#Mexican Alebrije Gift Idea

[arclantis-blog]

Bull Alebrije

This is an amazing animal wood carving of detailed fine art that you're going to be proud to show in your collection of alebrijes or original art, or give as a gift to someone you love. This impressive Bull Head is sure to be a lively discussion starter in your home or office for many years to come, as it is the only one in the world, and you're going to receive the original hand crafted in the enchanting towns surrounding Oaxaca, Mexico. The creative inspiration and attention to detail that gets poured into the vibrant art built by the Manos Creativas team led by the family of Florencio Fuentes Melchor is truly gratifying.

Expertly Hand Carved & Meticulously Hand Painted Bul Head Alebrije made by local artisans from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Beautiful Oaxacan Art -- Bull is Created from One Piece of Copal Tree Wood

This colorful art is magnificent: original, exclusive & uniquely original ... the Only One in the World.

Collectible Artesania Mexicana Folk Art by Local Artists from the Manos Creativas Workshop

Genuine Oaxaca Alebrije Bull Originated in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Signed on Bottom by the Artist, Florencio Fuentes

Bull head = 8" tall x 10" wide x 7.5" deep; weighs approximately 2 pounds 2 ounces

This Oaxacan Longhorn Bulll represents two weeks of artistry to complete: 4 days of carving, sanding, prep; 10 days to paint

Handmade Alebrijes are shaped creations based on artist imaginations, dreams or fantasies. The hand carving process uses knives and machetes to shape the copal tree wood, with expert painters creating designs unique to each artist. They may be cleaned with dry or wet cloth. San Martin Tilcajete is a community that concerns itself with the environment, and we reforest our raw materials such as the copal tree.

To learn more about the product, click here.

Please check out other Luv2Brd products, here.

[mischief-marauders]

Modern Marauders: Halloween costume gone wrong

Sirius slammed his charms book down on his desk. “No! Do not ask me again! I am not risking your parent's wrath!"

James sat next to him and flashed him a grin. “Our parents. You don’t want to risk our parent's wrath.”

Sirius smiled softly with a blush creeping over his cheeks. “Our parents.”

James slapped his knee and Sirius gave him a smirk. ‘I’m still not risking it”

James flopped back on the bed and groaned. 

It was Halloween night and they were home, bored out of their minds. James would’ve gone out but Sirius was grounded due to an unfortunate mix of boredness, fireworks, Remus’ favorite sweater, and a Charms classroom. James didn’t want to leave Sirius by himself so he didn’t make plans. Until he checked Instagram and saw that Lily and Remus had gone to a muggle party in her neighborhood. It had all of his favorite things. An unsupervised house party, alcohol, and Lily. Oh and Remus.

James pouted at Sirius. “Please Sirius? Lily and Remus are having the time of their lives and you know how much I love Halloween parties. I promise we’ll sneak out and be back before mom and dad get home.”

Sirius snorted as he read his Charms book, doing the extra readings as part of his punishment.  “Your plans never work and we always end up getting in trouble. I don’t want to risk our parent's wra-”, Sirius paused as James looked at him with a puppy dog face. 

“I am not falling for that asshole,” Sirius said as he scowled at James.

James' eyes got bigger and his bottom lip protruded more.

Sirius groaned. “If I say yes, will you stop?”

James whooped and sprinted to their shared closet. “Yes. Now, what’re we going to wear? Oh! We can wear out Hogwarts robes!”

Sirius clapped sarcastically. “Great idea Jamie! Let's wear the uniform from our school of magic to a muggle party. Dumbledore would love that"

James groaned in frustration. What else could there be? He had a Mexican and Brazilian soccer jersey but that would be too basic. He needed something fresh. Original. Something that would impress Lily. He suddenly spotted a lone red hoodie and grabbed it with a triumphant smile on his face. He turned to Sirius, holding the hoodie above him like a prize.

Sirius raised his eyebrows as James asked “So, what are your opinions of paint on fur?”

Remus took a sip of his beer and surveyed the party with practiced disinterest. Lily’s neighbors who went to a muggle school in the area had invited them and while he wasn't too fond of Halloween and seeing people in werewolf costumes, he needed to get out a bit. Lily sidled up to him and let an exaggerated sigh of air. She was in the Scarlet Witch costume she had worn some time ago for his birthday party. He donned his Captain America costume to match with her. It was still the best birthday he had ever had and he loved having an excuse to put it on again

“Still haven’t talked to Sirius yet?”

Remus snorted and took a gulp of beer. He had been giving Sirius the cold shoulder. They all had plans to come to the party together but someone had the bright idea to set off fireworks during charms class. Which resulted in a furious Flitwick and Remus’ favorite sweater being charred. 

“I still need to ignore him for a couple more days to make sure he gets the message.” 

Suddenly, Remus yelped and dropped his beer on the grass as something nosed at his ass. Lily turned around, fist up and ready to pummel whoever decided to grab Remus when she dropped her fist and a grin overtook her face. James was standing there, grinning and dressed as Miguel from Coco and Sirius in dog form, painted to look like Dante. James was wearing jeans, a white shirt, a red hoodie over top, and his face was painted like a skull. Sirius the dog was covered in a rainbow of colors and patterns, looking exactly like one of the magical Alebrije’s from the movie. 

Lily laughed and asked “Are you serious?” at the same time that Remus bent down, scowling at the dog and asking, “Are you Sirius?”. 

Padfoot wagged his tail and barked at Remus.

James shrugged and said, “I was going to bring a guitar but that would’ve been too much.”

Remus ran his hands through Padfoot’s fur and scowled at James. “Do you know how long it’s going to take to get this paint out of his fur?”

James ruffled his hair in nervousness and tried not to make eye contact with the dog. 

“Oh come on, I looked it up. The paint will come off when he transforms back."

Remus narrowed his eyes in suspicion as Padfoot growled at him. James flashed him an overconfident grin, hoping it masked his lie. He had zero idea if the paint would come off. Sirius only agreed to be painted if it would come off immediately after.

Suddenly, Padfoot turned around and trotted into the house, full of blaring music and dancing teenagers. 

Lily traced her finger over the paint on James’ face.

“This looks amazing. I didn’t even think you knew what Coco was.”

James put his hand over hers and flashed her a small smile. 

“I heard you talking about how it's your favorite movie and it does have my people in it. I had to watch it. You have good taste by the way."

Remus was pretending to vomit at their flirting when a terrified girl in zombie makeup came out of the house, walking straight to them. 

“Um Lily?’, she started nervously, “Your friend's rainbow dog is drinking beer from a bowl in the kitchen. We tried to take it away but he growled and snapped at us”

Remus groaned and ran into the house, mumbling “Dumb dog”

Zombie girl drifted away as James grabbed Lily around the waist and put his hands gently on her hips. 

“By the way, I love the costume. You look amazing.”

Lily blushed and opened her mouth to flirt back when she was interrupted by Remus being dragged out of the house, his wrist clamped gently between Padfoots teeth. 

“Sirius, where are you taking me? I shouldn’t even be talking to you after what you just pulled. I don’t know how things worked at the noble and ancient house of incest, but dogs normally don't drink alcohol."

He paused as some of the people milling about outside of the house looked at him in confusion. 

“Can I fucking help you?”, he snarled at them. He glared at them until they all turned away awkwardly. Padfoot dragged him into the woods next to the house. 

All Lily and James could hear was Remus muttering “If you’re dragging me into the woods to try something, I hope you know I’m not turned on by the dog form”  

James looked down into Lily’s eyes. She looked ethereal under the moonlight. Her green eyes were alight and looked like shining emeralds. The look in her eyes and smirk on her lips drove him insane. He will always be amazed at the fact that she gave him a chance to show her that he's not a toerag. It's been months and every day it feels like a dream come true. He leaned his head down a little and she lifted her's to meet him halfway. Their lips were less than an inch away from each other when they heard screaming coming from the woods. James and Lily looked up startled as they saw Remus running out of the woods, bent over with laughter. A scream of frustration came from behind him along with the sound of pounding feet.  

“I’m going to fucking kill you James!’ Sirius roared as he ran straight at him from the woods, completely naked in human form, yet still covered in the paint he had on with his dog form. 

Lily screeched and covered her eyes as Sirius tackled a laughing James and knocked him over. 

Remus was bent over, gasping for air between his laughter. 

"You should've seen his face when he saw that he was still painted" Remus crowed, his face alight with mirth.

Sirius sat on top of a cackling James and pinned his arms behind his head. He struggling to hold him and let out a groan of frustration

“Stop laughing so I can kill you, asshole”

“You look so good though!” James wheezed between laughter and gasps of air as Sirius punched him in the stomach.

“You knew the paint wouldn't come off” Sirius hissed angrily.

James' eyes were watering with tears as he tried to break from Sirius’ hold. 

“I didn’t think you were going to transform back so soon! How was I going to know that you would try to get frisky with Remus during a Halloween party when you have zero clothes? C’mon, you wouldn’t have come with me otherwise and this costume needed a multicolored dog”

Sirius let out a huff of angry air as he punched James one last time and then stood up. He couldn't even be mad. It was a genius idea and something he probably would've done. This was going to be funny as hell if they somehow managed to get the paint off before their parents came home.

Remus wiped the tears from his eyes and struggled to stop laughing as Lily ran into the house and came back out with a tablecloth. She handed it to Sirius and helped a groaning James up as Remus helped tie it around him in toga style. 

Sirius was tying it in the front when he turned slightly and flashed a cheesy grin at Lily. “My eyes are up here Evans”

Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “You wish Black. I've seen enough of you tonight to last me several lifetimes. Do you have any shame at all? Are you not embarrassed to be naked in public? Is public nudity normal to you?”

Sirius shrugged and held Remus' hand. "What's there to be embarrassed by?"

Remus raised his eyebrows at Lily. "You should try sharing a dorm with him. He doesn't believe in doors, curtains, or privacy."

"He thinks he's God's gift to humanity", James said as he checked his abdomen for broken ribs. Once he was sure that nothing was broken, he held his bruised stomach and grinned at each of his best friends. He wrapped one hand around Lily's waist and he threw his other arm around Sirius's shoulders, making sure to squeeze his shoulder hard enough to bruise. 

“Now that thats over, let's party?'" James said as he led his friends back into the party, humming Proud Corazon under his breath. 

[primrooks]

coco writers’ q+a tidbits

the “Q+A with Jeff Goldsmith” podcast had a session with coco screenwriters matthew aldrich and adrian molina, and here are some neater lore and behind-the-scenes tidbits i gleaned from that:

Matthew says that the first draft of the movie pitched to him came from “a very American point of view” - the message of the film then, as he says, was running counter to what he thought that Día de Muertos represented.

Without going to explicit detail, he says that the film initially followed a more US-centered view of death, that if someone in our family dies, we’re meant to grieve and let them go with a sense of closure, which Coco as it is now makes it very clear from get-go that it isn’t about that. The idea of the final death ultimately worked to give the story better stakes.

According to Adrian, up to about the third in-house test screening of the movie, Coco was a more traditional musical, but the crew figured that making the numbers diegetic would allow the more performance-centered nature of Mexican music to shine.

When the crew was toying with the idea of the final death, Adrian sent over some script pages for what would eventually become the Chicharrón scene, a scene that would introduce the final death in an organic manner, as well as include the story point of Héctor being a musician alongside the thematic point of music being a gift you give to someone.

(Lee, being busy with other projects at the time, didn’t get around to reading the scene for three weeks, but when he did, he absolutely loved it.)

In the second screened draft of the movie, even though they knew they would include him, the story team simply excised Dante from the screening just so they wouldn’t have to worry about choreography issues that early on (in other words, they.. didn’t draw him as a time-saving measure).

The papel picado prologue (wow, say that five times fast), which was storyboarded by Adrian, was originally in the middle of the movie as part of a musical number.

One of the working titles was actually “Remember Me,” but they decided to keep it as “Coco” both for the element of surprise and to help the movie sound less dismal.

Adrian states that alebrijes have free passage between the realms of the living and the dead, and Dante becoming one is more of a “Clarence getting his wings” moment rather than… him dying, so to speak.

Coco remembering Héctor through the final reprise of “Remember Me” was one of the first realized scenes in the movie, and was kept mostly the same for the next five years of production.

The hardest scene for both of them to write was the ofrenda scene with Abuelita. After all, why would she exposit so much about Día de Muertos to a kid who already knows all this and wants nothing more than to leave the room?

[lightandwinged]

So more in-depth thoughts on Coco because I’m thinking more deeply about the entire experience.

The Damn Frozen Short

The whole experience starts out with (a) trailers for shit that my three-year-old thought looked Oscar-worthy (Peter Rabbit, what the fuck did they do to you? And why? Is nothing sacred?) but that had me looking like Chrissy Teigen:

and (b) assuming you survived that, a Frozen “short.” I’m putting “short” in quotes because it’s 22 minutes long and would have done much better as a Disney Channel special like the handful of Toy Story shorts they’ve released in the last couple of years (which are all honestly really good and deserve attention!). 

In fairness to this short, it’s not bad. If the mere word Frozen sends you into fits, you’ll hate it, but I’m neutral on the subject and it was fine. Would’ve been great on ABC or Disney Channel, but they put it in front of Coco to get more butts in the seats, and that’s theoretically fine...  but it was so long. So long. Kyle kept looking over at me like “...why is this still happening? Is there any reason for this to still be happening?”

And, of course, that reason is money. Like anything Frozen-related nowadays is just a shameless cash grab. Anna and Elsa and Kristoff have new Christmas outfits and you have to buy the outfits and the dolls with the outfits and the singing dolls with the outfits and the Christmas cottage with the singing dolls with the outfits, etc. But that said, the only really painful thing about it was the length. It could’ve been trimmed down to like. 7 minutes and been fine. Sigh.

(also, note to those working on Frozen 2: The Meltinating: please please please for the love of all things sacred stop animating and writing Anna and Elsa like they’re in love. They’re sisters, they’re close, but when you have them gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes and barely spending a scene without holding hands, it KIIIIIIIIND OF sends some creepy mixed signals, I AM JUST SAYING)

And then we’re talking about the making of Coco...?

They had a little 2 minute blurb after the Frozen short in which the producers of Coco came out and were like “WE MADE THIS AND WE LIKED IT” and it was like ...okay? It felt 100% like something that really just belonged on the DVD commentary, but I guess we’re doing that in the theater now, so...?

The Story

THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD.

I’m not going to go through the whole synopsis because you can find that on Wikipedia. Instead, I’m just going to bullet out what I liked, story-wise!

There was a really good reason for the family to hate music. Usually when there’s a plot about “the people hate music BUT I MUST DANCE” it’s for some stupid reason like ‘this character I loved was a big music fan but NOW SHE IS DEAD (it’s always a she, it’s the mom) so NO MUSIC EVER’ or some shit like that. No, with this one, the (ultimately proven incorrect) belief is that music caused the family patriarch to abandon his family, and of course, family is EVERYTHING here, so abandoning that family is a cardinal sin. Seeing Miguel playing the guitar and loving music so much was, to them, like seeing him shoot up for the first time, and their desire to keep him away from music was out of fear of losing him, not because they just... hate music. Which was nice! It worked!

So did the plot point for getting Miguel to the Land of the Dead. Like basically, the destroyed Physical Symbol Of My Forbidden Desire cliche is... really cliche. I’ve lost count of the number of films that have included that cliche and it’s just sort of like a throwaway thing, but in this film, it actually served to move the plot forward. Miguel’s desperation, coupled with his (ultimately proven incorrect) belief that he’s a descendant of his musical idol lead to him stealing the guitar from his idol’s grave after his own guitar is destroyed... which leads to him heading off to the Land of the Dead because he took something from the dead instead of giving something. The destroyed guitar was necessary because it gave him that last push to do something desperate that was entirely related to the guitar, and I love that about so many Pixar films... they lack red herrings. Everything that shows up at some point shows up again later. 

Like honestly, the whole story felt so very tight. You could tell that this was combed over by editor after editor, that they had meeting after meeting about this, that they drew pictures and storyboarded and really went to town on this. That doesn’t happen in a lot of movies lately. Like you can tell that they were decently written, that someone took out as many plot holes as they could or that they made sure that things flowed decently enough and things were well-paced. But you don’t usually see writing this tight. It felt like a final draft, like they were really proud of what they put out, and that was amazing.

I mean, nothing was just a throwaway joke or line. Everything came back. Early on, there’s a scene where Hector tries to sneak into the Land of the Living by posing as Frida Kahlo. About three scenes later, we actually meet Frida Kahlo, who gets Miguel’s advice on choreographing her big show (I have no idea if the actual Frida Kahlo would have done that entire number, but I liked that this Frida Kahlo did). And then later, Frida Kahlo is the one who sneaks Miguel and his family backstage at the big show so that they can steal Hector’s picture back from Ernesto de la Cruz and send Miguel back home. It would have been so easy for that to have just been a one-off joke, like “haha! Look Frida Kahlo! Someone even white people know about! Lol!” but it served a purpose and that’s both infuriating and wonderful (infuriating because HOW CAN I EDIT MY OWN WRITING TO BE THAT TIGHT UGHHHHH). 

The climax, of course, had the entire theater sobbing (I had to gently explain to Kyle, in my English major way, that the climax is the point at which Miguel sings “Remember Me” to Mama Coco and not anything else). Really, everyone was on the verge from around Hector’s flashback to singing that song with Coco straight through the end (if they weren’t already sobbing), but that particular point was just like OH GOD I AM DYING A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH OF EMOTION. Doug Walker made a really good point in his review about how that climactic song, “Remember Me,” is first shown as this HUGE bombastic number with trumpets and dancers and the works and, through the course of the film, gets smaller and smaller until it’s just a little boy crying as he plays it on a stolen guitar for his beloved Mama Coco. And my GOD does that work. 

Some parts did seem a little unnecessarily extended and some characters did seem extraneous (including, oddly enough, Miguel’s parents--they didn’t do anything except say “listen to your grandmother” and look vaguely concerned. At the same time, though, killing them wouldn’t have worked because then he’d have been too into chilling with them in the Land of the Dead to accomplish the plot? idk, I understand it was a depiction of a Big Mexican Family, but they all bled into each other and didn’t serve much purpose... at least on the living side. The dead side seemed a lot more fleshed out, which is hilarious because they’re skeletons). But it was like... not to the point where I was tapping my fingers and waiting for them to end (like the DAMN FROZEN SHORT), and they moved on well before they overstayed their welcome.

Yeah, now that I think of it, the only issue I had with this movie was that it felt overstuffed with characters that didn’t stand out much from each other. The main cast was fully fleshed out and everyone served a purpose, but once you moved away from them into the supporting roles, you just sort of were like “okay, that’s relative number 10″ or “that’s official number 6.” There was some really great voice talent behind a lot of those characters, but they faded into each other and probably could’ve been condensed. Still, though, that’s a nitpick. 

ART

Dude, this movie. 

Naturally, the visuals were stunning once you got to the Land of the Dead. As Miguel first crossed the bridge, Sammy just froze in his seat and looked at the screen and said, “Wowwwww” in this tiny, awed voice. It’s worth seeing this film in the theater for that scene alone, which evokes a similar awe to seeing The Lion King on the big screen or seeing Star Wars in a theater--it’s BIG and it’s GOOD. 

But even before that, I was gaping at the animation. There was one scene where the light was hitting Miguel’s head at a specific angle, and he didn’t look like a character animated on a screen--he looked like a stop-motion character on a set. He looked real, like you could actually touch him, not like he was pixels. And at the same time, the movie maintained a cartoonishness that kept it from descending into uncanny valley. It’s been a while since Pixar has been so on point with their animation that my jaw drops, but my jaw totally dropped there.

The skeletons were all so amazing, especially the way they managed to give them all distinct bodies despite them all being skeletons. What I really loved were the alebrijes, all the animal spirits that guided the dead on their journeys. Last year, when we stayed at Coronado Springs in Disney World, the gift shop had a collection of Oaxacan alebrije-type carvings that were just so gorgeous, and seeing that art style turned into something alive in the movie was absolutely stunning. I especially loved how, from a distance, the alebrijes looked carved or sculpted, but as they got closer, they took on more living characteristics--fur and feather and glowing eyes. They were just SO cool. 

I am not really artsy enough to dive into like... the nitty gritty of art commentary here, but holy shit, I can appreciate good art when I see it and this movie is art. I think the last Pixar movie that I thought, “Wow, this is really art” about was probably WALL-E or Up (which isn’t to say that there haven’t been real fantastic gems in Pixar movies since--Inside Out is particularly outstanding--but as cool as those visuals were, they didn’t have me scraping my jaw off the ground). Coco, though... man. 

Just... ART.

Overall, just ART. 

tl;dr - this movie was absolutely exquisite, from design to writing to emotional impact and everything in between. Go and see it. But bring tissues.

[arclantis-blog]

Opossum Alebrijes

This is an amazing animal wood carving of detailed fine art that you're going to be proud to show in your collection of alebrijes or original art, or give as a gift to someone you love. This adorable Opossum family is sure to be a lively discussion starter in your home or office for many years to come, as it is the only one in the world, and you're going to receive the original hand crafted in the enchanting towns surrounding Oaxaca, Mexico. The creative inspiration and attention to detail that gets poured into the vibrant art built by the Manos Creativas team led by the family of Florencio Fuentes Melchor is truly gratifying.

Expertly Hand Carved & Meticulously Hand Painted Opossum Alebrije Family made by local artisans from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Beautiful Oaxacan Art -- Each opossum is Created from One Piece of Copal Tree Wood

This colorful art is magnificent: original, exclusive & uniquely original ... the Only One in the World.

Collectible Artesania Mexicana Folk Art by Local Artists from the Manos Creativas Workshop

Genuine Oaxaca Alebrije Originated in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Signed on Bottom by the Artist, Florencio Fuentes

Opossum Mom = 8.5" tall x 12" wide x 4" deep; weighs approximately 1 lb 10 oz; Opossum Kids = 3.75" tall x 6" wide x 2" deep; weigh approximately 4 oz;

This Oaxacan Opossum represents two weeks of artistry to complete: 4 days of carving, sanding, prep; 10 days to paint

Handmade Alebrijes are shaped creations based on artist imaginations, dreams or fantasies. The hand carving process uses knives and machetes to shape the copal tree wood, with expert painters creating designs unique to each artist. They may be cleaned with dry or wet cloth. San Martin Tilcajete is a community that concerns itself with the environment, and we reforest our raw materials such as the copal tree.

To learn more about the product, click here.

Please check out other Luv2Brd products, here.

[arclantis-blog]

Horse Alebrije

This is an amazing animal wood carving of detailed fine art that you're going to be proud to show in your collection of alebrijes or original art, or give as a gift to someone you love. This adorable dancing Horse is sure to be a lively discussion starter in your home or office for many years to come, as it is the only one in the world, and you're going to receive the original hand crafted in the enchanting towns surrounding Oaxaca, Mexico. The creative inspiration and attention to detail that gets poured into the vibrant art built by the Manos Creativas team led by the family of Florencio Fuentes Melchor is truly gratifying.

Expertly Hand Carved & Meticulously Hand Painted Horse Alebrije made by local artisans from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Beautiful Oaxacan Art -- this adorable Horse is Created from One Piece of Copal Tree Wood

This colorful art is magnificent: original, exclusive & uniquely original ... the only one in the World.

Collectible Artesania Mexicana Folk Art by Local Artists from the Manos Creativas Workshop

Genuine Oaxaca Alebrije Horse Originated in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Signed on Bottom by the Artist, Florencio Fuentes

Dancing Horse = 9" tall x 3" wide x 8.5" deep; weighs approximately 13 oz

This Oaxacan Horse represents 1-2 weeks of artistry to complete: 4 days of carving, sanding, prep; 7-10 days to paint

Handmade Alebrijes are shaped creations based on artist imaginations, dreams or fantasies. The hand carving process uses knives and machetes to shape the copal tree wood, with expert painters creating designs unique to each artist. They may be cleaned with dry or wet cloth. San Martin Tilcajete is a community that concerns itself with the environment, and we reforest our raw materials such as the copal tree.

To learn more about the product, click here.

Please check out other Luv2Brd products, here.

[arclantis-blog]

Horse Alebrije

This is an amazing animal wood carving of detailed fine art that you're going to be proud to show in your collection of alebrijes or original art, or give as a gift to someone you love. This adorable dancing Horse is sure to be a lively discussion starter in your home or office for many years to come, as it is the only one in the world, and you're going to receive the original hand crafted in the enchanting towns surrounding Oaxaca, Mexico. The creative inspiration and attention to detail that gets poured into the vibrant art built by the Manos Creativas team led by the family of Florencio Fuentes Melchor is truly gratifying.

Expertly Hand Carved & Meticulously Hand Painted Dancing Horse Alebrije made by local artisans from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Beautiful Oaxacan Art -- this adorable Horse is Created from One Piece of Copal Tree Wood

This colorful art is magnificent: original, exclusive & uniquely original ... the only one in the World.

Collectible Artesania Mexicana Folk Art by Local Artists from the Manos Creativas Workshop

Genuine Oaxaca Alebrije Horse Originated in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Signed on Bottom by the Artist, Florencio Fuentes

Dancing Horse = 9" tall x 3" wide x 8.5" deep; weighs approximately 13 oz

This Oaxacan Horse represents 1-2 weeks of artistry to complete: 4 days of carving, sanding, prep; 7-10 days to paint

Handmade Alebrijes are shaped creations based on artist imaginations, dreams or fantasies.

The hand carving process uses knives and machetes to shape the copal tree wood, with expert painters creating designs unique to each artist. They may be cleaned with dry or wet cloth. San Martin Tilcajete is a community that concerns itself with the environment, and we reforest our raw materials such as the copal tree.

To learn more about the product, click here.

Please check out other Luv2Brd products, here.

[arclantis-blog]

Snow Owl Alebrije

This is an amazing animal wood carving of detailed fine art that you're going to be proud to show in your collection of alebrijes or original art, or give as a gift to someone you love. This adorable Snow Owl is sure to be a lively discussion starter in your home or office for many years to come, as it is the only one in the world, and you're going to receive the original hand crafted in the enchanting towns surrounding Oaxaca, Mexico. The creative inspiration and attention to detail that gets poured into the vibrant art built by the Manos Creativas team led by the family of Florencio Fuentes Melchor is truly gratifying.

Expertly Hand Carved & Meticulously Hand Painted Owl Alebrije made by local artisans from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Beautiful Oaxacan Art -- this adorable Owl is Created from One Piece of Copal Tree Wood

This colorful art is magnificent: original, exclusive & uniquely original ... the only one in the World.

Collectible Artesania Mexicana Folk Art by Local Artists from the Manos Creativas Workshop

Genuine Oaxaca Alebrije Owl Originated in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico

Signed on Bottom by the Artist, Florencio Fuentes

Owl = 7.5" tall x 4" wide x 3" deep; weighs approximately 8 oz

This Oaxacan Owl represents 1-2 weeks of artistry to complete: 4 days of carving, sanding, prep; 7-10 days to paint

Handmade Alebrijes are shaped creations based on artist imaginations, dreams or fantasies.

The hand carving process uses knives and machetes to shape the copal tree wood, with expert painters creating designs unique to each artist. They may be cleaned with a dry or wet cloth. San Martin Tilcajete is a community that concerns itself with the environment, and we reforest our raw materials such as the copal tree.

To learn more about the product, click here.

Please check out other Luv2Brd products, here.