Tagua

Tagua is very hard and durable, but is not water resistant. Water will not destroy Tagua, but prolonged exposure to water or sun may cause the color to fade or the piece to damage or crack.

In one of my trips to Colombia I decided to create a few unique pieces of jewelry to wear. With Viviana’s help I created beautiful Tagua nut beads that combined with burlap and cotton strings made each design one of a kind. Whenever I wore the pieces, I received compliments and positive comments; even at the supermarket!

I left some of the pieces in the washroom cabinet for some time - right under the U shape pipe, unfortunately. Who would have though it was going to leak! I checked the wet bag and to my surprise the pieces started decomposing. Everything was full of mold. I could not save anything. I was sad because I lost my jewelry pieces but surprised and amazed as without intention, I proved the Tagua nut jewelry is compostable.

In United States alone, recycling and composting prevented 82 million tons of material away from being disposed of 2009, up from 15 million tons in 1980. This prevented the release of approximately 178 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air in 2009—equivalent to taking 33 million cars off the road for a year. [source: EPA]

Why choosing sometimes polluted non fair trade, non eco friendly jewelry when there are other alternatives out there. I am adding another reason to choose Tagua nut jewelry over jewelry made from metal chains, plastic and other man-made materials; Tagua jewelry is compostable!

We walk on it, we grow on it and eat from it!

What is Tagua Nut?

Tagua (”tah-gwa”) nut, also called ‘ivory nut’, ‘vegetable ivory’ or ‘Corozo’ is the dried seedpod of the Tagua Palm tree (Phytelephas Macrocarpa) which grows in tropical rainforests of South America.

Interesting Facts

Tagua nuts grow in large armoured clusters with each cluster containing many nuts. They range in size but in average they are about the size of a walnut.
Chemically they are pure cellulose and before nuts mature they contain a milky liquid in the centre.
When ripe, the nuts fall to the ground and are gathered and dried from four to eight weeks, after which they become extremely hard.

The Process

The big and ripened clusters are collected and then selected.
They are dried from four to eight weeks, after which they become hard.
Small shells that contain the nuts are extracted from clusters
Shells are cracked to extract the nuts, and each nut is cleaned
At this point, there are three options… leave the Tagua nuts with their natural brown skin/shell (the nuts are polished), remove the skin/shell (the nuts are filed and polished) in this case the natural ivory color becomes visible or opt for the marbled look (the skin/shell is filed only partially).
Using a saw, Tagua nuts are sliced or cut in the desired shape. Holes are then drilled depending on the purpose and design.
Once whole nuts or slices are ready and depending on the purpose, the next step is to dye the pieces in the desired colors. Usually fabric dyes are used.
Once the dyeing process is finished and the pieces dried, artisans used these beads to put together beautiful and creative designs
Finally the only thing left is to enjoy these beautiful creations

This is a very brief summary of the Tagua nut process. It seems simple and quick but please note that this is a laborious process which involves growers, pickers and artisans.