More from Guatajiagua

Below is a video of them pulling the pottery from the kiln and coating it with a natural black dye.

Below is a link to a photo album of the trip. Unfortunatly, you do have to sign up for snapfish to view it, but at least it is free. I would suggest reading the blog entry first so you can have a better idea of what is going on in the pics.

Enjoy!

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=139131205424021668/l=357953201/g=11114116/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Artisans in Guatajiagua

Artisans in Guatajiagua

On the opposite side of El Salvador in Guatajiagua lives another community of artisans. Their specialty is black pottery. My artisans have long had an interest in how it was made. Thus, we some of the additional funds from the project, John (another volunteer) and I organized a trip for four of my artisans.

We left Friday, February 29th at about 6 a.m. for the 5 hour pick-up ride out. After getting settled into the hotel and eating lunch, we started looking through a few ‘tallers’ or shops.

In the first one we saw how they prepare their clay. The first step is to grind it up, then mix it with water and finally push is through a press. This allows their clay to be extremely fine and stronger. In contrast, my artisans put the clay out in the middle of the street to allow cars to run over it.

We also saw how they wore starting to integrate molds into their work. It was interesting to hear how both groups of artisans liked the advantages that molds or pottery wheels could offer – but were also nervous about future generations losing the skill of hand made pottery.

Next up was a store set-up and run by a few artisans. A number of my artisans have long thought of opening a store so it was nice that they could hear how others had decided to set theirs up.

After the store, we went to a Nina Carmen’s taller. Hers is unique because of the work her son does – he works almost exclusively on the pottery wheel. Each of my artisans got to work on the week for at least 45 minutes under his instruction and they loved it! My artisans have just recently been given a pottery wheel, so this was a way to spark interest and give them the confidence to approach it as a tool for their own work.

From there we walked over to another taller where they were firing their pieces. Now the kilns in Guatajiagua are very different from the kilns in Santo Domingo de Guzman. They are domed shaped and the fire goes into the same chamber as the pieces, not below like ours.

Here is where we saw how they actually make black pottery. After forming the piece, they let it dry. At this point the pieces are an ashen white. When they are dry, they are fired and turn a brighter white. Once the pieces are done being cooked, they let the fire continue as they pull out pieces one by one. This is done with a long stick looped through a handle on the piece. They move the piece over to a station where they dump a natural dye onto it. The dye is made from boiling seeds from a tree. (Forgive me, but I forget the name of the tree). Surprisingly, the pieces don’t crack from the rapid change in temperature. Afterward, they are set aside to dry. It was fascinating to watch.

That brings us to about 7pmish, so we left to go grab dinner and settle in for the night.

The next morning was spent completely at Nina Carmen’s taller where the women got another hour each at the pottery wheel with instruction.

We left around 1pm – after saying good-bye and saying thanks.

I really think it was a great trip. The women bought some of the seeds to see if they could use it on their own pieces and are now talking about setting up trainings for the pottery wheel. It also gave them different ideas of what to mix their clay with – for example with only sand and not white dirt.

Next up is having the ‘instructor’ come down and stay in Santo Doming de Guzman for a week with the support of ADEL (another NGO)

Señora Saturina Cortes

Unfortunatly, Saturina Cortes decided not to complete her end of the contract. Instead of using the materials to build a chimney, she built a brand new kiln.

I am under the impression that her and her family believe that others who rebuilt kilns recieved more bricks then her and thus she shouldn't have to pay for the additional bricks. In reality, all others who rebuilt kilns bought the additional bricks.

It's an unfortunate turn of events and I don't look foward to explaining to the other eight artisans why she isn't complying with her word. But, as you come to learn, you can't force someone to do something they do not wish to do.

Below are the photos of the old kiln and the new.

Señora Rebecca Ramírez López

Rebecca’s kiln was similar to that of Maria Irene. It was built up to close in and then a chimney was built alongside.

This was the kiln before it recieved work. The roof was made from clay tiles and held up by branches cut from a near by tree.

Here is the kiln after the work it recieved. In the picture on the left, you can see how the kiln was enclosed on top and the chimney rising through the lamina. The right picture shows the kiln in its entirety and the permenant roof.

Señor Carlos Roberto Ramírez Cortes

Carlos was one of the artisans who stepped into one of the vacant slots. He bought an additional 400 bricks to build a square kiln. Over the course of five days, Medardo, Carlos and his brother rapidly constructed the kiln.

This kiln will serve to alleviate the burden placed on a singular, old kiln that is being used by approximately 11 artisans.

The photo on the left is the full kiln. In the center photo you can see the entrance to the wood burning chamber.

Señora Vilma Ramos García

Vilma’s kiln received only a minimal amount of work since it was already a square kiln. The work consisted of redoing the top of the kiln, extending the chimney and replacing the roof.

You can see in the left picture how the chimney falls short of the roof - this actually blockaded the smoke into the home.

In the center pic is Merdardo redoing the top of the kiln.

The right hand picture is the finished product.

Señora Gertrudis Pérez Ramírez

Gertrudis was one of the artisans that stood in place of another who dropped out of the program. Thus, in her case, instead of making improvements to the kiln, a completely new one was built. She took the materials that would’ve gone to another, bought the additional bricks needed and paid for the construction.

This kiln comes as a great help to her since she lives close to, but outside of the main town center - meaning she had to carry all her work into town in order to fire it.

This kiln is a slight change on the square design. Instead of the wood entering in the front of the kiln, it enters on the side. This design allows a few small stairs to be built to the entrance of the kiln so that the artisan can easily place and retrieve her pieces.

This kiln also gives an excellent shot of the chimney exiting the roof.