Can you make out the faces in this blurry old photo? I took it in the unlit interior of a headman’s one-room dwelling in a small Andean village about twenty-five years ago. They’re the skulls of his grandfathers, and his great-grandfather. He keeps them on a prominent shelf in his little hut, along with fresh […]
16
Jun
Jun
We at Thrums Books have admired the hooked rugs from Multicolores—the Cooperative of Maya Women Rug Hookers in Guatemala— from the beginning. We’ve been in awe, frankly, at the excellent work these Maya women have been producing. Simply, the rugs are gorgeous. Colorful, playful, exquisitely rendered. Look a bit closer and you’ll see color combinations that […]
10
Jun
Jun
It’s rainy season in Guatemala where Joe Coca and I have been traveling about the last several days. It’s rained as we’ve wound our way up steep mountain roads; it’s drizzled as we’ve slipped down into lush forests where bromeliads sprout like magical creatures from dangling vines and giant pine trees stand like lookouts; we’ve […]
02
Jun
Jun
Tomorrow, Thrums Books’ photographer Joe Coca and I are flying to Guatemala where we’ll wend our way to rainy Panajachel. Yes, we’re working on another book! It’s hard to keep track, isn’t it? Morocco, China, the Navajo Nation, Guatemala. We’re covering all the textile bases. For this month’s featured textile museum it seemed fitting, given […]
31
Mar
Mar
Alfonso Huerta, the amazingly talented illustrator of our most recent book, Maya Gods & Monsters, shares a behind-the-scenes view of how the book–and the gods–came to be. Maya Magic About five years ago, I was vacationing on a beautiful lagoon in the southern part of the Yucatan with Carol Karasik, the author of Maya Gods & Monsters, […]
10
Mar
Mar
AUTHOR CAROL KARASIK IS OUR GUEST BLOGGER THIS WEEK, GIVING SPECIAL INSIGHT INTO HER NEW BOOK: Myths and Tales and Textiles Thrums Books has a glorious reputation for publishing beautiful books on textiles from ancient cultures throughout the world. In a striking departure, they decided to bring out Maya Gods and Monsters: Supernatural Stories from the […]
24
Feb
Feb
Carolus karasikii This is an unusual species with only one known member. Carolus karasikii, commonly known as Carol Karasik, can be found in the jungles of eastern Chiapas, the cobbled streets of San Cristóbal, the deserts of the American southwest, the rural villages of Southeast Asia, or the libraries of Washington, D.C. Her plumage is […]
17
Feb
Feb
Craft Chores I call my mom, affectionately, “The Closer.” Over the last several years she’s been the recipient of this friend’s or that’s unfinished craft project. Sometimes the assignment is from a friend who has passed away (not to be morbid, but at 86, these things happen), whose children want their mom’s handiwork finished but […]
27
Jan
Jan
“Always keep a diamond in your mind.” —Tom Waits Spiraling In reading our friend Janet deBoer’s most recent Fibre Forum E-bulletin, I learned about Spiral Textile: Ancient Design–Modern Hands. This is a juried competition challenging textile artists from around the world to produce a repeating spiral design that was drawn on an ancient papyrus. The drawing […]
13
Jan
Jan
A few nights ago, Linda Ligon, Deborah Chandler—who’s visiting from her home in Guatemala—and I found our way to the Indigenous Film and Arts Festival in Denver. The January feature was Weaving Worlds, a 2007 documentary by Navajo filmmaker Bennie Klain. Weaving Worlds records the lives of several Navajo weavers and their struggles to maintain […]
