Artsy Macrame

There is a lovely artisan village close to our apartment that I enjoy going to.  

 

It's called Los Dominicos Village, which is adjacent to a famous colonial church formally known as San Vicente Ferrer, but often called Los Dominicos Church.  We've adopted a church a few blocks from us, but this one is so striking that I'd like to attend at least one of their masses while we're here.  But I digress...

The village has a variety of shops that sell a lot of the typical Chilean kitschy items found in many places around Santiago.  

        

 

I'm not the kind of traveler that snubs her nose at these kinds of things, because I've already made a lengthy list of similar items that I'm planning to either carry back or ship.  I'll probably even do a later post on what these items entail.  But my tacky side is at times tempered by a desire for the finer things in life, and I'm fond of this village because they also have several shops with artisans who are producing unique pieces on-site that could be considered art.  

I've perused several of these places on my own, but finally had the opportunity today to show some of the shops to Pat.  He served two fundamental purposes.  The first was to see if he liked any of the pieces I liked for our home, in order to give him the illusion that he has some input in these decisions.  The second was to help me maneuver around the language barrier and determine the price conversions.  I'm still shockingly bad at this--even after 6 weeks!  

One of the things we both enjoyed a great deal was a large abstract macrame textile.  Behold:  

We liked it so much that it's now rolled up and sitting in our apartment as we're trying to figure out whether to carry it back or ship it home.  The problem is not the textile--it is the four and a half foot piece of wood at the top from which it hangs.  Pat didn't expect this to be a part of the package, but for me this was actually a selling point.  Any suggestions?