Sol Dorado - Art Gallery
Blvd.. Mijares No: 33, Col. Centro, C.P. 23400, San José del Cabo, B.C.S. Tel: (624)14-219-50
email: rosadu@prodigy.net.mx web_page: www.soldoradogaleria.com

Olinala

Without any doubts, one of the most important handcrafts in Mexico is the lacqueur tecnique..
His importance dates since the pre-hispanic, but also its variety and designs, his quality and extraordinary beauty and the old technique used on the process of manufacture.
Now a days there are lacqueurs in Uruapan and Patzcuaro, in Michoacan State; Temalcacingo and Acapetlahuaya in Guerrero State, and in Capa de Corzo in Chiapas. Above them all the one that outstands is Olinala, not only for the varietyof this objects,
also because is in this remote town in the mountains, in which the indian technique it has been preserved intact.

Location:

Olinala is located in the mountain area in Guerrero state bordering the states of Puebla and Oaxaca..There is a dirt road that communicates this little town with Chilpancingo.
Knowing that the lenght of this road is 200 km.,due to the conditions of the road ,takes more than five hours to arrive.

The Artesans:

This constant relation in work makes them really easy the regular life and the cooperation between the Olinalitecos. For example, in weddings, family and persons that are not related participate in the party bringing food,drinks or service.Other characteristic
is the increased number register in the last years of persons dedicated to the lacquer process,This is interesting because in 1968 there were no more than 20 registred. Now we can assure that the big mayority of the 7000 people that lives in Olinala survives of this work, some are carpenters,others sale the soils and others dedicate to the different fases of the process of the piece. We can say that 80% of the people of the town dedicates to this work and the rest are farmers.

Lac:

The olinaltecos call “work”to this beautiful art, and all them are proud of it.They start at 6.00 a.m.they grind the soil in the metate(stone) polish the wood ,design and clean the pieces. There arte two types of lac: striped and golden..

Shapes:

The traditional shapes are the different sizes and stiles of boxes. The names given to some of them, are the prices that they paid to the carpenters that made them: real, peseta and toston, meaning twelve, twentyfive and fifty cents.
The gourd is the traditional shape by excellence, and is a fact that this piece remind us our culture, because it’s been used since the pre-hispanic world as a way of measuring,
as a dish, water container, jewelry box, etc. Lately they been creating furniture in different styles,and home decoration items.

Wood:

The different kind of wood utilize for the boxes are copal, pinewood, ayacahuite and linaloe. This last one is the one that has the best aroma- one of the most atractives of this
handcraft. They make a cut during the months of April and September to make the tree have the aroma., and they cut in December and May. When the pieces in time loose their aroma you just have to polish inside , and it will smell back again.

Materials:

They used the following materials : chiaseed oil, linseed oil, soils and pigments. The chiaseed oil comes from the mountain zone, but its price is expencive, due to heavy rains that destroy the cultivation in 1974.
The soils come from places close to town, in a place called Toltictic. Colors and linseed oil are aquired in Mexico city, but now there are some traders in Olinala.
To make the chiaseed oil you have to toast the seed in a comal (piece of metal) until it browns, then you grind by hand. To this fine dust, you add hot water so you can have the oil, when it gets cold, you mix. When the oil starts dripping from your hands, you make little balls and take it to the wood press.
The soils are: tecostle,toctel and tesicatle. these ones you grind in the metate. Black color is made from the heart of the corn (olote). Also they use cochinilla o grana (this is an insect that lives in the nopal.They prepare it in water adding soil . They let it rotten for a week so it brings out the beautiful red color characteristic of this tint utilized since the prehispanic.

Techinique:

For different tones of red, you add lemon drops, and they use sea shells to get the purple.
For blue they leave leafs to be rotten in a clay pot, rock fungus to produce brown and yellow.
First you apply the chiaseed oil, then the linseed oil and the soils. Then you polish with a stone or with the hand to the wood. This takes some days to dry out. You repeat this process three times until it gets texture. Then you shine two or three days. Drying out takes 10 to 15 days. Then you repeat the process and you will start the design..
Scratching the piece,they decorate while the piece is wet; most are animals and birds in different aspects, jumping up, jumping down, playing, alert ,etc.One of the characteristics are big ears and big tails. Finishing the scratching they apply pigments.They usually do the scratching with cactus thorns. With a cotton you polish until it shines with the chiaseed oil. Then they wax it and wrap it in paper to protect it from scratches.

The dotting is made with the point of a turkey feather.It takes a lot of time to finish the job. It take aproximate 55 days to finish one piece.
Other technique is the golden work . The used litlle gold leafs and silver stripes that you applied with the chiaseed oil.

San Francisco is the saint patron of the town of Olinala and this festivity is held on the 3rd and 4th of October.
They all wore tiger masks made of wood , and they dance to the rythm of the music, scaring people on their process.

The best pieces produced by the Olinaltecas are sold through the stores specialized in tourism. Each one is unique and has the time and heart of this wonderful artists.