Holiday snaps

'I don't usually put my holiday photos on this blog, but I think these will be of interest to some people.  We are on holiday in Peru, and today went to a weaving coop to see a dyeing and weaving demonstration.  They use baby alpaca (very soft and silky), alpaca (soft) and wool. 

Here you can see weaving looms and in the background, baskets of dye plants and the wool which has been dyed by using it. 

Here is the speaker, Nellie, all ready to go.  Can you see her 18 month old daughter on her back?  She's eating Guinea pig, which is a delicious local delicacy.  

Here she is washing the wool using a natural soap made from a grated root.  They only need to wash it once for it to be ready to use. 

Once the wool had dried, it is spun using wooden spindles. Then comes the fun part, the dyeing.  There were various plants used to get yellow, green, a good blue and various browns, but the biggest surprise was cochineal. 

The cochineal beetles live on cactus leaves.  They are the dusty patches on these leaves. 

Nellie put some of the live beetles on her hand, although this photo isn't very clear.  Then she 'sacrificed' them, and hey presto! cochineal! 

The dark red colour from the beetles is at the bottom right.  By adding lemon juice, the gorgeous orange on the right appears.  Then above the red is a purple colour and above that a black, both made by adding other ingredients.  This is how they are able to make their wonderful bright colours. 

Then for the dyeing. 

And here are the results.  Fabulous. 

Then, of course, the weaving. 

And here is the final product.  Everyone in our party enjoyed the presentation, and then came the opportunity to buy!