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tools for belize

updated thu 1 apr 04

 

r horning on wed 31 mar 04


Dear Phil, Billie would be able to answer your questions
better than me but I will make an effort.

"What sorts of Clay Tools are you expecting them to make?"
Screens for processing clay, wooden tools for carving
and shaping, throwing sticks, ribs, wooden trimming tools,
maybe kickwheels someday, slab rolling tools. Although the
the artisans co-op is also pursuing training in metal work,
tools that include metal will have to wait or be provided.


"What prior experience have they in making Tools ( or in
making 'what' for example? or what do or would they already
know how to 'make' in some ways or other? ), or, in useing
various (what kind of?) Tools, to be making things with?"
Help Billie.


"And, what sorts of potential resources may we suppose an
observant eye to notice in their ambient environment and or
sundry lay-a-abouts of things people already own or use
there?"
The village is located in the rain forest near a river. Some
of the most desired mahogany trees in the world grow there.
Stone, wood, and clay are in the natural environment.


"Do they have Electricity then, as for the 'stapler' you
mention, or for it's air source or whatever... ?"
There is no electricity available to the villagers at the center. All tools
must be hand powered. A few families have generators that
they share but I wouldn't want to count on that.


"Have they small or itinerate Blacksmiths about?"
A bit of training has been provided in metal smithing but
I do not think there is an expert on site.


"Carpenters about?

Who makes their Houses and out of what?"
From the pictures on the website, the buildings are made of
wood, thatch or tin roofs, and brick.





"Where is 'Belize' ( sorry, my Rand-McNally is not handy) and
what sort of things grow there? And, what to they
traditionally make, and what do they traditionally make it
out of?"

Belize is a tiny country on
the Caribbean coast of Central America. It is surrounded
by Guatemala and Mexico. This area is rural. Some farming is
done in plots in the forest. The nearby Mayan archaeological site
employs some residents. A new craft tradition is being developed
in metal and ceramics.

I hope these gives you a better idea of what might be needed.
Maybe Billie can offer more info.

Rebecca






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pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on wed 31 mar 04


Hi Rebecca,


I will write to Billie...(In fact, I shall see if she may
want to autograph my 1936 Copy of Jordanoff's "Your Wings",
which, with a real "Billy Mitchell" autograph or
inscription, might just do pretty well on the e-bay, and
help toward that Belize trip if I go...! )


But anyway...

Belize sure sounds nice.


Having returned from the 'nceca', and finding that I feel
( well, after a week's worth of bronchitus and so on added
to it,) not unlike the depiction in the Dali painting "A
pre-Raphaelesque Head exploding"...or at least I think that
was what it was called...


It is getting hard to think at all in a grounded kind of
way...(well, it was allways so 'here' anyway...) and hard to
remember the location of those Stars as I recall having
intended to steer by, now that I can't see 'em through the
overcast skies of this place...sigh...but I remember the
Constellations pretty well, and know they are where they
allways were.


Now that I think of it, my passport (whose identity photo is
of a 1970 me, who had not yet shaved or needed to...) might
raise some eyebrows at some 'Boarder' check-point or
other...

Maybe time to mosey down to the mcstatedepartment branch
office, or 'wallmart' or whoever duz it now-a-days, and get
it renewed...?


Yours,


Phil
lasvegas



----- Original Message -----
From: "r horning"

> Dear Phil, Billie would be able to answer your questions
> better than me but I will make an effort.

(....big middle snippings here...then...)

> Belize is a tiny country on
> the Caribbean coast of Central America. It is surrounded
> by Guatemala and Mexico. This area is rural. Some
farming is
> done in plots in the forest. The nearby Mayan
archaeological site
> employs some residents. A new craft tradition is being
developed
> in metal and ceramics.
>
> I hope these gives you a better idea of what might be
needed.
> Maybe Billie can offer more info.
>
> Rebecca