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Vegetable Ivory Tagua Nut Carvings
The
tagua nut or vegetable ivory nut comes from a palm like
tree called Phytelephas Macrocarpa Palmae or Phytelephas
Equatorialis. The tree grows to a height of 20 to 40 feet
tall in several tropical rainforest regions in South
America including Southern Panama, Columbia, Ecuador and
Peru. The tagua nut averages the size of a small hen's
egg. Chemically the tagua nut is pure cellulose and before
the nut matures has a milky sweet liquid in the center
with a jelly like consistency. In fact, the tagua nuts are
sold at the market to eat. The tagua nuts grow in large
pods called a cabeza. The cazeba takes a number of years
to grow and ripen. When the cabeza ripens, it falls to the
ground. The tagua nuts are gathered and dried for a number
of weeks after which they become very hard. The color of
the tagua nut is an ivory amber color and looks and has
the texture of ivory, hence the name vegetable ivory. In
fact, the cellular structure of the tagua nut is similar
to ivory but is more dense and resilient. The tagua nut is
also softer than ivory and has a void in the center.
Crafters
and carvers have known about the vegetable ivory tagua nut
for years and is so much like ivory that unscrupulous
sources pass off the carvings as animal ivory. Some leave
a small part of the shell on the tagua nut carving in
order to easily identify it as vegetable ivory.
Tagua
nuts have been used by carvers in the making of jewelry,
dice, chess pieces and dominoes, cane handles, pipes,
mah-jongg tiles and scrimshaw. The tagua nut also easily
absorbs dyes so can be colored as well. From the late
1800's until the early 1900's around 20% of all buttons
made in the U.S. were made from the tagua nut. Tagua nuts
and products made up 5 million dollars of Ecuador's
exports. With the development of synthetic materials like
plastic the tagua nut industry was doomed.
Recently
the tagua nut has been making a comeback because of the
near extinction of animal ivory and the present ban on
animal ivory imports. Unlike animal ivory, which required
killing an animal and created an illegal and dangerous
trade and cruelly decimated large populations of animals,
the vegetable ivory tagua nut is a natural, renewable and
sustainable resource, harvested from the floor of the
rainforest. It also provides livelihood for thousands
living in these regions.
Wow!
Imports purchases vegetable tagua nut carvings from a
group of a dozen carvers located in Southwest Ecuador near
the Pacific coast. Most of the carvers are originally from
the Northwest coast. Some of the carvers are college
educated. They are fairly paid, receive benefits and are
provided with lunch.
Wow! Imports tagua nut animal carvings and Christmas tree ornaments from Ecuador are among the finest. Some of these animals have been specially carved for us.
The bases of our tagua nut carvings are made from polished or rough whole or partial tagua nuts or coconut shells.
As our vegetable tagua nut carvings are handmade the sizes, colors and shapes may vary slightly from those shown.
Many of the tagua nut animal carvings are made from more than one piece. If a piece becomes disconnected it is suggested to reconnect it using white framers glue or super glue. Super glue works best on a rough surface so if the surfaces to be connected are smooth they should be roughed up with sandpaper.