Becky Dodman Design - Textiles

Becky Dodman Design - Textiles Becky is a Textile Designer who has a weakness, and professional interest in Yarns, Knit, Embroidery, Fashion, Interiors, tufting and sublimation printing.

Knitwear Designer and BA Hons Textile Practices Lecturer at Plymouth College of Art (former BA Fashion Lecturer)

A final suprise before heading to the airport ❤️❤️❤️ Juan Pablo, Katalina and Frederico came to share gifts before I lef...
02/09/2026

A final suprise before heading to the airport ❤️❤️❤️ Juan Pablo, Katalina and Frederico came to share gifts before I left, and introduce me to their teachers from the Sierra Nevada, Santa Marta.

Thankyou Juan Pablo for my Chumbe ❤️❤️❤️ .... It visualises our 9 dimension days - and he has asked if I would now enter into 9 months of study - 1 month to study each dimension. So, now with the permission of their teachers, I will begin, at the next New Moon, my extended 9 dimension weave training ..... I have the seeds/foundation and now this must be built on with my home weave practice. I look forward to our new moon check ins Juan Pablo 😍

I'm rock hunting and visiting the sea on Sunday to begin the preparations.

Thank you to Katalina and Frederico for for bracelet and cake 🍰🎂 ..

To you three, this is not a good bye, but see you later ❣️❣️❣️

I still can't help getting a bit emotional ... In a complex world, this Muisca living way, and this family are sharing some seriously bright lights on thoughtful, relational, kind approaches to life and creating with our planet.

The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes. Days 6,7,8,9 ... Learning Chumbe the M...
29/08/2026

The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes. 

Days 6,7,8,9 ... Learning Chumbe the Muisca way.

For me to learn Chumbe and the beginnings of it's signs and symbols of the Muisca there is an order in my learning, which has evolved over the 9 days.  To do this, I have been living with Katalina, Frederico and their 4 children at their farm near Fomeque, Colombia. For these 9 days Juan Pablo, Master Muisca weaver, has lived here too, to help me understand the Muisca way and it's relationship to weaving.

Crikey I hace learnt so much!

The Chumbe is a sacred object, and is a protection garment charged with intention, signs and symbols with an incredibly complex visual language.

I have now completed my first Muisca Chumbe and have gathered 9 days of notes, sketches, and gathered understanding that relates the visual language of the signs to the Muisca way - each day moving through a dimension of study and attention; Firmly interrelated with cosmologies, land, ancient and contemporary knowledge, (all will be written into something legible over the next year).

Throughout the 9 days, I have been given permission to share the teaching in written and pictorial form. I am hoping this is just the beginning of a life long connection with Katalina, Frederico and Juan Carlos. It truly has been an incredible 9 days.

Personally, beyond the textile ethnographic research, this research has given me a tangible way to understand my own Colombian heritage. My Great grandmother was from the High Andes (chapparell/Tolima) and her ancestors would have been from a similar indigenous community. This time has linked my love of weaving with my own ancestral heritage, and with Juan Pablo's patience and kindness, I have a clearer understanding of my own ways and how I can spin a brighter thread to find more meaning in my own textile art practice.

For now ... My heart is SOOOOOOO full of happiness and a clearer understanding. Colombia really does have my heart :))❤️





The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes. For me to learn Chumbe and the beginni...
25/08/2026

The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes. 

For me to learn Chumbe and the beginnings of it's signs and symbols of the Muisca there is an order in my learning, which will evolve over 9 days.  To do this, I am living with Katalina, Frederico and their 4 children at their farm near Fomeque, Colombia. For these 9 days Juan Pablo, Master Muisca weaver,  is living here too, to help me understand the Muisca way and it's relationship to their weaving, their way of being. The Chumbe is a sacred object, and is a protection garment charged with intention, signs and symbols with an incredibly complex visual language.

Here I will share some of the learning from day 3, 4 and 5 while weaving my learning and intentions into my basket:  

3- Family, weaving together, understanding what family is; including  beyond the human experience but interrelated with ancestors, mothers, seeds and sharing good knowledge to the next generation

4 - Community - what that means - supporting your community, neighbours, friends and working together to support growth in nature,  with people and in harmony and its networks - above and below ground.

5- Territory - the Lagoon, environment, Mother, physical landscape and the things that occupy it   

 Thank you Katalina, Frederico Juan Carlos and the children for all their kindness and patience.

Tomorrow I begin weaving Chumbe. 

Please note, this is a summary and not to diminish the complexity of the learning.

Aug 2026

 







The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes. Day 3, The body and attention. Dyeing...
24/08/2026

The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes.

Day 3, The body and attention. Dyeing Fique with Tumeric from Katalina's garden.

Days 4 (Family) and 5 are weaving the basket container for my thoughts ... Post soon!!!

Please note, this is a summary and not to diminish the complexity of the learning.

Thank you Juan Pablo and Katarina :-)))

Aug 2026





The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes. For me to learn Chumbe and the beginni...
24/08/2026

The 9 Dimensions Way. Muisca Chumbe Weave Teaching. Fomeque Colombia. High Andes.

For me to learn Chumbe and the beginnings of it's signs and symbols of the Muisca there is an order in my learning, which will evolve over 9 days. To do this, I am living with Katalina, Frederico and their 4 children at their farm near Fomeque, Colombia. For these 9 days Juan Pablo, Master Muisca weaver, is living here too, to help me understand the Muisca way and it's relationship to their weaving, their way of being. The Chumbe is a sacred object, and is a protection garment charged with intention, signs and symbols with an incredibly complex visual language.

Here I will share some of the experience - already, on day 4 I have a sketchbook full of notes and albums of images. I am incredibly happy to be here, and can't thank Katalina, Frederico Juan Carlos and the children for all their kindness and patience. I have very very little Spanish and despite all my gorgeous Spanish and Colombian family, the spoken language has alluded me (but I keep trying!!). Soooo,

Day 1, in Bogotá. Understanding the links between rocks, lagoons, place, festivals for the Muisca.
Day 2, introduction to the Womb of creation and Mother at the Sacred Lagoon Teusaca.
Day 3, The body and attention. Fique processing and importance of the woven basket as a container of knowledge, threads, intentions.

Please note, this is a summary and not to diminish the complexity of the learning.

What an incredible first few days.... I will do a separate post for the fique dyeing!!

Aug 2026




Today Hernan introduced me to Frederico and Katalina who will be my Muisca teachers. Before heading to the community tom...
21/08/2026

Today Hernan introduced me to Frederico and Katalina who will be my Muisca teachers. Before heading to the community tomorrow we spent the day getting to know each other, visiting sacred territory in Bogotá, and making an offering to our Mother, setting our intentions. I have now registered with the Muisca territory.

I have pages and pages of notes, illustrations Frederico has sketched in my sketchbook. Some highlights:

A house and the body are interrelated: the house's fire is a person's heart, a hat the roof, the timber frame - bones. A well looked after house reflects a well looked after body - caring for both means you have the capacity to support your community.

Cotton growing represents clouds. When cotton is spun you spin it with the intentions for that item or how it will be used and by whom.

Weaving is organising thoughts into the cloth.

Weaving represents interrelationships with people - tensions, connections ... Every part of the weave process is reviewed, reflected and created with intention - the same as life.

I have many notes on to***co, and coca.

I learned about the musical origin story and the tensaca (sun/male) and chiguachia (moon/female) mountains that births Rio Vicacha and Mother waters/lagoons. We talked about the importance of yearly cyclical festivals - solstices / sowing and harvesting. Katalina shared stories and she sung Musica songs.

A great first day.

The flowers are either hummingbirds favourite wild grapes, or tabaco flowers.

The sacred site we visited was almost silent in Bogotá.

Thank you Hernan Katalina and Frederico



First couple of days in ... The setting in :-))) Please don't tell Frank I've met Frank No.2 ... He'd be soooo upset ....
19/08/2026

First couple of days in ... The setting in :-))) Please don't tell Frank I've met Frank No.2 ... He'd be soooo upset ... Anyway Frank 2 is keeping me company in the mornings over eggs sketching and fruit ... Altitude shinazzle isn't too bad so I've managed to fit in:

Museum offfffffs...

-gold
-Botero (kinda fell in love ...)
-Modern Art

Plaza de Bolivar
3000000 coffee shops for sketching
5000000 photos already

The area of Bogota is just super :))))

Tomorrow begins my Chumbe research with Katalina and the Musica Community, firstly in Bogotá and then heading to Fowe near Fomeque.

and non-extractive .

A quick laundry, kids and cats turn around and I'm back on a coach, this time to Heathrow and an evening flight to Bogot...
17/08/2026

A quick laundry, kids and cats turn around and I'm back on a coach, this time to Heathrow and an evening flight to Bogotá, Colombia.

For the next 18 days I will be living with a Musica community near Fomeque to learn the significance of the Chumbe with a weaving elder and understand the sash/belts pictorial, and cosmological significance. I hope to gain more insight into how my ancestors would have lived in the High Andes; and consider more deeply the relationship with our planet, learning the Muisca land-hand-colour-textile-cosmological relationship and be with the colours that make my eyeballs fizz.

Throughout the trip I will be photographing, journalling, weaving and reflecting ... Much like I did last year on my Colombian trip with Si - but this time, more focused on weaving and understanding the motif/pictorial magical symbolism alongside learning about my ancestral lineage.

I will have time to see family near the end of the trip (I can't wait to see you Sonia and Angelica). I will also visit Nancy, an academic specialising in More than Human pedagogy.

Similarly to last year, I have made handkerchiefs and hand woven scarves as gifts for the Weaver elder and crafts people I meet.

A huge thanks to Arts University Plymouth for supporting the research trip :-))))))





and More than Human research

Chumbe - Non extractive Textile Research.

La Fabrica 1876 ... A mill treat. delights Even more reason to love El Pont De Suert.❤️
12/08/2026

La Fabrica 1876 ... A mill treat.

delights

Even more reason to love El Pont De Suert.

❤️

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