Friday, October 17, 2014

Mexico :: Pottery

One of the favorite things my daughters and I like to do is paint. We will paint pretty much anything. So what's one of the activities while on vacation? Why paint pottery, poolside of course.

We hung out with Luis (pictured right) who would patiently wait for people to finish their painted pieces. There were distracted parents who dropped their kids off, spoiled rambunctious young kids, bored teenagers, and a few helicopter moms who would finish their kid's pottery for them. You see it all when you travel. 

Honestly, it really didn't matter much if you could paint .... Luis would 'fix' it. I saw several pieces that the paint was just globbed on, and he'd change up the colors, put in black lines around the images and add in accents. Basically you'd come back to pick up your piece and you'd be stunned by how amazing your Luis' work was!

The pieces you see here were painted by us Luis. I did the two dishes with lids, and Kate did the bowl with the waves. Anne did a series of flowered candle holders, which we discovered later are simply for decoration since the finishing coat burns and turns black when you try to really use them. Opps! Good thing we were standing right there and blew the candle out in a hurry!

I did some online research to see if I could identify what style of pottery this represents. What I believe is that this is influenced by Talavera style which uses bright colors, thick graphics and dominant boarders around the patterns. Talavera was introduced to Mexico by Spanish guild artisans during the Colonial period (1650-1810). In Spain, the style is call 'Majolica.' What makes this method different from others is that the base pottery is already fired clay which is covered with an opaque glaze base. Then the pottery is covered with an opaque glaze and decorated with metallic oxide glaze colors, which are fired together. This blends the colors that overlap and form other colors. The result is brightly colored, glossy surface that maintains and enhances the lines and colors. While our pieces did not follow this process exactly, you can definitely see the influences of the style. 

10 comments:

  1. I painted pottery in a craft class back when I was a teenager. Loved it! I love those flower candle holders, even though they are for decorative purposes only :)
    What a fun activity to do with your girls!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, what fun! What a great way to spend time with your girls. And how sweet of Luis to 'fix' certain pieces. I bet it's good for business ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a fun thing to do on vacation! I love Anne's flower candle holders! You could always use the fake LED kind in there too.
    I love the bright colors of Mexico. Even their houses are bright!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Luis and the Three Machatas do beautiful work together :-)
    Maybe some good potpourri for Anne's candle holders? Yikes!

    ReplyDelete
  5. How fun! I've painted ceramics before, but these are even brighter. When I was in Arizona, we stopped into a little local shop that also sold some pottery from Mexico. That's what a bunch of my family members got for Christmas that year, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That sounds like fun! You all did a great job! We have some Mexican pottery around the house but we didn't actually get it from Mexico nor did we paint it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, how I love painting pottery!! I made some God-awful Christmas ornaments in the past with my Mom - I still have them and hang them on my tree every year (in the back, of course)! No..I was not a child when I painted these - full fledged adult with no painting skills! But so much fun! How cool to do this in Mexico!

    One thing about reading your blog - you always seem to hit a note that jogs my memories of the past - thank you for that!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The pieces that you guys painted (with Luis' help) are gorgeous. Such a Mexican feel to them with the bright colors! Perfect souvenirs too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. These are so pretty ;o) I would love to make some with Luis's help ;o) LOL! Great souvenirs ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful post!!! nice colors!!!.)))

    ReplyDelete

AntiquityTravelers on Etsy