Paete - for Woodcarving and Papier Maché

We spent the better part of an afternoon exploring the town of Paete, known for producing papier maché products, of the sort you might see in a Ben Franklin or Michael's craft store here, those objects covered in smooth brown paper, ready for decoration. Before that came into vogue, it was also known as the wood carving capital of the Philippines. The story told us by a papier maché maker was that the wood for carving became scarcer over recent years, and the local folks realized that they could use the carved wood forms they already had as molds for papier maché, which could then be cut off the wooden forms and reassembled and shipped, hollow and light in weight. The storefronts in the town present a magical world of varied and contrasting imagery.

Lascivious Marilyn among the Virgins and cherubs

Here, a family works and plays in their shopfront, with their wares on display.

It's all fake - paper maché fruits!

In this case, the fruit is real, but the dog - no!

An unused batch of old molds set aside

Some molds are carved of styrofoam now

a few animals, under piles of stuff, not needed now but maybe later.

Not exactly the same Santa as the mold shown here, but you get the idea.

Virgin and Child, Nursing Mother and Child, Bacchus - what strange progression is this?

In one shop, we saw this lovely portrait high on the wall . . .

. . . and met the lovely subject, now in her 90's!

And THAT is the artistry of the village of Paete.