SPINNING IN MEXICO

Wayland Combe Wright 1992

I warn you that this is an unexpected and incongruous story full of curious juxtapositions, but sometimes that's how life is, stranger than fiction. It starts about ten years ago when we were still living in England. We have always been very interested in spinning, weaving, dyeing cloth and making costume. At that time we had been finding out about spinning wheels by using a variety of types of spinning wheels we had borrowed from friends. From this experience we developed our own ideas on how to make a very simple, elemental, light weight, portable spinning wheel. This spinning wheel was to have several features that we particularly wanted such as a large bobbin that is easy to replace without needing to remove the driving band or rethread a tubular orifice as with the conventional spinning wheel.

I found that someone had cut up a wild cherry tree for firewood in the woods near where we were building our boat. Since I felt that this beautiful wood seemed worthy of a finer destiny than to be burnt, I carried the best log back to camp and made it into the spinning wheel that we had been planning to make. We didn't use the Scotch brake system which causes extra friction and means more work with the foot. Instead we used the differential drive system which we combined with a very sensitive tensioning adjustment. This fine adjustment allows the spinner to have really good control of how tightly the yarn is twisted. It also means that very fine yarn can be spun. I made the wheel so that it could be quickly dismantled and packed into a saddle bag. It weighed 12 pounds and was a present to ourselves for the Christmas of 1980. We christened the new wheel 'Trillis'.

It took us 2 1/2 years to complete our 32 foot catamaran Taulua. We sailed from Bristol, England in 1982 intending to arrive in Oregon as soon as possible. Well, "the best laid plans go oft awry", and for reasons that would be too long to explain here the voyage took much longer. We stayed 9 months in Panama, living mostly on an island off the Pacific coast. We were 4 years in Costa Rica where we rented a boat yard and fished. Then we were two years in Nicaragua where we chartered our boat and got on very well with the Sandinista government. We arrived in Mexico in 1990 and made our way up the Pacific coast visiting all the ports and beaches.

When we reached Puerto Vallarta we stopped to make some money repairing sails. I was going round the boats talking to all the people and asking who had any sewing to be done when one skipper asked me out of the blue, "Can you by any chance make me a spinning wheel?" Well of course we had Trillis packed up in the camel bag and securely stowed in the starboard bow of Taulua. I invited him to come round in the evening to see it. It turned out that he was a North American called Doug who had a small spinning, dying and weaving factory in Oaxaca. The problem was that his industrial spinning equipment wouldn't handle the local wool. His complaint was that the Mexicans didn't shear their sheep just once a year but whenever they felt like it. A birthday, a marriage, Christmas, need some money? Go and shear a sheep! The consequence of all this shearing is of course, very short wool; too short for Doug's machine. The indomitable Doug therefore put the wool through his carders and combers and produced barrels of sliver that he delivered to an indigenous community where they spun it in a kind of cottage industry. They used the "great wheel" which has to be turned with one hand and is therefore slower to operate than the treadle powered spinning wheel which leaves both hands free to spin continuously. Doug wanted to boost production by introducing the treadle spinning wheel, so he was delighted that evening when we demonstrated Trillis. We agreed to make him two machines and he put down a small deposit. The next day he sailed on Southward and I don't know if he really thought that he'd ever see us again.

Meanwhile we had made friends with a Huichol Indian who sold his artwork in Puerto Vallarta and who often came to stay with us on our catamaran. When we had enough money we went to visit him in the Sierra where we meet his mother. There we saw the very fine and beautiful woollen thread that she spun and plied up to weave pouches and belts for her family. All this she did with nothing more than a spindle, but it took her months to do. In fact it took her longer to spin her yarn than to weave it. We realised what a difference a good spinning wheel would make to her. If anyone deserved one, she did, and we resolved to make her one.

Once we'd finished the sail making we moved from the big marina and anchored in a quiet little harbour nearby called La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. In the morning as we breakfasted I was wondering how on earth I was going to find a local wood suitable for steam bending to make the wheels. I couldn't think because of an annoying noise in the background and I cursed. Then I realised that the noise was from a chain saw! I finished my breakfast right then and paddled ashore to find the scene of activity before the guiding noise would stop. I was in luck, someone was cutting down a local variety of Laurel tree that I estimated should steam bend well enough. Well, just as I had finished convincing the owner of the tree to give me a log I heard another awful din. This time I recognised the whine of a circular saw, so I hurried across to the other side of the village when I found the source of the noise and discovered Gonzalo, the village carpenter. I couldn't have been more fortunate because he became very enthusiastic about making spinning wheels and offered me the use of his workshop. So that was how it all began.

It was a lot of hard work in the humid heat of the Mexican summer. Gradually the wheels took shape but all too rapidly we became completely broke. However friends we had made in the village lent us money and we kept going. Finishing the spinning wheels seemed to be an interminable job. We were forever rowing back and forth from Taulua to the shore since much of the fine work we did afloat because Gonzalo's shop was often very busy.

Although Douglas had asked us to send the spinning wheels by bus we really wanted to go ourselves to show his spinners how to use the new machine. Then another piece of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place, an Iranian called Hussein befriended us. He had a station wagon, he was equipped to go on a camping trip to Oaxaca which is almost at the other end of Mexico. Five days later we delivered the spinning wheels and Aruna could show the spinners how to use them. Meanwhile Hussein had run out of time and almost of once we were off again!.

Soon after our return we met a functionary of the local government. His name is Jose Lima and he was the co coordinator for the development of crafts in the state of Nayarit where we are. He liked Trillis enough to ask us to make 5 more spinning wheels to be ready for the state fair, 'La Feria de la Mexicanidad'. This was due to begin in only two months so we had to be quick. By this time I had begun to modify Trillis to make it more massive and sturdy. I had noticed that the Indians of Oaxaca kept their spinning wheels in the courtyard with the chickens, pigs and even donkeys which came trotting past. I noticed the more massive construction of their other artifacts and got the message: "for this purpose the spinning wheel didn't have to be collapsible so much as bomb proof". I also noticed how the people liked turned wood so I introduced some turning into the now much more massive post. Often we had to improvise, and I Mexicanised the flier unit because the original brass unit would have been too expensive. Instead I bought locally made wooden stirrups which are from strips of a special wood that had been steam bent into a U shape. One stirrup sliced in two and tidied up makes a pair of good looking fliers.

By now we were beginning to know the local woods. The wood most commonly used for steam bending is Guacimo. It bends excellently but is very light. Really I was wanting to use a heavier wood not only to be tougher, but also to give the wheel more momentum. Everyone spoke in awe of a small tree called Cuate that is very strong, hard, heavy and doesn't rot or get eaten by bugs. It is reputed to steam bend beautifully. I went exploring in the hills and found a man who would get me the straight posts I needed. He promised to send me word. Well, eventually the word came and we went with a friend who has a pickup truck, but there was no wood! The problem? The army was all over the hills looking for marijuana. Anything could happen to the poor soul found up there! He wasn't just making excuses, we could see the army helicopters buzzing about.

By now time was getting on and we couldn't make another trip to the hills so we had to use another wood. Fortunately, we had a contingency plan. I had aroused the interest of a farmer in our village earlier when I had been asking about woods that could be steam bent. This was Don Lupe, a man that had a very special knowledge of the local woods. Almost everyday he'd bring me back a branch of another tree that he reckoned would be a good wood to bend. When I had plenty of samples I cut them into battens, steamed and then bent them around the wheel I used as a mould. From these woods I selected a common weed tree called Juan Perez as excellent for my purpose. Then I set off with Don Lupe on horseback to go up into the 'monte' to fetch two logs of Juan Perez which we hauled back to the carpenters workshop. It was very exact as we were only just able to get enough strips from the logs to make the wheels.

While all this had been going on we had at last been able to make a proper mould with which to steam bend the wheels. One can make a wheel either by cutting quadrants out of a board and joining them together to make the complete circle. Another way is to cut a disc out of a sheet of plywood. My preference is to steam bend battens into hoops, and then to laminate hoops together to give the thickness required. This makes a strong and stable wheel which can be amply wide without wasting any wood. With good organisation steam bending can be very quick and efficient, and a good mould to bend the wood around helps a lot.

The first wheels we had made on a mould improvised from the rim of a car wheel. Now we wanted to make a proper bending jig. This would need machine workshop facilities and that could be expensive. I discussed all this with Jose Lima and in this way an unusual connection came to light: first, the sleepy little fishing village where we are anchored was, unbeknown to us, also host to a sizable school of fishery tucked away out of sight. Second, this school is well equipped and counts with a good machine workshop. Third, and how about this, Jose Lima used to be a student of the school. Fourth, a former class mate of his is now president of the school. Thus Jose could write me a letter of introduction to his old friend Tapia Sandoval.

This was an excellent arrangement. Jose drove me around all the many scrap metal yards of Tepic until at last we found a suitable iron wheel. It was one of those wide flat cast iron pulley wheels that used to drive machinery and it was exactly the right diameter to make the proper mould. The workshop adapted it and made the rollers and the bending jig from the drawings I had made. Then we were ready to go into mass production.

All we needed now was wood for the posts. Gonzalo, our friend the village carpenter and his assistant Adolfo took pity on me after having seen me hauling back the logs of Juan Perez. We set off in Gonzalo's ancient car driving seven kilometres along an overgrown and grinding up steep tracks until we got to the remote neck of the woods were Adolfo had found his Cuata tree. Cuata is distinct from Cuate; it is much lighter in weight and a golden yellow colour. Because it is easy to turn it is suitable to make the posts. We loaded Gonzalo's poor car down onto its axles and chugged off back to his workshop.

Now we had the materials but we were losing badly in the race against time to be ready for the fair. Going day and night we managed to get two spinning wheels ready for the beginning of the fair. Aruna stayed in Tepic to demonstrate them while I returned to complete the other three and bring them up a few days later.

The fair lasted three weeks and was a good opportunity for us to contact a wide spectrum of the Mexican public. We met numbers of Huichol and Cora Indians who were fascinated by the spinning wheels but very shy. Too shy to try one. However, I found that their children were often bold enough to sit and treadle the wheel. I'd get them to ply some wool and then leave them treadle the wheel. If I peeked back later, mum would be sitting there treadling away at the wheel, a little stiff and awkward as all people are at first, but mastering it.

Everyone was fascinated by the wheel and as soon as Aruna sat down to spin a crowd would gather. She sold one wheel to a Mexican lady, but it was really the indigenous people who wanted them. Even though we were selling the spinning wheels very cheaply we realised there would be few Coras or Huichols who could afford to buy one. Especially since they are such a traditional people with an extremely cautious attitude to new things.

To encourage them to be exploratory Jose was proposing to lend the wheels to the different communities. He hoped that as they gained confidence in the spinning wheels he would be able to exchange them for craft work. He also wanted to arrange spinning classes in Tepic for the large Huichol and Cora community that live there.

The money we were selling the spinning wheels for wasn't nearly enough to cover the costs. This we had realised when we started so we had been selling T shirts we had printed with designs from Huichol yarn paintings. On Jose's invitation we took our printing machine with us to the fair where we printed and sold shirts as another demonstration.

Financially, it was the T shirts that carried the day. For the previous two months while we had been making this new batch of spinning wheels we had had to borrow money once again from all our friends in the village. After the fair in Tepic we returned to our little village victorious. We paid back everyone and still had something left for Christmas. Already my little daughter had her hearts desire, a bicycle.

Rosendo, our Huichol friend from Puerto Vallarta invited us back to the Sierra at the end of December. His father is an important shaman there, and they were going to hold a festival to cure Rosendo's child who kept falling ill. This was our opportunity to take Rosendo's mother the spinning wheel we had promised her. We prepared for our expedition to the Sierra, it was going to be cold especially at night. Something we had forgotten about after so long in the tropics.

The journey up there took 24 hours travelling non stop on five busses. For the last part there where no busses and we hitched a ride. The fiesta was for 3 days. During the first day were the preparations. Small groups of busy people where making a great variety of offerings, each offering with its special significance. We helped with the preparations and each time another group of people arrived we'd be called upon to demonstrate the spinning wheel.

In the evening everyone went into a house that had been specially prepared. Rosendo's father sat with 3 other shamans and began to chant in a melodious way and the other shamans would second him. It reminded me a little of the Te Deum in the Protestant Church. Amongst the audience a continuous sequence of actions were performed. Sometimes specially robed children presented candles to be blessed, or a rope was passed round behind everybody, or they set off rockets in an endless stream of metaphorical acts. Meanwhile the shaman sang without pause until dawn. It was emotional and packed with symbolic meaning.

A new scene was set up outside in the sun, and after eating the shaman started singing again accompanied by rattles and the great drum. A little later they sacrificed a cow. They couldn't find the executioner who kept hiding but at last they collared him and he had to dispatch the beast. The singing continued until evening when there was another pause while food was passed around again. At night the dancing started. The singing, drumming and dancing continued all night. The success of healing seemed to depend to some extent on the enthusiasm and stamina of the dancers. If that wasn't enough next morning the 'borrachera' started!

Fortunately most people didn't get too drunk and Aruna could continue giving spinning lessons to the women, especially Rosendo's mother who was very happily tipsy. Aruna had begun by teaching them first to treadle, and then to ply.

The Huichol use a lot of acrylic fibre which is sold in all the neighbouring towns in a wide variety of colours. It is sold unplied so they are always having to ply it, even those that never use wool. Acrylic costs the equivalent of 7 U.S. dollars per kilo. We bought a fleece of wool in the Sierra near to where we stayed. It cost 5 dollars for a whole fleece of about 2 kilos. Articles woven from wool sell for about twice the price of those made from acrylic fibre. This means that for almost a third the price something twice as valuable is produced.

While we were in the Sierra we saw that the Huichol had precious little in the way of warm clothes, and what they had was cotton except for acrylic blankets. There is a tendency for well meaning North Americans to give them old clothes. Suddenly one can come across a bunch of Huichols in cast off Mickey Mouse sweaters, a horrible contrast to what they would otherwise wear. Weaving cloth for clothes is not such a big step for them to make when they already weave so much. I an sure that the key lies in the ability to prepare good woollen yarn quickly, and this is where the spinning wheel can have an important role to play.

The Huichols traditionally only use the natural colours of wool except for a very dark navy blue which they no longer produce. They use acrylics for colour and many are very gifted artistically in the use of colour. However wool is not difficult to dye. It takes dye easier than cotton.

It's a wonderful proposal but it's a costly one. Each trip up to the Sierra costs more than the profits from the sale of one spinning wheel. Nevertheless, to be successful we need to 'seed' spinning wheels in as many different hamlets and villages in the Sierra as possible. These 'seeded' wheels have to be followed up and the spinners visited every few weeks until they have really got over the teething problems and mastered the skill of spinning with the wheel. We are doing what we can to raise funds by printing the Huichol T shirts and we are looking for ways to increase our funding so that we can devote more time to this work.