HARVESTING THE RAW MATERIAL. Wounaan use the new shoots of the Astrocaryum standleyanum palm tree locally known as chunga or werregue. This tree grows to 50 feet with sharp 8-inch thorns along the trunk. New shoots are sustainably harvested every 3 months according to the lunar cycle. It takes about 3-4 hours of walking through dense jungle before finding the perfect tree to harvest. The new shoots are cut with a curved knife attached to a long pole. If armed groups (guerilla, paramilitary, army, or drug trafficers) are in the region fighting for control of the waterways, then they must wait for the next lunar cycle to harvest palm.
PREPARING THE RAW MATERIAL
Fresh cut leaves are first separated leaf by leaf before being washed and dried in the sun.
Once dry, the palm turns into a milky beige color. This is the natural color of the palm fiber.
Natural beige fibers are dyed with plant-based dyes from the rainforest or food grade dyes. One very important plant to the Wounaan is called Puchama. The leaves of the Puchama plant can create at least 5 different colors when used in combination with other ingredients.
Dry palm is next split and twisted into threads. Master weaver, Maria Iris, has taken her fiber art to another level. She has developed techniques to create micro stitching of palm leaf fiber as seen in the TAVWE collection of woven earrings. Maria has passed these skills onto her community of women weavers in the Choco rainforest.
After days of preparing the fiber, the women can now begin constructing their basket, bracelet, or earrings. They start by making the alma or soul - an inner coil filled with grassy fibers tightly wrapped with chunga palm. Palm threads are threaded onto a needle to sew the alma together, sometimes as tight as two to three stitches per millimeter. A pair of earrings can take 2-3 days to construct.
