Like most fine artwork, the process of making your cabuya takes is a long process, about two weeks. The cabuya fiber is harvested from the agave plant in a small town in Boaco called Santa Lucia. Every two weeks they make the 3 hour trek in a school bus to pick up the raw material from which they weave the cord that makes up the picture.
The fist step in making the cord is smoothing and detangling a batch of the natural fiber by raking it against a board of nails called the peine.
After it is detangled, they tie it to one of four spinners connected to the weaving machine where it is spun into a ¼” cord.
Once the cord is made they then put it in a boiling pot of water and dye to create the vibrant colors that compose your cabuya. Once the color has been added to the cabuya cord they hang it out to dry.
Now that the cabuya cord is made they can start making your picture. They begin by nailing the design on wax paper to a wooden table and then they nail in the 1 1/2” border of cabuya. The internal borders of the design are also nailed in to the table to create a firm anchor to which they carefully fill in the rest of the design by weaving it into the anchor with a thinner cord of cabuya.
Lastly Don Antonio thoroughly goes over your cabuya to ensure the quality of his artisans and to finely weave in the intricacies of your cabuya artwork.
