{"id":2981,"date":"2026-09-02T06:29:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wp_stories\/?p=2726"},"modified":"2026-09-24T08:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T08:41:27","slug":"hulchol-yarn-painting-jigsaw-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/?p=2981","title":{"rendered":"Huichol Yarn Painting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">a Pomegranate puzzle: 1000 pieces, 25 x 80<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The artwork is yarn inlaid into beeswax on a wooden board.  <br>It&#8217;s title is:<br>&#8220;<strong><em>Gods Teach Humans to Honor the Sacred Seeds<\/em><\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just to be pedantic: <br><em>If you&#8217;re pressing yarn into beeswax, is it called &#8220;painting&#8221;?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whatever you call it, <strong>yarn laid into beeswax<\/strong> looks effing hard to do, and looks great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The puzzle box has some cool text on it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>When the Universe was created the Supreme Beings were shape-shifters. <br>They could transform themselves into humans, plants, animals, and insects<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Dove Woman could shift into a dove, a human, or the Corn Mother. <br>She and her daughters provided abundance<\/em>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Blue Corn Girl<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Amaranth Girl<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Squash Girl<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Bean Girl<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Gourd Girl<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>When the Creators thought it was time for the shape-shifters to take a form, they invented human, Watakame<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em><em>Watakame<\/em> taught humans how to plant corn and honor the precious seeds<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The rituals he taught to these gods bring sustenance to the Peopleto this day<\/em>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Father Sun<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Rain Mothers<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Brother Deer<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Corn Mother<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I got a little emotional just writing that, because those are such beautiful images, and with a little imagination you can see &#8217;em all in the painting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Doing the easy parts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ongoing from the start was making a separate pile of the pieces at the top and bottom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the solid purple pieces &#8211; happily there&#8217;s only one row of these at top and bottom, so they all have an edge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the turquoise pieces with stripes. <br>This band is three pieces wide, top and bottom:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>outer row has purple on it&#8217;s outer half and turquoise with a bit of yellow strip on the other half<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>middle row is turquoise, with the other part of the yellow strip on one side and a bit of a red stripe on the other<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>inner row has the rest of the red stripe and some of the actual image!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The puzzle is broadly symmetrical, with some extremely use differences in the details which I will describe below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"2999\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4007-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4007-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4007-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4007-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4007-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4007.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">individual pieces are gorgeous!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013-767x1023.jpeg 767w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4013.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">upper left deer (with raindrops \ud83d\ude42 and upper middle Corn Goddess<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"3001\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3001\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016-767x1023.jpeg 767w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4016.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">upper right deer and some of the &#8216;corn circle&#8221; filled in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"3002\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4014-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4014-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4014-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4014-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4014-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4014.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">beautiful water scene at the bottom, and the central mandala<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the parts that &#8220;jumped out at me&#8221;, more of less in the order that I got to them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>top right &#8211; big smiling sun and a big deer with **brown spots<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>top left &#8211; big cloud and a big deer with **white spots\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>**raindrops from the big cloud made the red background go quicker on the left side<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The lovely blue color of the water area at the bottom middle<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The deep blue surround and the circle of fire jumped out\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the interior of the mandala was really fun:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the eight-way symmetry<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the beautiful blue color: different from the water blue at the bottom so is was easy to distinguish the pieces<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the eight  gorgeous little white tadpole creatures<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the green and yellow men<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That was it for the easy stuff. Next up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Those beings at the bottom, whatever they are, because that area is closest to my chair!\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I&#8217;m guessing they are the &#8220;First Beings&#8221; still in shape-shifter mode, in other words <strong><em>proto-humans<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next was the Corn Goddess at the top middle.  This pieces are pretty distinct, and it;s another beautiful image.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>that brown area in the lower middle left is cool, where these proto-humans are gestated<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now it&#8217;s time to tackle that big green circle that encloses everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I think the green is cornstalks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>**Note that the left side has a blue stripe through it, and the right side has a red stripe through it.   Makes it easier to match &#8217;em up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On the red (right) side:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>**the bottom half has little flowers between the leaves, and the flowers change color as you got around the circle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>**when the flowers stop, the rest of the leaves have stylized corn silk in changing colors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On the blue (left) side:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>**the leaves have stylized corn silk in changing colors for the whole side, on the outside AND inside!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Did the red side first, then the green side.  It was pretty fun.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the course of doing this I&#8217;ve done most of the red background.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There&#8217;s still 20-odd pieces left which are pretty easy to place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recall above I mentioned the solid purple and the turquoise rows that span the width of the puzzle.  \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since I&#8217;ve finished the red background, it seems logical to do the last of those rows, the most inside one, because it&#8217;s half red background!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Turned out to be fun and pretty easy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I decided to roll on with the special pieces and for the bottom (closest to my chair \ud83d\ude42 to do the next row &#8211; turquoise with yellow and pink stripes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>That used up exactly half of those pieces, so I rotated the puzzle 90 degrees to to the top!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The top rows went pretty quickly, now we&#8217;re down to finishing the middle!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is what the puzzle looks like with everything except all the complicated folks in the middle done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4033.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3003\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4033.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4033-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4033-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even doing the puzzle is oddly spiritual. The poses of the people, the little creatures along the bottom, stylized feather arrangements that some of the important figures are wearing &#8230; it&#8217;s all kind of moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This last part also takes a helluva long time!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each of those pieces has a story to tell:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a fragment of one of those lovely skirts, and a piece of a dude&#8217;s foot<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>there&#8217;s the dudes bending over, and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the dudes standing up, abd the ladies carrying &#8230;offerings?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>all with a distinctive way of holding their hands in from of them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway each piece requires studying it and finding it on the picture, and seeing if there is a neighboring piece to attach it to.  It dowsn&#8217;t go quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>a Pomegranate puzzle: 1000 pieces, 25 x 80 The artwork is yarn inlaid into beeswax on a wooden board. It&#8217;s title is:&#8220;Gods Teach Humans to Honor the Sacred Seeds&#8220; Just to be pedantic: If you&#8217;re pressing yarn into beeswax, is it called &#8220;painting&#8221;? Whatever you call it, yarn laid into beeswax looks effing hard to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[97,199,200],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-art","tag-native-american","tag-puzzle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3040,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/3040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}