{"id":110,"date":"2016-07-07T20:43:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T20:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brentblack.com\/cart\/?page_id=110"},"modified":"2016-07-14T00:45:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T00:45:22","slug":"tour-shaving-the-panama-hats-smooth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/hat-lore-overview\/tour-how-a-panama-hat-is-made\/tour-shaving-the-panama-hats-smooth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cortador Shaves the Hats Smooth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Fausto

Fausto Mero<\/strong>
1905\u20132007
Vaya con dios, Don Fausto<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Here is Fausto again. We saw him in funny hats a few pages\u00a0ago. This photo was made on my first or second trip to Montecristi. Fausto was\u00a0<\/span>seventy-something and was the cortador<\/em> for the Delgados.<\/span><\/p>\n

See how he is holding something between the first two fingers and thumb of\u00a0his right hand? That is a double-edged razor blade that has been broken in half\u00a0lengthwise.<\/p>\n

A single-edge blade is stiff, unbending. A double-edge blade is very thin,\u00a0very flexible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_13_02_gabc15_IMG_5997\"\"tour_13_03_gabc14_IMG_5998\"<\/p>\n

\n

When the hats return from the apaleador<\/em>, they need more\u00a0attention from the cortador<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"tour_13_06_viccor4\"\"tour_13_05_viccor6\"The fringe at the edge of the brim is now cut\u00a0off entirely. Victoria uses her scissors to cut quickly all around the brim\u00a0edge. Then she goes back and cuts again, more carefully, closer, right down to\u00a0almost nothing. It amazes me she can cut so close with scissors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_13_07_fausto2\"Fausto was a cortador<\/em>. He has always been one of my favorite characters. He\u00a0used to drink ca\u00f1a<\/em>, an unsophisticated cane liquor, in significant\u00a0quantities. He persuaded three different bars to open for us one election day\u00a0when we were both thirsty and restless. Every visit to Montecristi, I would\u00a0ceremoniously give Fausto a bottle of his favorite ca\u00f1a<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One year his granddaughter scolded me severely. Tried to take his bottle\u00a0away. Said it was bad for his health. I asked her how old he was. Ninety-four.\u00a0I pointed out that he had made it that far with a bottle in his hand and that\u00a0she should consider the possibility that it might kill him to stop drinking.\u00a0She didn\u2019t think I was even a little bit funny.<\/p>\n

I thought it was pretty good for improv in a foreign language.<\/p>\n

She let him keep the bottle and went back into the house. I suspect she just\u00a0waited until I left then mugged him and took away his ca\u00f1a<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"tour_13_08_fauraz1\"He became pretty feeble after he hit 95. His carousing days were long past.\u00a0I didn\u2019t bring him ca\u00f1a<\/em> anymore.<\/p>\n

In March 2007, I received an email advising me that Fausto had cancer. Diego\u00a0and Gabriel found him in a state of neglect, transported him to a clinic in an\u00a0ambulance, had him cleaned up and treated, restored his dignity, took him back\u00a0home to his family. He was 98.<\/p>\n

\n

\"tour_13_10_jmjos2\"\"tour_13_11_jmjosenf1\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Juan\"tour_13_09_jmscis1\" Mero was a great cortador<\/em>. He lived right in Montecristi, as do most of\u00a0the artisans other than the weavers. Few, if any, weavers live in Montecristi\u00a0city. When Juan passed away a few years ago, and Fausto retired, Victoria began\u00a0to do much more of the cortador<\/em> work.<\/p>\n

Juan worked with several of the dealers. Above, he is working with Jose
\nChavez at Nestor Franco\u2019s workshop. He uses a half a Gillette double edge
\nrazor to close-cut any little straw ends anywhere on the hat.<\/p>\n

\n

\"tour_13_12_jmraz1\"\"tour_13_13_jmraz2\"\"tour_13_14_jmraz4\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Here\"tour_13_17_josetruck\"\u2019s Jose with his truck.<\/p>\n

Jose is Nestor\u2019s cousin. Jose became a dealer.<\/p>\n

I generally enjoyed going out on the town with Jose but I trusted neither\u00a0his word, nor his judgment. He orchestrated two wives and a girlfriend\u00a0simultaneously. You know that\u2019s not going to have a pretty\u00a0ending.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Below, Hermelino uses a razor. Close. Closer.\u00a0Smooth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_13_18_19_Composite\"<\/p>\n

Notice how he uses a thumbnail to wedge up the straw in\u00a0order to cut it close.<\/p>\n

\"tour_14_teaser\"Next, the planchador<\/em> irons out some problems.<\/p>\n

Next Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is Fausto again. We saw him in funny hats a few pages\u00a0ago. This photo was made on my first or second trip to Montecristi. Fausto was\u00a0seventy-something and was the cortador for the Delgados. See how he is holding something between the first two fingers and thumb of\u00a0his right hand? That is a double-edged razor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":1007,"parent":86,"menu_order":19,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"tour-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-110","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3620,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110\/revisions\/3620"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}