Mirrored Swan Pair In Sky Blue Frames Mola

Two swans sit back to back inside soft sky blue frames, each one drawn with a heavy curved neck, a white eye and a wing folded in tight bands of teal, gold and rose. Short colored dashes in green, red, orange and blue fill the space behind them like reeds. This is one of the larger panels, 19 inches wide and 13.5 inches high, with real presence on a wall. The outlines are cut through several layers of cotton and turned under by hand.

A mola is a hand stitched panel made by the Guna people of Panama, once known as the Kuna. Several layers of colored cotton are stacked, then cut down through one layer at a time so the colors underneath show through, and every raw edge is turned and stitched closed by hand. The technique is called reverse appliqué. Guna women have been refining it for generations, and the designs draw on the birds, fish, plants and geometric patterns of the islands and rainforest where they live.

TraderBrock has bought directly from Guna, Embera, Wounaan and Ngäbe artisans since 1991, and sales revenue goes back into those communities for education, medical care, tools and land. This panel came from Guna Yala, the San Blas islands off Panama's Caribbean coast. It is ready to frame, mount, or sew into a pillow or a quilt panel, and it can be hand washed. No two molas are ever alike, and small variations in size, stitching and color are normal in handmade textiles.

Width: 19"
Height: 13.5"
SKU: 22040267T