Jose Ishmael He is the son of José Antonio Expósito Ramos, the cane player, a well-known person in tacoronte passed away a few years ago. It was her father with a group of friends who started the tradition of making the Corpus Christi carpets with seeds they would search for almost the whole year.
Since he was little, he accompanied his father and learned his art, which he maintained after his death, although not with such rigor since it is difficult to obtain the seeds and a part, although small, ends up being bought.
José Ismael makes the tapestry with five friends. Its location is always the same, on Teobaldo Power street, attached to the Town Hall. The base is a black earth that they extract from the must that is kept in the cellars and when it decomposes it is filtered and used for the carpet.
Wheat, barley, oats, sunflower seeds, rice, millet from the country, date seeds and some that are bought at the last minute are what they use as materials. “Today one or the other has to be bought,” he says. All this is combined with the flower of the onion. “And also black potatoes, which some people ask us to pick before the procession passes”, he jokes.
Working with seeds is complex. They don’t place them one by one but by handfuls because they already have practice but still, a lot of delicacy and patience is required. “You don’t have to add too much or too little, you have to achieve a balance,” says José Ismael.
