After yesterday’s debacle, I was thrilled to find Señor Alberto waiting for me at the door right at 9am. We had an easy entry into the prison since we had been very meticulous about our materials list and everything was accounted for. We breezed into the women’s area and started class right on time. What a joy to finally be up and running!
The women are working on small purses. The first step was to prepare the leather by wetting and working it on a stone slab to soften it. The women have never done this part of the process before and it certainly got some hearts pumping since it involved a lot of force and rapid movements.
Some samples of the women’s stamping work
Next, they learned how to work with a pattern and how to trace and cut the pattern on the leather. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. There is a whole tracing tool and process that involves measuring and rulers. Then they use a special leather knife to cut the shape. Since the leather is thick, it takes a lot of patience and precision to cut through the leather and this was the most time consuming part of the day.
Finally the fun part- stamping! The women marked off their stamping area and then got to use the beautiful stamps Señor Alberto brought. There was a mixture of small design stamps with larger figure stamps. The women got REALLY into telling a story with the stamps as they used people, animals, and typical Peruvian designs to decorate their bags.
The embellishment stamps
I was extremely pleased to hear that for once most of the women are keeping the bags for themselves. Usually they give their pieces away to their children, but this time they seemed to have made some kind of secret pact to make a piece for themselves. As mothers who give so much of what they earn away, I’m happy to hear that they are gifting the bags to themselves.
After today’s class, all of Señor Alberto’s hesitation around teaching in the prison has disappeared. Originally, he was nervous about bringing his tools, worry they might get lost or stolen. The women are very careful with class tools and today they demonstrated this by keeping a close watch on everything. By the end of the class Señor Alberto requested that we leave the tools with the women so he wouldn’t have to carry them again. Big props to the women for earning his trust in such a short amount of time!
On Thursday we will finish the bags and Friday is a small coin bag project just for fun.