In Search of Talavera

My brother and I, along with my cousins, grew up benefiting from our parents/grandparents passion for making ceramics. We all have chess sets, garlic keepers, vases and figurines - that have long out lived those that made them. I think it's one reason I buy at least one piece of pottery in every country I visit and want to get back into pottery by taking a class here in San Miguel.

Mexico is known for brightly colored Talavera ceramic flower pots. In fact, ceramics is the most practiced craft in Mexico. They are expensive in the United States and come to think of it, they are pretty expensive here in San Miguel. A recent trip to the Castillo Talavera Factory proved to be the most educational experience of our trip to San Miguel so far. 

First, those of you that know me, you know I am not the tour bus type. That said, we thought the no-fuss, no-muss trip, offered by la Biblioteca Publica (for $60), might just provide the entree into the factory we were looking for. A group of six people seemed low-key enough - no colored armbands, or worse, bright orange vests screaming "tourist", just a small unassuming group - yeah, right. 

Separating the Clay from other Debris

I wanted to get the back story, the first hand deal, the inside scoop on the ceramic pottery my mom loved so much. She always brought back some Talavera with each visit to Mexico - remember that giant blue parrot that hung in my kitchen all those years? That was my mom. I also wanted to see some techniques that might be applied to my own pottery in my class at Burroco. A full tour of the Castillo Talavera Factory in Dolores Hildago, provided this and more!

For starters, Talavera is not just flower pots or that figurine of the Mexican man with his face on his knees taking a siesta, like those that make it to the U.S. It's a plethora of dishes, bowls and platters, animals and bird baths and everything in between. 

The history and current production of this traditional art form is fascinating. Talavera is a type of maiolica earthenware, distinguished by its white-based glaze. Maiolica Pottery was brought to Mexico by the Spanish in the first century. But ceramics in Mexico, as we learned at the pyramids, dates back thousands of years to the pottery developed with the first advanced civilizations and cultures of Mesoamerica.  As I understand it, the process of harvesting the clay, refining it, pouring it into molds, and painting has changed little over the years.

In the last hundred years the process of making Talavera has been refined somewhat, firing at hotter temperatures, and using glazes and using special paints that make the black lines impenetrable by other colored paints. 

Making the Slip

The process goes a little something like this:

Making the Slip

First the clay is mined from clay beds in surrounding towns. The clay in the Hildago area is plentiful and just the right blend of clay and and sand. As I am learning in my pottery class, it is this perfect blend that makes the clay here so durable that it is often used in statues. The clay is then refined and mixed with water to make ceramic slip, which is then poured into molds and dried a little into green-ware. 

Smoothing Lines and Creases

Just this process takes days to complete. The slip is then poured into one of thousands of molds hand crafted by local artisans. The molded clay objects must then be inspected for imperfections, with lines and creases smoothed. 

On our tour, we learned that the women and men at the Castillo factory have a variety of skills, used at each step and each paid at different rates depending on the skills performed. The top pay is $120 a week.

The ceramics don't go to the kiln, the kiln goes to the ceramics - it rolls over the stacked ceramics, like a huge carport rolling over a car. It is made of fire resistant material, with a small hole so you can peek inside to see how it's doing. When the kiln is started, fire shoots up on the inside and last for up to 10 hours. 

Inspecting each Piece

Base Paint Applied

  

 

Ceramics Drying Before Going into the Kiln

Painting the Design

It takes another day to cool before it can be sent over for painting. I tell ya, I have a new appreciation for how much time and talent it takes to make even the simplest of geckos and the larger pieces are phenomenal!

Once the ceramics have been fired, oh and this is just the first time by-the-way, they are coated with a primer. According to our guide, this young man should be wearing a mask because the material is toxic!  

The ceramics then get passed on to the next artist, who adds the painted designs. He is paid the highest, because the designs are very specialized. The black paint he is using is like a permanent marker - he'd be one unpopular guy if he made a mistake at this stage! There are hundreds of designs that can be applied, each having a template. And, like any artist, he divides his object into sections so that there is patterning, dimension, and symmetry. I really could have watched this guy all day.
  

Painting the Biskware

A Long Line of Artists

The painters bring each piece to life, filling in rich colors and raised dots.. The original Talavera was a cream and blue color (perhaps you've seen it) but over the years the more colorful primary and secondary colored ceramics became more and more in demand. While in other areas of the factory you could hear people laughing and talking it was dead silent in this room, as people concentrated on their work.

In the end, our little group of six people slipped through the factory pretty well. There is only one tour a week, so I was proud to be a part of it. We exited through the store - the last stop. Of course, I poured over every bit of it, and took way too much time away from those who had worked up an appetite and were ready for lunch.

There was way too much to bring home, but we managed to find something for our new kitchen back home and for David's cubicle at the office.  I must say, it was an amazing day and well worth the money. 

For those of you thinking of taking this tour, the trip also included a visit to the church where Fr. Hildago made his historic "Greeto" to the people of Mexico, telling them to rise up and revolt against Spain. We visited the Hildago museum that honors that period of history and had our own personal historian. We visited the town of Atotonico, where people used to make their own private pilgrimage to the healing hot springs. 

She did look up and Quietly say, "Hola"

We topped it off by eating at a new and trendy restaurant called Nirvana - say no more! An expensive meal, but it was fun to try jamaica tacos, beet salad with pralines, vegan sushi and fruit salad with papaya, nuts and basil sherbet - More about the wonderful food and our picks for restaurants soon. 

I hope you enjoy reading this blog, it is still a bit of an experiment. Please leave a comment about things that interest you about Mexico. Think of it as the editorial page of the blog. 

And....Stay tuned!