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One of a few excellent weavers alive in the Otavalo area employing traditional techiques to weave beautiful goods. He also spins and dyes his own yarn which is mostly wool, llama and alpaca. This photo shows him at a back strap loom.

Tags:   Ecuador Otavalo weaver back strap loom

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Here the weaver is spinning his own thread after carding wool. He spins the large flywheel with his right hand and guides the loose wool onto the spindle with his right.
The basket in the foreground contains small cylinders of carded wool, about 1" in diameter and a little over a foot long. Each cylinder yields 4-5 meters of thread.

If you look hard, on the far left is a traditional card make of thistle heads. If some weaver types out there ask me to post a close up of this card, I will.

Mr. Andrango's is most concerned about telling the world what he does and is concerned that the art of preparing wool and making cloth with backstrap looms will die in the Otavalo area.

Tags:   Otavalo back weaving spinning wool miguel Anrango Ecuador

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