Traditional Pottery

The search for raw material to make their products is the potter’s first step. The places where clay is extracted, known as barreros, are usually located far from the pottery workshop, and the raw material is transported to the artisan’s home or workshop. Once collected, the clay undergoes a series of treatments to make it suitable for work: it is laid out in the sun to dry if it’s too moist, broken up with a stone or stick, cleaned of stones and impurities, and once dry, soaked and left to rest for several days.

It is then spread over a layer of fine ravine sand, and the same sand is added to the clay mass in a proportion of 25–30%. White clay and rofo are also mixed in. Canarian clays absorb a lot of water due to their volcanic origin, which causes them to shrink and crack as they dry. To reduce shrinkage and lessen plasticity, ravine sand is added—never beach sand, as it contains salt.

To begin shaping a pottery piece, the clay mass is placed on a board or flat stone with a layer of sand to prevent sticking and allow the piece to rotate easily. A portion of clay is then placed on the sand and hollowed and stretched, adding successive coils (clay rolls) until the desired height is reached, depending on the type of vessel being made. Work continues from the inside by dragging the clay upward with a bent index finger, while the other hand supports from outside. This process ends by smoothing and lengthening the inside with a pebble or borseta, sealing any exterior cracks, and smoothing the rim with a piece of leather (cordobán).

Once built, the piece is left to dry slightly to gain firmness and is left to rest until the next day to lose some humidity. It is then scraped or trimmed, a process that reduces the wall thickness using a knife, spoon, or metal arch. Thickness varies depending on the quality of the clay and the size of the piece, generally ranging between 2 millimeters and 2 centimeters.

After trimming, the surface is rough and coarse, so it is smoothed repeatedly using a water-moistened pebble to create an even surface and push the sand grains inward. The piece is left to dry slightly again, and the pebble is used dry to remove traces of the previous process.

Finally, the nearly dry piece is coated with almagre and burnished. Almagre is a reddish earth that, once mixed with water, oil, or petroleum, is spread with the fingers over the surface of the vessel. After a few minutes of drying, the surface is burnished by rubbing it with a smooth pebble. When finished, the piece is left in the shade to dry completely.

Once dry, the pieces are fired. In Fuerteventura, this was traditionally done outdoors, without a kiln—the use of kilns was unknown. The fuel usually consisted of thistle roots, dry tabaibas (a native shrub), pineapple cores, fig tree wood, and dried animal dung (from camels, donkeys, and cows).

The firing process began with preparing a bed: the pottery pieces were placed on stones, a few centimeters above the ground, to make space for a layer of dung. Medium-sized pieces (tallas, bernegales) were positioned with their mouths facing the wind or the ground (tofios, tabajostes, asaderas). The pieces were leaned against each other, covered with fig wood, and finally topped with large shards of broken pottery. The fire was lit from the windward side. Today, this method has nearly disappeared, replaced by kilns, usually one- or two-chamber Arab-style ovens, which allow the use of any type of firewood.