We are proud to introduce our new line of Ixachitlan handmade pottery. The pottery is made entirely by hand by artisans from the community of Villa Progreso. Villa Progreso is a community of the state Queretaro located 74 km southwest from the city of Queretaro. Its name comes from the two hills between which it is located, the “Otomies” used to call it “Bothe” or Place of the Two Hills. Villa Progreso was inhabited mostly by the Indian “Otomies” that came from Xilotepec (near Mexico City) in 1942.

A family of Villa Progreso’s community began making this beautiful pottery about 40 years ago. The artisans use ancient techniques that have been passed down from their ancestors. Now, the production is run by a daughter and her family and about another 20 people from the same community participate in the creation of each piece. Below is a brief demonstration of the pottery making process.

First: The clay is pounded into the molds and left for drying...



Second: The dried ceramic products are lightly marked with a pencil to paint symmetrical figures...



Third: The artisans mark with pencil the different figures on the ceramic using paper...



Fourth: One artisan paints the plain color lines and the other one paints the figures...



Fifth: Another artisan paints the small dots on the ceramic pieces...



Sixth: Once the paintings are dry, the ceramic pieces are cooked in an oven at 1200 °C...



Note: The pieces are stoneware and can be used in the microwave and do NOT contain lead.

Ixachitlán Pottery Coming Soon!

Mexico's Maguey Plant

Mexico's wonder plant called the Maguey plant, also known as Agave and the Century plant, is a hearty succulent which survives southern Mexico's long, dry winter by storing liquid in its heart. Many people in the region depend upon the Maguey plants for their livelihood. Many products are derived and created from the entire Maguey plant.

IXTLE… An organic and natural resource used by Mexico's ancestors for 5,000 years… it involves tradition because the people of Villa Progreso still use the antique techniques they learned from their grandparents and parents to extract the fiber of ixtle of the maguey and make scrubs, handcrafts, and art out of it.

We are proud to offer a piece of México to the world. We want you to have a closer look on how the maguey products are made, how the maguey is processed and all their parts are utilized. Nothing gets wasted, even the thorns of the maguey are used as needles and the flower is cooked and eaten with a delicious tortilla.

The work starts in the field by collecting the “pencas” (leaves) of maguey after it finishes the production of agua miel, honey water in English. Agua miel is the juice extract of the maguey’s heart called quiote or moyolotl, that becomes pulque when it ferments. The heart is also used as sweet desert. Once it is time to collect them (8 or 12 year old magueys), the pencas are carefully toasted on slow fire in order to soften the pulp. The maguey has only one flower during all it’s life and it is also a beautiful sight of more than 3 meters high.

The pencas rest for 8 days to make them easier to handle. Once they are dry, the pencas are put upon a piece of wood called in Nahuatl “tlazimalhuapaletl” and are scraped with a small piece of wood with metal encrusted called “tlaximaltetl” to free the ixtle fiber from the pulp. The ixtle is washed in water with natural soap, then it is left to dry and ready to be used.

The ixtle gets cleaned first…



..the fibers are then brushed…


… next the maguey fibers are spun on the “malacatl”…





… finally the fibers are ready to be used to make creative and unique hand made crafts!!

Ixachitlán Maguey Angels Coming Soon!

STARTING OFF 2009!

GOALS FOR 2009!

1) INCREASE SELECTION AND INVENTORY - From artists in which we already carry, we will be getting in more ROMERO GURMAN JEWELRY and GORKY GONZALEZ POTTERY. In addition, we will soon carry MAYAN HAMMOCKS, IXACHITLÁN POTTERY, HUICHOL BEAD ART, and MEXICAN PEWTER.

2) BLOG MORE FREQUENTLY - We want to better inform you in 2009 with what's going on, changes that we make, cool deals, and interesting information that we come across!

3) HAVE MORE SALES - We thought you would like this one! You can expect major holiday sales and sales just for the heck of it! We have big plans for an incredible Easter sale coming up!

4) KEEP SHIPPING COSTS LOW - In an effort to keep shipping costs as low as possible, we use recycled newspapers, boxes, bubble wrap, and peanuts! We will continue to source more recyled materials in 2009 which keeps shipping costs low and is environmentally friendly.

5) WRITE MORE FREE SPANISH GRAMMAR LESSONS - Our FREE SPANISH LESSONS are great for anyone studying or just trying to learn a thing or two about the Spanish language. Lessons to be up soon include: Tú Commands, Usted Commands, Double Negatives, Tener + que and Hay + que, and Present Progressive.

6) IMPROVE THE FREE MEXICAN RECIPES - Many of our FREE MEXICAN RECIPES lack descriptive pictures which are wonderful when learning a new dish. We will have pictures up for all of the existing Mexican recipes up this year!

Is there something we missed? Let us know by emailing us at LaCasaMexicana@live.com. Afterall, we are doing this for YOU!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!