Finding treasures of art in the backyard

MANY go to great lengths to source raw material to create beautiful works of art. The rarer the material, the better the quality of the product, or so, some might feel. For Ivan Sancho of West Watooka, Linden, the only lengths he goes to source raw material for his works of art is right in his backyard. Vegetation cannot only be used for food and the diversification of various kinds is becoming more popular, especially for medicinal purposes.

For Sancho, when all is eaten and scrapped out, some forms of vegetation can be used for the finer things in life, such as art. His new best friends are the coconut and calabash shells of the trees he planted himself years ago. He transforms them manually, into beautiful home ornaments and purses which he sells. He started this craft business some time ago only with coconuts but has recently expanded by even establishing his own craft shack at the corner of West Watooka, where thousands of vehicles pass daily, especially those journeying to interior locations.

The coconut shell is used to make purses and ornaments and the branches and other parts to make mats, hanging baskets and pointer brooms. The mats are also made from ship ropes which he journeys to Georgetown to collect, free of cost. The calabash from the calabash tree in his yard is also used to make very decorative, neat and unique purses.
He commenced the business at his West Watooka home which he transformed into a craft workshop, but because business was slow, he decided to move to a more public location. “I came out because I needed to advertise my work, I needed to expand. I woke up one day with a vision and I decided to work on it and since then business has been better,” he said.

Sancho has been into craft for the past 35 years and it has become not only a means of earning but a way of life for the Rastafarian. He is originally from New Amsterdam and but now lives in West Watooka, taking care of his seven-year-old grandson while practising his craft in addition to subsistence farming. “The calabash when I pick it, I does design it first, bore the hole first before I cut it. The coconut shell same thing, but you have to bore the hole with heat. When you cut them you clean them out, some people have machine, but I have a special knife I have that I clean it out and the lacquer it,” Sancho said

After perfecting his skill, Sancho decided to sell his products and it is now his primary means of earning. He said that he sells his craft so that he can get money to buy fertilisers, seeds, manure and other necessities to plant the crops to provide for his family. “[If I don’t] do this I does can’t get to farm. When I sell the stuff I does buy back things to get to farm,” he said. A vegetarian for most of his life, Sancho said that he farms his own food so that he can be confident that he is eating fresh organic produce as he needs to stay healthy to make the craft items. “I does plait in the day and stitch in the night. I mostly work in the night. I does enjoy the work mostly in the nights. I does deh pun it all the time even if sales not coming is something within me that I can’t stop,” the craftsman shared.

He then journeys to Georgetown regularly to source the ship ropes. “First we used to use the rice bag but after the rice bag start get scarce, I started using the ship rope because I use to work on the ship as a small boy so when I go, rope always there for me,” he said.
Sancho is hoping to live a long life filled with strength to continue crafting so that for a long time he will enjoy his title as ‘The original craftsman’