Yolanda Morton creates island crafts, a skill she learned as a child in her native Dominica.
"I had no choice. Everybody had to learn a trade," she said.
She sells those crafts at her shop, Tropical Details, next to Raintree Restaurant in Cruz Bay, and at places like the annual Folklife Festival put on by V.I. National Park at Annaberg Plantation.
In addition to jewelry made out of hemp, beads, seeds of the monkey-no-climb tree, and coconut shells, bird feeders and bowls created from calabash, and other items that use materials found in island locales, Morton makes purses woven from grass.
"You put the grass in the sun to dry," she began, explaining in full detail how she makes one style of purse.
When the grass is partly dry, she plaits it. Using an umbrella spoke sharpened to a point as a needle, she then sews the plaited grass together to make a purse.
She also sews items such as wedding dresses, makes dolls and weaves belts.
Morton’s crafts come with a story.
"Calabash has a big history," she said.
The seeds came in the pockets of slaves transported from Africa. They planted them, and the fruits of those trees served many uses. Morton said fishermen used the insides of the fruit as fish bait, and the fruits themselves are made into myriad products.
She also spoke about the tradition of using madras fabric. While it’s now used mainly in costumes, in olden days it arrived on big bolts from India. Since it was one of only a few fabrics available, women used it to make many items. Head wraps were among them.
"Head coverings in the Caribbean are something special," she said.
Morton also talked about making mattresses from coconut husks, a skill just about forgotten in these days of factory-made mattresses.
And women used corn husks as scrubbing brushes, with the starch from the corn going to starch clothes.
Morton learned to sew on a treadle machine, and said when the cloth stuck, she’d wax it to make it slide more easily through the sewing machine foot.
She moved from Roseau, Dominica, in 1973 to get married. That marriage ended, but she’s now married to St. Kitts native Rondolph Morton. She said he helps her with her crafts by doing things like cutting the coconuts.
Morton worked eight years at Caneel Bay Resort sewing shirts for waiters and making and maintaining uniforms worn by maids. After 1989’s Hurricane Hugo temporarily closed the resort, she started working at the Virgin Grand Hotel in the uniform department. When the hotel segued into the Hyatt and then the Westin, she continued on, working at various times as a restaurant hostess, waitress, banquet server, and in the uniform department.
While working at the Hyatt in 1993, she opened Tropical Details.
Tropical Details is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and Saturdays and Sunday from 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Those interested can call the store at 693-9000.
