We have gotten to know a woodworker who comes to Otavalo every weekend to sell his wares. His name is Mesías (Messiah in English), and his specialty is carving nativity scenes with an indigenous twist. While Amy´s parents were in town, we asked if we could visit his workshop and see how the figurines are made. He graciously agreed to host us for a visit. Here you can see the first step in the process, where he cuts the ceder wood into small blocks. I was actually surprised to see such a big band saw.
The next step is the rough cuts. Here Mesías is chopping away the corners and forming a rough image.
Next comes the finer, chiseling tools, of which he appeared to have plenty. Notice the plastic bag in the upper left corner. It is a radio, which he says helps him to work into the night getting all of the pieces carved for the weekend. Mesías told us he went to a specialty high school that was devoted to artisan skills like woodworking. He lives in a city called San Antonio, which is famous for woodworking, both small pieces like he does and also wood furniture. An interesting thing about Otavalo and its surroundings is the fact that many communities have specialized in one type of artisan work. In Cotacachi they make leather goods, in Peguche they weave blankets and ponchos, and in a little community near Quichinche they make funny looking striped pants (serous micro-specialization).
The last part of the operation is painting the figurines. This role belongs to his wife (can´t remember her name), and she does fantastic work. Note the little baby laying on the table. It is a little diviño niño, and they perform some serious operations on him before selling him. They actually cut open his head before painting him and drill holes from the inside of his head out to where his eye sockets are. Then they place a small round piece of glass into his eye socket and paint it, and then glue back on the front of his head. The result is a wooden baby Jesus, with some seriously real looking eyeballs.
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