Many arrive at Ana Julia’s workshop with the idea that Sandoná hats are machine-woven. Watching one artisan working enough to understand: they are hand-woven, stitch by stitch, with fine strips of processed iraca and fingers as the only tools. Evidence of this kind of work can be seen in the weavers’ bodies, their achy backs, diminished eyesight, and sometimes affected lungs due to the dust released by the fresh iraca. It’s a tough job that, according to Ana Julia, many men shy away from due to the long hours of concentration in the same position it requires. They prefer to work in the fields.

Ana Julia herself is aware that she doesn’t weave as quickly as when she was newly married, weaving tirelessly to help support the household. As expected, her eyes are not the same after spending so many nights crafting hats, the only time she could sit quietly to work after putting the children to bed. Like so many tireless mothers, she had to juggle work and childcare.

To speak of the life and craft of a Sandoná artisan is to speak of a tradition deeply rooted in their customs and daily lives, it is to speak of all their lives. Like so many other women in the region, Ana Julia learned the craft from her mother and has introduced her own children and grandchildren to the trade. Since they turn 8, she imparts to them the details of her artisanal heritage. She knows that the bundles of iraca are counted in shoots and replicates the steps to process it every week: she scrapes and dyes it before sitting down to weave, whether at home or in the shop where she has been receiving and selling her own weavings and those of other artisans for over ten years.

After years of making and selling typical hats, her daughter, Ana Yanira, introduced her favorite products to the shop: the necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and wristbands she learnt to craft in iraca. She herself began weaving as a child when her mother needed help to complete an order for twisted hats, whose peculiarity lies in their straws twisted against the leg. Since then, Ana Yanira has worked closely with her mother and teacher, while, like all of them, preparing her own offspring to receive her weaving wisdom.