Cotton Spinner © Marilyn Anderson. Linocut, 8″ x 10″
The spinner of Santiago Atitlán uses a simple ancient apparatus, the drop spindle, to prepare thread intended for backstrap weaving. (The spindle consists of just a slender wooden stick tapered to a point with a round weight about two inches from the base. ) Today, hand spinning of cotton is done much less than in the past. But Maya women from several areas of Guatemala keep alive this ancient art even though they can buy factory spun yarn.