp beams to weave acrylic seersucker cloth.

Weaver from Vasquez Taller Heroes de Chapultepek #421, Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato, Mexico Telephone from the US: 011-52-445-45-72941.

This loom is set up with double warp beams to weave a looped-pile cotton cloth.	Detail of four pieces of looped-pile cotton.

Weavers from Vasquez Taller Heroes de Chapultepek #421, Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato, Mexico, Telephone from the US: 011-52-445-45-72941.

LINKS:
Ikat Shawls of Uriangato and Moroleon, Mexico
Backstrap Woven Shawls of Esperanza Valencia Morra of Morelia
Backstrap Weaving School at Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico
Backstrap Weaving in Jacaltenango, Guatemala
Gobelin Tapestry Weaving in Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico
Toba Sashes of Argentina with Pickup Motif
Cane baskets
Haida cedar bark hat maker, Gladys Vandal
Tapestry Crochet
Los Lenateros Papermaking, Printmaking, and Book Arts Studio
Shibori in Kyoto, Japan
Katazome (stencil dying) in Kyoto, Japan

Web page, photographs, and text by Carol Ventura in 2001. Please look at Carol's home page to see more about crafts around the world.