Blue Pottery

On to the Blue Pottery factory - just a yard with several workers in it in the village of Sanganer south of Jaipur. This is the same place that they were block printing bed linen in the earlier post. They did of course have the obligatory basement showing off their 'collection' but no real hard sell.

The pots are made from a mix of clay with quartz, glass and other minerals for hardness. This is presses into a mould and left to dry in the sun before having a coating of slip applied.

These guys are decorating the pots with traditional designs - first the outline is painted with a fine brush, and then the colours are filled in.

We were allowed to have a try, much to the amusement of the workers. The squirrel hair brush has a lot of bounce, and once you get used to how much paint to put on the brush it is possible to vary the thickness of the lines with pressure, making them look elegant. 

Once all the decoration is complete the pieces are kiln fired. 

Just look at the marks and texture on the kiln trays. Marvellous!

Due to the vagaries of this process a large percentage of the pieces don't come out intact., and it is not possible to predict which ones will be OK.

Not all of the kiln-broken pieces end up on the scrap-heap like this little cow -

some are destined for greater things.

And to try out a new range of tiles what better place than the loo? This must be the poshest washroom in Jaipur!