fverac September 12th, 2007
The beginning of Tagua’s trading
Ecuador initiated the international commercialization of tagua around year 1865 with a first shipment to Germany, where the use of this product in the manufacture of buttons of high quality for clothes of high seam had been discovered.
In the next decades, something more about the application of tagua (exotic ivory, vegetable ivory) original of Ecuador was learned. In several industries, tagua was turned into buttons, trinkets, pins, toys, figures of miniature, cards of chess, fists of cane and many products of daily use.
TAGUA PRODUCTION
The plantations of tagua in the country are located in mountainous and humid zones that go from 600 to 1500 meters above sea level, in the province of Manabí, mainly.
The plant grows in wild form, which means that the plantations were not programmed nor seeded. The plantations have extended in spontaneous form from the seeds that fall to the ground and are dampened in rains during winter.
The process of development of the plant lasts 15 years until obtaining its first fruits, when it begins to throw the cluster, whose main characteristics are their great size and that it is born from the armpits of the leaves. In addition, Tagua requires of certain amount of light, from its initial states to its maturity.
fverac September 8th, 2007
ORIGINS.- 
In tropical and humid mountains of Ecuador exists a singular plant called Tagua, also known as Exotic Ivory or Vegetable Ivory after their morphology to palms. Although botanically is not a Palmácea, it belongs to the family of the Ciclantáceas. Their scientific name it is Phytelephas Aequatorialis. Phytelephas comes of the greek Phyton=plant and Elephas=ivory. Which means: plant of ivory or vegetable ivory.
Tagua grows in wild forms of the forests called “taguales”. Tagua, Corozo, Ex
otic Ivory or Vegetal Ivory, is the cellulose almond complex of the seed of Phytelephas of white color, eburnean, hard, heavy, smooth and opaque that acquires shine when is polished, odorless, insipid; but it is not elastic nor incorruptible like true ivory. The plant takes of 14 to 15 years from seedtime until collecting first fruits and it produces interruptedly every year for even centuries. It offers 3 harvests per year approximately. It is calculated that a specimen of two meters of high does not have less than 35 to 40 years of age. The ciclantáceas well developed can produce 15 to 16 heads annually, also known as mocochas. In each mococha are collected approximately 20 seeds (nuts) of fruit.
fverac August 23rd, 2007
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Buy handcrafts online @ www.EcuadorianHands.com EXOTIC-IVORY figurines, jewelry, Panama Hats, Essential Oils for Aromatherapy, Leather and much more
fverac August 21st, 2007
Measurements of all figures are indicated in format (height)x(front)x(depth). Example:
Flying Dragon:
Measurements: 1.57×2.56×4.72in.
Front: 1.57 in.
Height: 2.56 in.
Depth: 4.72in.
EcuadorianHands.com offers ecological and handmade products only. All figurines are 100% hand-made. Neither molds nor any automated process is used for manufacturing any figure. Therefore measurements are approximate and might be small differences with the indicated ones and the product shipped.
fverac August 17th, 2007
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fverac August 16th, 2007
Exotic Ivory information. What is Exotic Ivory? 
EXOTIC IVORY also known as Tagua, is the dried and polished nuts of several South American palms. Tagua is remarkably similar to animal ivory in both looks and feel. Tagua is durable and easily carved, and it even mimics the porosity of animal ivory. The biggest difference: Elephant do not have to die. Evidently those similarities were not lost on early botanists who named the palm genus Phytelephas-”elephant plant.” Versatility is only one of Tagua virtues. It is also infinitely renewable. In a single year, a female Tagua tree can produce 20 pounds of nuts-that’s about the amount of ivory on an average female elephant. The elephant, however, yields its ivory only once; the tree continues producing nuts year after year. The idea of using palm nuts as type of ersatz ivory is hardly new; it goes back more than 100 years. In 1865, a ship sailing from South America to Germany used a load of Tagua nuts as ballast. When the vessel docked in Hamburg, curious stevedores began playing with the Tagua and noticed its ivory like characteristics. Tagua quickly became one of Ecuador’s leading exports to Europe. Craftsmen used the nuts to fashion everything from chess pieces and dice to buttons and umbrella handles. In the early part of this century, Colombia and Ecuador were exporting some 40,000 tons of the material annually to the United States and Europe. After the World War II, competition from an inexpensive new synthetic called plastic wipes out the Tagua trade. Now that the world is waking up to the growing environmental problems which face our planet today and that environmental concerns are getting higher on the world’s agenda that ever before, the use of Tagua is getting renewed. Commerce in vegetable ivory is helping foster respect for Rain Forests in Ecuador, and it is doing so through the nondestructive exploitation of a renewable resource.
TAGUA IS NOT ONLY USEFUL FOR MAKING BUTTONS AND HANDYCRAFTS, BUT ALSO IT SAVES ELEPHANTS AND RAIN FORESTS.
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