According to "Seri Ironwood Carving: An Economic View," Jose Astorga is known as the father of ironwood carving. In the early 1960s, Astorga began making barrettes, bowls, spoons and paperweights out of ironwood. However, this changed in 1963. According to legend, Astorga met an American woman who was carving a desert tortoise out of ironwood. He told her he knew how to work with ironwood. Astorga began carving three-dimensional life-like dolphins, seals and turtles out of ironwood. These items proved popular with the tourists.
At first, only a half-dozen carvers produced this new "tourist art." The carvings were easy to make and sold well. Demand remained small until 1968 when some University of Arizona students began coming to Desemboque. They would buy top-quality pieces and resell them in the U.S. The market for Seri ironwood carvings expanded in the U.S., and soon others began traveling to Desemboque on buying trips. With the increase in demand, new families started carving the figures to keep up with production.
The early figures were crude. Carvers used machetes or butcher knives to chop the basic outline out of a block of wood. Early pieces were realistic and detailed, with mouths sawed in and nail heads pounded in for eyes. More efficient American-made woodworking tools made it easier to produce the carvings. As American tastes changed, there was a gradual shift away from naturalistic shapes to abstract shapes. Carvers use stylized lines to depict anatomical features, and each carver has developed his own carving style.
Mexican artisan Aurelio Palma learned how to carve from the Seri. He taught his family and friends, and it wasn't long before Mexican carvings were competing with Seri carvings. Mexican pieces have carved feathers, fur and other realist details. Relationships between Seri and Mexican carvers are strained. Mexican carvers can produce goods more quickly and cheaply than Seri carvers and sell them at lower prices. The pieces are even stamped "Made in Seri."
Unfortunately, ironwood trees are under threat. Thanks to the Ironwood Alliance, efforts are being made not only to save the trees but to preserve the Seri carving tradition. Recently the Alliance provided the Seri with alternative carving sources: tague, a tropical palm nut from Ecuador with an ivory-like consistency, and surplus tropical hardwoods. The Mexican artisan organization, AMACUP, provided Mexican carvers with tropical hardwoods. Mexican carvers prefer these hardwoods because they can be worked like ironwood, making then a good substitute.