June 19, 2014 - Tour - Pottery in Gualaceo

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Next we went to a pottery factory (house) in Gualaceo. Here they make beautiful pottery, all by hand. Even the wheel for throwing the pottery is foot powered, no electricity.

The rocks are ground into a powder, then water is added. One man just beats and squeezes the mixture until he has the consistency that they want. Then it is given to the two men that do the throwing and actually make the various items. After they are done, a young man draws the designs by hand, just using a nail.

Then they are put in the oven. This is not a gas fired kiln as in the States. It is an oven that is wood fired, and there is no top to it. Once the items to be fired are placed in the oven, they are covered with broken pieces of pottery that have already been fired.

There was a young lady there taking three pots, lining them up and adding a little more clay to hold them together. Then she put a taller pot on top and clayed them all together. Very interesting.

The owner is the man working on the taller pot on the wheel.

Then we went through an area under the house - not a basement, just an open area. We had to duck our heads at a few spots (none of the worked had to duck). Here there was an elderly woman putting clay into molds to create the large boot flower pots.

From here we actually had to climb up a steep hill next to the house, without steps, to get back to the front of the building. That was enough exercise for the day.

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