Hello everyone, my name is Andrés Abelino, I am 55 years old and I was born in San Carlos.
A long time ago, when I was little, I learned to work in the hills to produce goats and sheeps, it was to help my father, I have the image of him as a hard-working man pushing the family.
At the age of 18 I did obligatory military service and there I parted ways with my family a bit, it helped me to mature but I never lost the idea that a united family gets ahead.
And that's how I learned to make handicrafts, to help at home, to help everyone get ahead.
I made clay pots, vessels... my grandparents were potters, they worked white river clay or brown clay baked in the oven and painted by hand with palo santo sawdust, unfortunately no one inherited those teachings. I tried the pennyroyal baskets... there, in the baskets I got “entangled in the pennyroyal” (smiles).
Pennyroyal is a plant like wicker, it grows straight shoots up to 30 centimeters in bushes that have been growing for 1 year, the branches are like ropes and you have to know when to remove them, the bush gives them to you, gives you its creation for your sustenance... do you understand?
I will tell you the process, segments are cleaned with a knife one by one until the rod is smooth, the braiding is natural, no glue, everything is crisscrossed by hand very firmly, your fingers and hands hurt, a week of braiding and assembly takes you a big basket.
I have 4 children, the eldest helps me, he knows the trade, but friend... if these things don't bring your plate to the table... it's lost, that's why it's important that people who can read this help and change the way of consuming, for the good of all Argentine traditions.