Products of Casa Ursulina

 

"Because of my craft work at Casa Ursulina, my daughters and I have a house of our own."

During the months before Christmas, Nora is especially busy creating angels of many sizes, shapes, and colors. This angel family is about to be shipped for sale in the United States.

This is the way Nora describes the impact that Casa Ursulina has had on her life. Many other women like Nora have discovered and developed their talents here. Through the sales of their crafts, both in Chile and the United States, they are earning a better quality of life for them and their families.

Each woman pays for materials and makes a small contribution for the maintenance of Casa Ursulina. The rest of the proceeds from sales of her products goes to the artisan herself.

Here in Chillán, Casa Ursulina rents one of the stands in the downtown plaza where many of the women sell their creations. Periodically also, they participate in craft fairs in neighboring cities. Contacts in the United States are growing too. Many times during the year, we pack and ship boxes of handwoven scarves and handcrafted angels to the Mount Saint Joseph Shop at the Ursuline Motherhouse, to HandCrafting Justice, a fair trade ministry of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and to Heartbeats, a ministry of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary.

Above: Sister Mimi Ballard (right) takes a turn at the Casa Ursulina stand in the plaza in Chillán, while Beatriz and her husband look over the beautiful crafts on display. Right: Cata begins a new scarf on a traditional loom. She is especially talented in creating beautiful designs and executing them with precision and care.

Within the past year, spinning and weaving have become an important and popular activity at Casa Ursulina. Many of the women have discovered that they have a natural gift for designing and creating beautiful scarves and shawls. These are made from both native wool and from synthetic yarn. Skeins of handspun 100 percent wool yarn in natural colors are also available.This year Abbey Press we have sent more than 1200 handwoven scarves and shawls for sale through Abbey Press in Saint Meinrad, Indiana (use search words scarf, scarves, shawl).

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone interested in purchasing items from Casa Ursulina may contact us in care of Sister Mimi Ballard or Sister Ruth Gehres. The angels and scarves pictured on this page are currently available in the U.S. If you are interested in other products, or if you'd like to sell our products, please don't hesitate to contact us.

 

HANDCRAFTED ANGELS

ca1 5" muslin angel $3

ca8 11" muslin angel $6

ca6 5"cream/gold angel $2.50

ca4 11" patchwork angel $6

ca5 5" white angel $2.50

CA2 2" mini angel $0.70

 

HANDWOVEN SCARVES

 

Mimi	Rosa 1
Dominga	Clarina 2

Maria Erica

Cata

Caryn

 

 

SOME SOURCES OF PRODUCTS FR0M CASA URSULINA

 

Book and Gift Shop giftshop@maplemount.org

 

Heartbeats is a ministry dedicated to developing self-sufficiency and self-esteem for women, minority and developing world artists by networking and marketing their creative endeavors. Handcrafted angels and nativity hangings from Casa Ursulina can be ordered from the Heartbeats Catalog (Casa Ursulina products).

HandCrafting Justice is a fair trade partnership working with women struggling for economic justice and independence in developing countries. An angel Christmas tree topper made at Casa Ursulina is sold through the HandCrafting Justice web site.