We stopped to buy pottery at San Juan Oriente and met a family of artists. They showed us how they make the pottery and even let us try to make some ourselves. I made a very sad lopsided bowl which they promptly destroyed. The main potter of the family is the 15 year old son, Duelio Jr. He makes amazing pots – perfectly balanced and symmetrical, in about 2 ˝ minutes. His father decorates the pottery by carving and painting designs, and the mother is in charge of firing all their pottery in the stone kiln. The pottery is really amazing – it could be (and has been) sold for hundreds of dollars in the U.S. Duelio paints with hair stuck into an empty pen and an old toothbrush. He carves the decorations with a broken bicycle spoke and polishes the finished product with a black stone he got from the sea years ago. The kiln is huge - they can fire about 80 items at a time and actually export a lot of their work to a woman in Canada who supplies stores there. The mother has the firing down to a science. She first bakes it for most of the day at 30% humidity, then fires it at around 950 degrees for four hours. If she’s even a little off in the amount of humidity, the pots either crack or lose their color. Check out the pictures I posted – their pottery is absolutely amazing. And, if you’re interested in buying some, one of my tasks here is to help set up a business to sell Nicaraguan art over the internet. All the proceeds will go to help Los Pipitos buy teaching materials and pay their staff. Once we have the website and business ready to go, I’ll post more information!
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