Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures that take elements from different animals and from the artists imagination to create a magical being. They are a relatively recent manifestation of Mexican folk art, invented during the 20th century and made popular by Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The origin story of alebrijes can be traced to the cartonero Pedro Linares López in the 1930s who, in Mexico City, made a living of crafting piñatas, masks, and judas figures from cartonería (a technique very similar to crafting with paper-mâché). While very ill with high fever, Pedro Linares López had a delusion where mystical creatures that looked like animals in brightly colored skin chanted the word alebrije over and over again. Alebrijes are traditionally made with wood from the copal tree in Oaxaca, but they can also be made with papier-mâché, wire, cardboard, and other materials such as cloth. Alebrijes are special because no two are ever alike, and every artisan who designs one gives the spiritual animal its own unique traits and personality.