Mission Del Rey Blog

Native Indians love to produce painted hides depicting traditional events of life itself. Tribesmen and women paint different elements according to their particular environments. Women traditionally create abstract designs, and men create pictures that really describe the tough lifestyle that they endure. The raw materials used to create painted hides are provided by many different animals including elk, deer and buffalo.  Rawhide is often selected for utilitarian purposes, while …

Painting drums with Indian art is a fascinating activity. As you can see from our website we offer a variety of painted drums that reflect many different images from Native American life and nature. We are often asked how to paint a drum by those in Native American circles. While selecting a personal drum that is painted is easiest for most people, it can also be very fulfilling to customize a drum yourself. Get creative and express yourself, letting your drum painting please you. To a …

Zapotec rugs are a very popular rug choice for rustic, western, and southwestern home decorating. These highly sought after rugs are hand woven by the famous Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico. Each rug, runner, and placemat is unique in design and color, making them highly sought after by home decorators and designers.When the Spanish introduced sheep to the Teotitlan Del Valle area in the 1500’s, they brought with them new ways of weaving wool. The Zapotec Indians combined these new m …

One of the most symbolic items of the Native American people is the dream catcher. It is believed that a dream catcher placed above the area where one sleeps, will filter out the bad dreams while permitting the good dreams to flow through.When dreams flow though a dream catcher, the good dreams enter the hole in the center, and flow down the feathers to the person sleeping below. Bad dreams are caught in the webbing, and released with the rising of the sun.Dream catchers have come to be …

Tarahumara men love to work with wood and have learned to fashion amazing detailed items with what might seem to be very crude working tools. Wooden spoons, bowls, and figurines are all items which are commonly carved.Their well known dough bowls, carved by hand from native yellow pine begin as a piece of a downed tree trunk. The trunk is split in half lengthwise then carved with an axe to form the shape of the bowl, and further worked with a machete or large knife. This traditional styl …