Handmade Purses

Since the dawn of time people of all cultures have been making handmade products. Over many years the art of making products by hand has almost disappeared. The Industrial Revolution was the beginning of the end of handmade goods. Although certain cultures, especially in underdeveloped countries, have kept the art of handcrafted goods alive. One group of indigenous Indians have by far surpassed the others when it comes to handmade goods. Handmade purses are one of the most common products that these indigenous Indians living in Ecuador make.

The materials used to make these purses varies. Wool is the most widely used material. The true artists of weaving wool and embroidering goods by hand are the Andean Indians living just north of Quito Ecuador in the Andes Mountains. These talented Indians reside in a small village at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. The town is called Otavalo. They are called Otavalenos. The women make the majority of these products. They raise the alpacas, they harvest the wool, and they spin and dye the wool by hand. Then they use the hand spun wool to weave and sew their final products. All of the materials that are incorporated into these purses are all natural. The dyes are all naturally produced too. Many of these purses have intricate and colorful designs, and they are all of the highest quality.

Another material used is cotton. Generally the purses made of cotton have very detailed and intricate embroidering. The designs are often flowers. Some of the purses represent weeks of work. In the case of cotton the Otavalenos pre wash these goods. Yes, they wash them by hand. This is true with almost all of their products.

Another product used often to make purses is “yute.” Yute is a fiber made from a tropical plant. It is a very durable fiber and has become quite the popular choice of materials to use for handmade purses. Yute can be found in many different countries with tropical climates, but the Otavalenos exploit its use better than anyone.

Some of the other natural products used when making these purses are tagua, café, and seeds of all types. Buttons can be some type of seed in its natural form, or in the case of tagua, they are carved from seeds of a special palm tree. Café is merely coffee beans. Café is sometimes used to decorate these purses, but they are more widely used in jewelry.

Handmade purses and other handmade products are much better made than their mass produced counterparts. Also when one purchases a handmade product, he is purchasing one of a kind, and there will never be another one exactly like it. To purchase one of these usable pieces of artwork, one needs to travel to South America or find a company that specializes in imported products from this region. The majority of these products never leave South America.