Otomi textile mural

My fascination with Otomi hand-embroidered textiles started when I first saw this super cute stenciled dresser by Lena Corwin on Apartment Therapy.

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Accidentally labeled "simple, folky Scandinavian look", someone in comments corrects them with a link to an explanation of Otomi embroidery. 

These hand-embroidered textiles are created by the indigenous Otomi Indians from the mountains of Mexico. A tradition in jeopardy of extinction, the craft is explained in great detail on this textile research site.

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The whimsical characters, oh so slightly edgy with their crisp graphic shapes, were really charming. I tucked them away in a source folder for "someday".

Also added to my "all I want for X'mas, hint hint hint" folder.

Then, last week I was visiting a dear friend in Boise, Idaho, and she wanted to do a mural for her little girl's room. She couldn't stand the dingy grey blue wall color and sloppy flowers painted by the previous owners. Our ultimate goal was to create a child-friendly space that might (hopefully!) last her little girl into her pre-teen years. Aha! "What about an adaptation of an Otomi pattern?", I thought.

First we selected a soft aqua color for the walls and mixed a second batch with a little white to get the lighter color we'd use for the silhouettes.



We selected the animals we liked the best, and set to work chalking up the characters. Pardon the poor quality of the photos- we'll have better ones once the room is re-assembled. (okay, Sooz?)

But I was pysched how well it came out, and couldn't wait to share it with you all!