La Chapina Huipil Crafts Expands Etsy Store: Guatemalan Supplies!

Recycled Huipil Baby Doll made by Erin Stoy

It's not easy to find your niche on Etsy- the competition is fierce! But, some sellers find their market and are able to grow their stores into healthy operations. I've had the pleasure of watching Erin Stoy of La Chapina Huipil Crafts do exactly that! I asked Erin to share her experience as I think she has hit on the key to making a living through online sales: balance your handmade creations with complementary supplies. Look around your environment and see what you can find that others might want!

Other key lessons to learn from Erin: clear photos, affordable prices, healthy selection (her store is stocked with over 200 items right now), and good descriptions.

When I joined Etsy in May of this year, my plan was simply to continue selling my hand-sewn crafts made from recycled Guatemalan textiles. I'd had success doing that off-Etsy for the previous seven months, especially with my Christmas ornaments and personalized art for kids' rooms. However, with sales in my new shop starting off slowly, I began to brainstorm ways I could expand my product offerings. I noticed that the top sellers on Etsy were almost all suppliers, and that certainly made sense: Etsy is a market full of creative people wanting to buy interesting things with which they can make their own arts and crafts! So instead of trying to compete solely based on my handicrafts, I began my search in the local markets and shops here in Antigua, Guatemala, for textiles to sell as supplies. I'd already been selling bags full of my textile scraps, so this was the next logical step, and I began offering cintas (hand-woven hair ribbons) and squares of textile fabric, along with the occasional whole huipil (traditional hand-woven blouse worn by indigenous women and girls in Guatemala).

Recycled Huipil Scrap Sampler Bag

It took a change in mindset to make the move to sell something unrelated to textiles, as the name of my shop was and is "La Chapina Huipil Crafts". At first the idea of this change made me uncomfortable, as if I were abandoning my original vision, but then I came across a great little shop that sold ceramic beads made in Guatemala and Peru. I loved these little beads and charms, and I knew many of my customers would, too. Tiny Guatemalan people in traditional dress, little animals, fruits and veggies, and skulls (for Day of the Dead!) are just some of the styles of beads I now regularly stock in my shop.

Pendant Beads

Once I started selling beads, I found myself really wanting to try my own hand at making jewelry for the shop. However, jewelry is one of the most saturated categories on Etsy, so I needed to make a niche for myself. I found a local source for beads made of tagua, which grows in the South American rainforest and is an excellent and eco-friendly alternative to ivory. Using dyed beads and slices made from tagua seeds and nuts, I've had a great time making some simple jewelry, and the fact that it is environmentally friendly fits with my previous emphasis on recycled materials.

Ecofriendly Tagua Bracelet and Earrings Set

A few months into my expansion, three of my ten shop sections are dedicated to supplies. Some of my best sellers are different sizes and styles of Guatemalan worry dolls, ceramic beads, and lovely small prints -- great as scrapbooking embellishments -- by a local watercolor artist. I also carry some wood items like miniature handpainted masks and fruit.

Watercolor Maya Mother and Baby

Large Guatemalan worry dolls

Although huipiles are no longer the sole focus of my shop, they still have a special place among the other Latin American crafts and supplies. Offering supplies has greatly increased sales (though lowering the average selling price per item) and brought in many new customers who are not necessarily interested in the items I make myself. And perhaps most importantly, the search for new supplies is a lot of fun !

Spanish Rubber Stamp - Excelente with Star

Erin Stoy of La Chapina Huipil Crafts is an American whoʼs lived in Guatemala for over a year, caring for the daughter she and her husband are in the process of adopting. During her time in Guatemala,she has developed a passion for Mayan textiles. She has been selling arts and crafts she makes from used huipiles (traditional, hand-woven Guatemalan blouses) since October 2007. Her blog is http://huipil-crafts.blogspot.com and her Etsy shop is http://lachapina.etsy.com.

La Chapina Huipil Crafts Expands Etsy Store: Guatemalan Supplies!

Watatu: Kanga, Kitenge and Proverbs from Tanzania

Kanga and Kitenge

– a living part of the East African culture

The Kanga (also spelled khanga) is an about 1 meter wide and 1,5 meter long piece of textile, which is used mainly in Kenya and Tanzania as garment, for carrying babies etc. In Uganda it is called Leso. The Kanga is of cotton and is printed using the silkscreen technique with a frame (pindo in Swahili) and a theme (mji) inside it. There is also often a slogan or proverb (ujumbe or jina) printed on the textile. The Kanga is easy to fold, tie and wind. It is often bought in pairs, and then cut to two pieces – one to wrap around you as a skirt and the other piece around your shoulders.

Kanga

The ujumbe or jina here says “I wish you all the best”.

The Kitenge (vitenge in plural) is another kind of textile, but of a thicker quality, and it has usually an edging only a long side or not at all. It is printed using rotary spinning machines. Even kitenge is sold in lengths sufficient to cover ones body. Specific patterns are designed for national holidays, jubilees etc. While similar textiles as the kitenge can be found all around Africa, the kanga is specific for East Africa and it has a fascinating history.

Kitenge

Women of Zanzibar created the Kanga
In the middle of the 19th century there was an abundance of imported goods in the bazaars in Zanzibar. Textiles were imported from India, the Far East and Europe. The Portuguese contributed with printed textiles to be used as shawls. They came in 0.50 meters wide rolls with square patterns. Normally you would cut off one square and sell it, but some women bought six squares instead, cut it in two pieces and sew them together to get new patterns.

The story goes that the new patterns were called “Kanga” as they reminded of the plumage of the speckled guinea fowl. In Swahili, the word kanga means precisely that: guinea fowl. However, in the book “Kanga – the cloth that speaks” - available at Watatu - the writer Sharifa Zawawi, who is Professor Emeritus of Classical Languages, has a completely different theory on the origin of the word, which we will not reveal here.

”I am also a kanga”

”A wife is a fruit to take well care of”
In the beginning of the 20th century the trader Kaderdina Hajee Essak in Mombasa, often called Abdullah, got the idea of printing texts on the textiles, preferably proverbs from the rich Swahili cultural heritage. His textiles, which carried the trademark "K.H.E.-Mali ya Abdullah", quickly created a new fashion, which lasts up till today.

The texts are in Swahili, which is spoken in East Africa and Central Africa. It is the official language in Kenya and Tanzania (a union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika). The words on the kangas can often - if not just being printed for a jubilee or being political or religious slogans - have a double meaning. With a kanga you can indirectly say what you want to your neighbour, rival or others. The texts can be seen as document of historical and political events as well as prevailing values in the Swahili society and how they have changed during times.

The Mji and Jina (see above) are what characterizes the kanga and its popularity. The popularity of the Mji, that occupies the most important area of the kanga, save for its colours and the art, may be overshadowed by the context of the jina. The jina is usually printed in uppercase letters in colours that match the central motif and most likely on white background to improve its readability. Kangas without text are called kanga bubu – a dumb kanga.

The ujumbe or jina here says, “A wife is a fruit to take well care of”.

In the beginning the pattern at the kangas was printed by hand using wooden stamps. Nowadays it is an industrial item, where the textile industry in Tanzania has to compete with cheaper copies (but of less good quality) of kangas from India and China, where even the text in Swahili is copied.

In sorrow and happiness
In Tanzania the kanga is used for all events in life. When a girl is going to be married, she is covered with kangas. She is also given kangas as gifts. Also when people go to celebrate the birth of a child, the women put a kanga around the waist, and when someone has passed, and people go to pay their respects, the women put a kanga around the waist.

Also notice here the dress at the bottom is made of a kanga!

There is a special design of a kanga called kisutu. It has a beautiful pattern with a lot of details and you can get it in red and black or blue. The red and black one is called kisutu cha arusi and in Zanzibar the bride is wrapped in it at the wedding day. At the permanent kanga exhibition at the National Museum of Zanzibar, they tell you that this specific ”wedding kanga” has a bloody story linked to it. It is said that a woman killed her husband with a knife, because he didn’t give her this kanga.

Kisutu cha arusi

A kanga or kitenge for you
The kanga and the kitenge are wonderful products, you can really use them for everything. Our online shop has a wonderful selection of kanga and kitenge, other African textiles, baby carriers, African fashion, coffee, and much more! And, if you sew, kanga and kitenge work great in quilts or made into your own clothing, bags, curtains, or table cloths.




We are three old friends, Watatu (=three in Swahili), one from Sweden and two from Tanzania who are trying to promote the use of kanga and kitenge also outside East Africa. Do come visit our site!

Written by

Karin Zetterqvist
Watatu Textil
©Watatu

Sources:
”Textil i Afrika” by Erik Cardfelt, Karin Olsson
“Kanga – The Cloth That Speaks” by Sharifa Zawawi
Article “The Kanga” in Bang Magazine, July/August 2007

See Karin's article on Bark Cloth in Uganda.

Watatu: Kanga, Kitenge and Proverbs from Tanzania

A Maze in the Amazon: The Shipibo-Conibo Path in Textiles

I first learned about the Shipibo through their beautiful ceramics. Fine black lines create mazes of pattern on white backgrounds, framed by the red tierra cotta clay. As I was exposed to more of their work, I saw that those designs were also abundant in their textiles, as facial tattoos and as wall art on the outside of their houses.

A Different Approach carries Shipibo pottery wholesale.
They are a fair trade organization that support many pottery
efforts in Central and South America.

Many authors refer to the Shipibo in conjunction with another indigenous group, the Conibo, as one people, the Shipibo-Conibo, as the two have merged through intermarriage. They live along the Amazon River and its tributaries in small villages, although many cities like Iquitos and Lima now have Shipibo communities as well. Estimates number the population at 35,000 people in 300 villages. As with most indigenous groups around the world, the Shipibo-Conibo face the old story of displacement due to logging (Cultural Survival has an article about mahogany culling in the region), climate change, and assimilation into the mainstream popular culture. Yet, they have been able to find a better balance than many other groups through their profound knowledge of medicinal herbs, shamanism, and production of handicrafts and textiles.

Several permaculture efforts have networked with them in an effort to help them produce better foods locally, decreasing their dependency on trade. Ecoversity describes some of the challenges they have experienced in reaching remote communities while other less isolated groups have enjoyed significant gains through participating in events such as the Santa Fe International Art Market.

Photo by Howard G. Charing
See his pdf article, Communion with the Infinite, for more information
on the textiles and their spiritual significance.

Shipibo-Conibo textiles are closely connected to their religious context. The World Culture Encyclopedia has a page description of Shipibo belief. Boiled down to one paragraph, they believe that spirits or gods live up in the sky which can be accessed by the "vegetalista" or herbalist (shaman). Western medicine is fine for treating diseases of the flesh, but the vegetalista will know how to cure the spiritual maladies. Shipibo cosmology translates itself into art through the vision of being part of a larger whole. Dan James Pantone, Ph.D., has an excellent article which explains some of this dynamic. I thought this insight was especially interesting:

"The art form of the Shipibos is little understood by the outside world. To the artists, is not something that they are taught, rather they are inspired to create their distinctive patterns. The women, rather than the men in the village, are the artists. Commonly the women will work together to produce a single piece. Each of the women seems to be moved by the same artistic spirit and one woman can interrupt her work and then assign another woman in the village to complete a particular piece. When the artwork is finished, the resulting piece will look like it was made by a single artist. This really is communal art at its finest."

Photo by Lorna Li

It reminds me a bit of quilting bees, yet if you watch how these textiles are made, it's a little more abstract in design than most quilting patterns. The textiles also call up Aborigine work to me. Instead of dots marking a pathway, lines move you through the piece.

Vintage 1960's Shipibo Textile, by Patina Green

There are two main forms of the textiles, both very different in their final impact. The simple white and black textiles are painted with vegetable dyes, resulting in stark geometric contrasts. The second uses embroidery. Although the patterns are also geometric, the use of color introduces the potential for walking on the wild side of the maze. Designs may explode with clashing oranges and blues, while others may bring calm and a sense of peace with greens and purples.

Photo by Sabine Rittner

"This is the "Wayvana" pattern:
the wavy lines mimicking each other are people eating together
underneath a tree (the little square in the middle)." Willem Malten

Sabine Rittner, of Heidelberg, Germany, spent several months with the Shipibo in 2005. Coming from a music therapy background, she researched how the vegetalista or shaman approached healing in their context. She quotes:

`Every human being possesses a body pattern that is formed by his energy flow and is not visible to the average villager but to the shaman. When the competent and experienced shaman uses the plant in question, then he gets insights into a patient's energy field and flow of life force, energetic disturbances and blockades. Shipibo shamans say that the ayahuasqua drink helps them to see through a patient's body, like x-rays. However, they see neither skeleton nor organs but rather the disturbances and blockades in energetic balance. The exact site of the illness may be located in this way. The ayahuasqua plant permits shamans also to contact the spirit world. Above all the so-called `masters of powerful trees' support a shaman in his therapeutic work. These patterns resemble the style of the patterns we admire on earthen vessels and textiles. But according to the shamans' descriptions they are much finer and more complex. If a person falls ill in the course of his life this becomes visible in an imbalance, a distortion, an unclearness or agitation of his body pattern. Ayahuasca helps a shaman to see the pattern and evaluate it. He tries to reconstruct the pattern through songs transmitted to him in his ayahuasca induced state by the masters of the trees. For the Shipibo these songs are sacred and healing, they are also called `pattern medicine'. When a shaman sings his therapeutic song, then rhythm and intensity of the song show their effects in a patient's body pattern. While the shaman's healing song leaves the breath of his mouth in a linear and rhythmic flow, it forms a fine pattern that becomes embedded in the patient's body and causes harmony in the energy balance and the mind.' (From: Gebhard-Sayer/Illius, 1991).

Photo by Sabine Rittner

She concludes her fascinating article with a note on what she learned:

"Everything I tried to present in this paper is the result of momentary impressions. Despite written versions of the Shipibo language, theirs is an oral culture living in the flow of `improvisation', that is, being recreated all the time. There is the continuity of a common history, a tradition passed on in tales, myths, shapes, colours and music. But this is the art of creation that lives anew every day, every moment, with each listener. The stories told in ethnological books are, strictly speaking, only true in the moment of telling, not for the next day, not for the next ayahuasquero, not for the next village. It was a lesson and a challenge for me to discuss with the Shipibo this kind of `permanent impermanence' that has more contradictions than consistencies.

My intention was not to idealize the Shipibo culture. Notwithstanding our postmodern longing for the `original' and `authentic', the life of the Shipibo is full of existential problems, with unbelievable material poverty and tremendous social wealth. I am deeply grateful to them for accepting me as a guest and permitting me insights into their everyday lives and spiritual healing traditions."

On that note, perhaps we should all give up some thanks for our own roles as guests on this earth and for our impermanent contributions to the maze we each walk in.






Here are some Shipibo products available on Amazon and Novica:

A Maze in the Amazon: The Shipibo-Conibo Path in Textiles

The Beautiful Adriene Cruz, Portland Fiber Artist

My local fiber art group, Paducah Fiber Artists, meets once a month for a pot luck, show and tell and general good fun. It's a monthly highlight for me. I arrived a bit late (as usual) to our June 2008 meeting to find this gorgeous woman sitting there. She was a guest artist from Portland, Oregon, spending a month at A.I.R. Studio located in the heart of Lowertown, our art district. Adriene Cruz embodies color, life, elegance, and texture, both in her persona as well as in her art. Her work has obvious African influence, but she incorporates pieces of textiles from around the world and their origins also add their voices to the final creation.

Adriene's website, which she claims is horribly outdated, gives continuity to her work. It is bright, decorated with borders taken from her textiles and filled with words of love and a vision of peace.

Adriene is a transplant from New York, and although her heart is still there, she has become actively involved in Portland's community life. Their local PBS station, Oregon Public Broadcasting, has a program called Art Beat, which interviews local artists and then develops curriculum based for children based that artist's story.



Adriene is there and her video will explain a lot of where she comes from, what inspires her and how she creates her pieces. If you have children or work with them, you might enjoy the three projects on Adriene's page as well as the other artists in the program. Lots of great ideas!

Her community involvement has led her to collaborative work with other artists that have permanently changed Portland's landscape. She has worked on murals, billboards and other public art. The most impressive this train stop:


The North Killingsworth Street MAX Station
Interstate Avenue at N. Kilingsworth

Portland, Oregon's public transit system, the MAX, is beautifying its stations through the designs of a variety of public artists. The North Killingsworth Street Station, which opened May 1, 2004, was developed through a mentorship between Adriene Cruz and design team artist, Valerie Otani.

Adriene's work has been published in several books and her pieces are in private collections all over the world. The Exhibits and Honors page on her website lists the many prestigious places where her work has found a home or made an impact. Has this gone to her head? Nope. Adriene's feet are planted firmly on the ground. And her struggle to survive as an artist continues as a difficult, albeit joyous, path. I had the pleasure of visiting with her a bit at the studio while she was here. Her mother was also here, from New York, and I saw where Adriene learned her spirit of giving and love. Her Mom has the warmest, softest hands I have ever felt. Her smiles radiated benevolence, eyes sparkled with life.

If we are chips cut off from the block, Adriene's block has been solid and good. Speaking, or writing, about cutting, Adriene has no fear in transforming textiles into something new. She bought a Turkmen coat from me very similar to the one on the left (available in my Etsy store, hint, hint), chopped it up and made a beautiful bag out of half of it. She had forgotten to bring one with her, so... no problem! Chop, chop, sew, sew, and there you go! Another accessory to complement her best art piece: her self!

Adriene used the embroidery from the side of the coat as the front flap of her bag and incorporated the embroidery along the hem and front as the strap:

I am inspired by artists and people like Adriene. They help build bridges among people and she has also contributed toward enhancing the physical space of her city. It makes me feel good to know that she is out there and the brief time I had with her here was a sunny day in Paducah!

The Beautiful Adriene Cruz, Portland Fiber Artist

Bazaar Brazil: Bringing Fair Trade from South to North

Brazil has had a long tradition of handicrafts. Most of the larger cities and metropolitan areas have what we used to call, "Feira Hippie", or Hippie Fairs. Many of the craft skills were brought by European immigrants, but these melded with both African and Indigenous influence into new interpretations of the crafts that are identifiably Brazilian. For example, the Portuguese brought bobbin lace making as an art with them during the colonial days. The skill spread up and down the coast among fishing villages, especially in the NorthEast. Lace techniques were used to make fishing nets, hammocks, bed spreads, curtains and other household items. In the 1970's, Brazilian artisans enjoyed a true renaissance in craft mediums. The craft fairs really were populated with the hippie generation trying to make a living from their cottage industries.

Imports from Indonesia, China and other countries almost devastated craft production as they could undersell the products of local artisans. However, with the growth of fair trade projects around the world and increased opportunities through online marketing and sales, Brazilian artisans found supportive audiences both at home and abroad.

Brazilians have three things in abundance that make fair trade products viable: excellent raw materials, an abundance of rural and urban poor who need work, and the entrepreneurial spirit that is necessary for project success. Bazaar Brazil embodies these elements in their wonderful selection of Brazilian fair trade crafts. Located in Redwood City, California (US), the shop is owned by two Brazilians who are doing their share to represent these artisans:

Mara Sallai is from the same area I grew up in. My brother was born in her city of Londrina. We had a brainstorming session trying to figure out if we had any acquaintances in common. We didn't, but we do share a love for Brazil and a hope that these crafts will empower the people they represent.

Bazaar Brazil focuses in on products that recycle waste and that are made by truly disenfranchised people. Many of the artisans are handicapped, have served time in prison, or live in areas where there is either no or very low-paying work.

Coasters, boxes and other objects are made from recycled wood by people with down syndrome.

Recycled polyester that are cast offs from large factories are made into textured pillows and throws.

Two of Mara's favorite products are banana fiber vessels and the Baniwa baskets. She describes both in terms of their local economic importance.

Baniwa from the Rio Negro- weavers of tradition

"The Baniwa basketry are made of "Aruma fiber" and have a sustainable feature - each cut fiber creates seeds for another two or three. The fibers need to be dyed before they are cut in under steam; the dyes are 100% natural.

Patterns of the baskets express their language and symbolize their environment. Authentic and without the touch of the western influence, the weaving tradition becomes a statement itself. Baskets can be used as storage units to help declutter your home, bottle and card holders, or bread and fruit displays. Each piece promotes indigenous design, culture; and helps provide protection to the Amazon rain forest.

Ethnic designs of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest cross rivers, waterfalls, distances and challenges to mark their significance in the "Western" market. Before arriving to the biggest city in the Amazon rainforest, the fair traded baskets travel 4000 miles navigating through three rivers and sixteen waterfalls."

Vessels made from recycled cardboard pulp covered with banana plant fiber.

Mara continues:
"In the interior of Minas Gerais (a Brazilian state), banana plant fiber and recycled cardboard pulp have changed the lives of a group of rural workers. The hands that once tilled the soil, crocheted or kneaded dough, now separate and and work the fibers from banana plants. Instead of making bread, they make papier machie. Their decorative pieces are winning the world over.

Sixty artisans now produce 800 pieces a month, on order. The decorative plates have found distributors in other Brazilian cities, Germany, France, Italy, and in our own California Redwood City, USA. They work within a cooperative system and have learned that the banana plant not only gives them fruit, but also sustains their families. They have also seen that their products fulfill both eco and fair trade principles."

Mara also works with individual artists. This one is from her home town of Londrina. The artist recycles used coffee filters as a canvas for her objects:

Many of the fair trade shops one sees around have been selling the same crafts for decades. Although they still play a vital role in the economy of the lives they represent, Bazaar Brazil offers a fresh selection of high quality handicrafts and decorative items. On the first page of their website, there is a link to a wonderful little video interview with Mara that shows the store and other products nicely. Bazaar Brazil does not have a web store, but I'm sure they would welcome your inquiries and if you are in the neighborhood, it's a must visit!

Bazaar Brazil: Bringing Fair Trade from South to North