Employing Rural Women

Before the end of the year, general cleaning of the workshop was carried out. Constant renewal of the molds (which is necessary to have a better finish and produce better quality products) leaves behind plaster blocks. Even though the blocks cannot be used to elaborate pieces, they can be used as fillings when repairing streets and trails, benefitting various local families. Therefore, the blocks were incorporated into the streets and the path that leads to the workshop. Afterwards, new molds were made, allowing women to continue with the production.

Since the percentage of shrinkage is greater during cold and humid months, women cast and polish pieces in December and January and they are now preparing to fire them.

As part of the continuous improvement, the members of the workshop participated in the training course on Color Theory that was given on January 15th, 2018 in Jalpan de Serra and targeted artisans in the region. The course reinforced their knowledge about the importance of color, the combination of tones, and, in the case of Las Mariposas workshop, the importance of respecting the original colors of the decoration portrayed on their pieces; their decoration primarily depicts the most representative birds of the region and therefore the women must consider real colors in their impressions.

As a result of the workshop, the women have begun to use new decoration designs on their ornate pieces, integrating combinations of bright colors that are different from the colors on the rest of the pieces.

They are currently working on special orders and are looking to integrate new members to help them with polishing pieces. This is one of the main activities, since it determines the quality of a product.

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