joel

Weaving nature
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Artisan creator of braided wheat

Joel works with the wheat stalk, known in Mexico as Popotillo.

He takes care of the entire process just as his parents taught him and they did from theirs.
It is a work that comes from the ancient Tarascans, an original people of Michoacán.

Joel sometimes dreams about his pieces and how he will make them the next day in his workshop. It takes him 1 to 2 days to make a small piece and 1 to 3 months for large pieces.
When I deliver a piece that I have been commissioned to do, I like it when people value my work and tell me what they like. joel

This is how he makes the pieces

From the sowing to the piece.

Joel has to plant wheat in order to harvest the raw material he works with: wheat stalks or Popotillo, which he cuts when they are dry.

Once he has the rods in his workshop, the first thing he does is wash and empty them, leaving them clean so he can then start braiding them and thus be able to create his pieces.

He begins by wetting the sticks so that they don't break when he works on them. Joel tells us that he starts from the center of the pieces, which is the most important thing for him.

Then he joins the pieces together and shapes them by enlarging them until he achieves the desired size and design.

The pieces made by Joel

Pieces carefully crafted down to the smallest detail.