{"id":96,"date":"2016-07-07T20:36:23","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T20:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brentblack.com\/cart\/?page_id=96"},"modified":"2016-07-13T21:48:47","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T21:48:47","slug":"tour-beginning-the-weaving-of-panama-hats","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/hat-lore-overview\/tour-how-a-panama-hat-is-made\/tour-beginning-the-weaving-of-panama-hats\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginning The Weaving"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"tour_06_01_jose6_crop\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_06_02_jose3_crop\"After the straw has been bleached, the weaver selects the best\u00a0straw and cuts it to the length he wants to work with. Then he chooses one of\u00a0the prepared strands to use to begin the hat. But first he must slice it to the\u00a0fineness he wants. The straw has curled lengthwise while drying. He is\u00a0uncurling the straw (right) so he can use a sharpened thumbnail to slit it to\u00a0the desired width. This is not Sim\u00f3n. You probably knew\u00a0that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_06_03_jose5_crop\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_06_04_jose8_crop\"At the left, Jos\u00e9 is getting ready to slit the straw\u00a0with his thumbnail.<\/p>\n

To the right, Jos\u00e9\u2019s hand was quicker than my eye. He quickly\u00a0slit the straw lengthwise with a flick of his wrist. Judging by his age, and\u00a0having seen him walk, I never would have guessed he could<\/em> flick his\u00a0wrist.<\/p>\n

\n

\"tour_06_05_jose1_crop\"Voil\u00e0! Two straws. (left) He examines them carefully to\u00a0decide if they are both the same fineness and if there are any other issues\u00a0that might require him to correct or discard one or both of the straws.<\/p>\n

Next, we\u2019ll watch Sim\u00f3n\u2019s father, Senovio, as he shows us\u00a0how to begin the hat. (below)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_06_06_IMG_3879\"\u00a0\"tour_06_07_IMG_3880\"<\/p>\n

\n

He chooses two straws and places them carefully across the\u00a0fingertips of one hand. (above left) He adds a second, third, and fourth pair\u00a0of straws, arranging them carefully and holding everything in place as he adds\u00a0the next pair.<\/p>\n

\"tour_06_08_IMG_3881\"\u00a0\"tour_06_09_IMG_3884\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Below left, you can see how the four pairs of straws are\u00a0overlapped to begin the hat. This is called the cruzado. Below right, Senovio\u00a0begins the weaving that will become the center of the top of the\u00a0hat.<\/p>\n

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\"tour_06_10_IMG_3958\" \"tour_06_11_IMG_3885\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He overlaps the individual straws, weaving them over and under\u00a0each other faster than I can follow. After a couple of minutes he has created a\u00a0tiny beginning, which he shows us below right. This stage is called the\u00a0armado<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"tour_06_12_IMG_3897\" \"tour_06_13_IMG_3972\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Senovio performs a finger dance with the straw. He weaves his\u00a0little straw spot bigger, feeding in new straws as though adding new dancers to\u00a0the stage. They loop, circle, bob in and out, always snugging up to each other\u00a0in the center before they head back out for another go-round.<\/p>\n

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\"tour_06_14_IMG_3919\"\"tour_06_15_IMG_3991\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_06_16_IMG_3999\"\"tour_06_17_IMG_4013\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"tour_06_18_IMG_4007\"\"tour_06_19_IMG_4030\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_06_20_IMG_4015\"\"tour_06_21_IMG_3941\"<\/p>\n

\n

\"tour_06_22_IMG_3942\"<\/p>\n

Senovio shows us that the dance has been performed well. The\u00a0hat is getting bigger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_06_23_plantilla1_crop\"A few hours of weaving will expand the hat to the size of a\u00a0silver dollar. This is called the plantilla<\/em>. (right)<\/p>\n

Even when the hat has been completed, the entire top of the crown is called\u00a0the plantilla<\/em>. The photo to the right was made on a different day. Different\u00a0<\/span>year even. The photos of Senovio were made on Thanksgiving Day\u00a0<\/span>2005.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"tour_06_24_IMG_4073_crop\"Marcial\u2019s wife Josefa (on the left) shows us that she\u00a0knows how to do it, too. Sim\u00f3n\u2019s wife (on the right) assists. The\u00a0Little Inspector makes sure they do it properly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thanksgiving\"tour_06_25_IMG_3872_crop\" Dinner.<\/h2>\n

Having Thanksgiving dinner in Montecristi gives a whole new\u00a0meaning to \u201cturkey in the straw.\u201d The meal was prepared by Jorge\u00a0(on the left), his wife, and staff at their beachfront hotel and restaurant.\u00a0Yum. It was a rare treat, as in first-ever, for the weavers and their families\u00a0to enjoy a restaurant banquet. Gringo madness. In Ecuador, it\u2019s not\u00a0Thanksgiving, just Thursday. (Jueves actually.) That\u2019s Roff on the right.\u00a0I asked him leave his hat on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

N\"tour_06_26_IMG_3885\"ext, see the weavers do their stuff.<\/p>\n

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

After the straw has been bleached, the weaver selects the best\u00a0straw and cuts it to the length he wants to work with. Then he chooses one of\u00a0the prepared strands to use to begin the hat. But first he must slice it to the\u00a0fineness he wants. The straw has curled lengthwise while drying. He is\u00a0uncurling the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":988,"parent":86,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"tour-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-96","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96","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=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3580,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions\/3580"}],"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\/988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}