Hot Pink for your Summer Whites

We would like to share with you our shawls in hot pink and purple, in our herringbone weave. (We call this our B'e weave. B'e means road or journey, our destiny in life. However, our fans recognize it as herringbone, so....) As usual, we have combined two colors, and we think the resulting weave makes an entirely new color, with even a shimmer to it. For us it is a bit magical. We have one loom dedicated to making shawls. We take great pleasure in deciding which colors to select from our palette of yarns each warping, and we really enjoy seeing the magic of the combination.

If you like this shawl, look for it tomorrow on our Etsy store...

Our Little Ones Are in School

As we have mentioned, we are part of Grupo Cajola, a community group working to “build a better Cajola, where people live in peace and dignity.” This week, they started a new preschool for our children. The school is named Xnaq’tz Nabl Qchman in our language Mam, which loosely translates into “Wisdom of our Elders School.” This first year our children are the only students, but next year it will be open to the community. The school is located where we used to weave on the foot looms – we have moved into new, more ample space. It is based on the principles of the Reggio Emilia preschools from Italy, where the interests of the children provide the basis for their development, and the emphasis is on developing children’s aptitudes, creativity, and collaboration rooted in their own culture. We have been creating children’s books in Mam for them and will be emphasizing Maya Mam culture and spirituality. But the best thing is that the children have the chance to play and develop and we have the chance to work more effectively. We are sharing a photo of the first day of school’s morning snack.

Our Green Diamond Towels

Diamonds as in diamond weave, not jewels. Some of you have seen and purchased these towels, we know, but we have just launched them on our Etsy store and want to let all of you know about them. We wove them on our 4-pedal loom in the same weave that we have been weaving for our table runners and placemats, except that there are fewer threads of yarn in the warp and the weft. This results in a finer weave, more pliable and excellent for drying dishes. We have embroidered the symbol for wisdom, or “Noj” on the front panel. We have woven them in two color choices, green on green and green on white. Our towels are sold in sets of two, so there are three different sets -- green on green, or green on white, or one of each!

Our Embroidered Tote Bags in Cobalt

These bags aren’t that new, but we haven’t shared them with you yet. We have launched them in this new color on Etsy as well. These tote bags are a collaboration among all of our groups. The beautiful embroidery is done on the backstrap loom, the cobalt medium-weight fabric is woven by our footloom weavers, and of course, our seamstresses are responsible for the final assembly. We have put a bright apricot colored lining with a slip pocket and a zippered pocket inside. The bag is elegant but very practical – it is sturdy and roomy. (There is a matching clutch, too!)

MayaMam Weavers & Earth Day 2012

We celebrated Earth Day with the Morris County Park Alliance last Saturday. It was a breezy cool day, but lots of people came out to have fun and to learn about safeguarding our planet and our environment. And, people came out to learn about sustainable business practices and fair trade. It is a pleasant event, with plenty of time to chat informally with people about our work. People are interested in learning about our traditional backstrap weaving. And we also have a chance to talk about fair trade and why our work is so important in ensuring that our children have access to education and to health care, and a better future. It is a day of optimism spent with like-minded people who are working to make the world the kind of place it needs to be so that all of us, our children and our grandchildren – down to the seventh generation as Native Americans say -- can live a healthy and dignified life. (Our shawls and aprons were especially popular!)