The Borucas pick the cotton which grows on trees in the hillsides around Boruca, there is a brown coloured variety and a white one. They spin the cotton by hand and then they dye it in many different colours.
They have one very unique black colour that is dyed with some specific sediment in a nearby stream location. The other colours are all from natural plant dyes of plants dotted around the town of Boruca. For example the teak leaf produces the most beautiful purple dye and those leaves have to be picked on a waning moon for the best colour and first thing in the morning because like humans the plants rest in the afternoon and so it is not good to pick them when they are resting. A lot of Costa Ricans use Biodynamic principles using cycles of the moon and natural cycles that dictate the best times to plant and harvest.
There is a very special shade of purple that is obtained from a special type of snail at the beach, they take trips down there periodically and the children get to play as they pick the snails off the rocks. They collect the urine from the snails which is yellow and when exposed to the sun turns an exquisite shade of purple (one wonders how they found that out!?) and then they replace them all individually, it is a laborious process.
The beautiful balls of yarn are then woven into panels and strips for different parts of the bags. The bags are then assembled. Some have little ties that are miniature hand carved masks showing the original roots of Borucan art. The process can take up to a month from picking the cotton to completed product.
Another artisan in the group will then assemble and sew the bags together. Traditionally men carve masks and women work with textiles.
Boruca Indigenous culture - colours used for weaving bags
These bags are made by women of the Boruca Indigenous Tribe from all natural materials. The cloth is woven with string which they spin with home-grown cotton which has previously been colored with dyes prepared from natural sources. This has been part of Borucan tradition for hundreds of years.
Black - Bark from the Carbonero tree, boiled and mixed with clay. There is also black sediment in a local stream that they use.
Purple - From the slime of a sea snail.
Light brown - This is the natural colour of home-grown cotton.
Green - From the leaves of a tree the Borucas call 'Twiza'.
Sea Blue - From a tree known to the Borucas as 'Sacatinta'.
Maroon - From the bark of the Nance tree.
Pink - From the seeds of the Golden Fruit tree.
Grey - Ashes from the Boruca's cooking stoves boiled to a paste.
Light Violet- From the leaves of a tree known to the Borucas as 'Suta'
Dark Violet - From the young tender leaves of the Teak tree.
Arte Textil Bolsos
Para poder tejer, se debe recoger el algodón que crece cerca de las casas de habitación, luego que se tiene el algodón se hila, obteniendo así el hilo de algodón, luego este hilo pasa al proceso de tinte, el cual es de manera natural, con tintes tomados de hojas de plantas, corteza de árboles, raíces, de los cuales producimos los diferentes colores, dos colores importantes son el negro y el morada, ya que; para obtener el primero (negro) es necesario combinar la corteza de un árbol y además de barro, y el morada lo obtienen de un caracol del mar, el cual deben saber y comprender el tiempo para recolectar dicho color, eh ahí su importancia. Este hilo ya teñido, se procede a urdir, lo cual se refiere a acomodar los hilos de acuerdo al trabajo a realizar, esto en cuanto a colores, figuras, diseños y tamaño, luego que la manta o faja de tejido es terminada, se procede ensamblar varias piezas de tejido para lograr así una pieza textil, como un bolso.
Cultura Indigena Boruca - Colores de las bolsas
Estos bolsos son fabricados por mujeres indigenas de Boruca quienes en sus creaciones utilizan materiales y tintas naturales para conservar parte de sus tradiciones.
Negro - Cascara de carbonero hervido y mezcaldo con barro.
Purpura - Baba de caracol del mar.
Café - Color natural del algodon.
Verde - Hoja de un arbol conocido por los Borucas como ' Twiza'.
Azul de Mar - Extraido de un arbol conocido por los Borucas 'Sacatinta'.
Raiz de Platanilla hervida y molida.
Marron - Cascara de Nance.
Rosado - Semilla de Fruta Dorada.
Gris - Ceniza hervida.
Violeta - Hoja de un arbol conocido por los Borucas como 'Suta'.
Morado - Hojas tiernas de teca.