Ceramics in Nicaragua

San Juan de Oriente,the next stop on our tour of the Pueblos Blancos, is famous for its ceramics. In a town of approx 5600, 4000 are directly involved in the production of ceramics. The history of ceramics in the town dates back to 1000 BC. Legends tell the story of a female spirit that lived in the nearby Masaya volcano that was rewarded for he prophecies with offerings of food on plates made in the village. The Spanish named the town San Juan de los Platos as the 'plates' were so significant to the economy. The name only changed with independence in 1821.

We visited the house and shop of one potter. He explained that all the clay was dug from local sources and each potter has to prepare it ready for use himself. This involves removing gravel then adding sand before working to a suitable consistency. We watched his demonstration carefully. He used his feet to turn the wheel and copious amounts of water to create his perfect shape. Some of us were inspired to have a go including the boys. 

What brilliant first efforts!

Glazes are added often using recycled items. Human hair and old pens make the perfect paintbrushes. Intricate designs are then added and the pieces left to dry. 

 All the work needs to be fired and I was delighted to be able to see the homemade adobe  kiln, a style used by all the artisans in the area. It made me think about my own beast of a kiln in my workshop at home.I have electrical power and a temperature controller. These kilns are heated by  burning wood and need a whole lot of experience to control the temperature. The fire needs to be tended constantly for approximately 10 hours.

The finished pieces are displayed around the house and then sent to souvenir shops all over Nicaragua.It a pleasure to meet such a talented man. We all bought a few pieces and I'm pleased to report that they all made it home to England safely.

Browsing online I found an amazing charity called Potters for Peace.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Potters-for-Peace/107534015941643
The charity help potters develop their techniques and help them to find outlets for their work. They have helped develop fuel efficient kilns to make the process less fuel thirsty. The new kilns have reduced the amount of fuel needed by 50%. After the devastation of trees in the area by Hurricane Mitch this helped many potters back into production.

Browsing on ETSY as you know I love to, I searched Nicaragua and found a number of ceramic artists with work for sale. Try and take a look-amazing!

 

 

Basket Weaving in Nicaragua

Nicaragua 

 Can you locate it on a map? 

Do you know one snippet of information about this off the beaten track spot?

I was lucky enough to visit Nicaragua this February as a stop on my journey through Central America. What a fantastic country to visit! I would thoroughly recommend it. It's a country dominated by volcanoes and filled with super friendly people.

I stayed with my family for a week at the Mariposa Spanish School near Masaya, an area famous for local artisans. 

http://mariposaspanishschool.com/

 In the mornings we studied Spanish and in the afternoons we explored the local area. We crawled through ancient lava tubes, sampled local delicacies and watched in awe as local artisans created masterpieces before our eyes. 

 One afternoon we visited Los Pueblos Blancos. The buildings in these towns were originally painted white (blanco) to ward off evil spirits. Each village specializes in a particular craft. We started in Niquinohomo, the birthplace of Augusto Cesar Sandino, to visit a basket weaver and his family. 

 

First the bamboo is sliced lengthways. Note the knife is pointing towards to the man! Not a job for wimps! The man was covered in cuts and scars from knife wounds. His brother then creates a frame from the sliced bamboo strips in a star shape. A length of thinner bamboo is then woven in a spiral from the centre towards the edges of the basket. This too resulted in blood letting while we watched! The men worked at speed and at the end of each day have a pile of baskets ready for sale. Most of the baskets are used by locals to carry their wares to market. They are huge and sturdy enough to be thrown from the roof of the chicken buses on reaching the market.

Oscar was completely mesmerized by this process and later in the trip we made a mini woven rug from bits of palms on the beach. 

Searching online I found some great projects. Purchase of baskets from this site provides food for children in schools. Local women have been empowered by basket weaving projects. A little monthly income in Nicaragua goes a long way. This clip shows a lady using pine needles for her basket.
 

http://www.fmscmarketplace.org/products/nicaragua-pine-needle-basket

Last Minute Jubilee Souvenirs

SparrowPrimitives 

So we're off to a Jubilee party on Saturday and suddenly the text arrives - fancy dress and bunting please! Panic! I've not gotten into the swing of it yet but as the bunting has started to appear around the village, that and the bizarre scarecrows, I've begun to feel like I need souvenirs.

I went to my parents this week and mum had found my old badge collection in the loft. To my surprise I found so many silver jubilee badges. There was a special metal one in a little red box and this was given to every child at school. I wonder if it was just my school or the whole country. Maybe you have one? I wonder if the children will receive a memento this year during these tough times.

I remember going to a street party that was so much fun. The photos show bunting hung across the street and tables decked with so much food that everyone had contributed.

BabanCat

for vintage inspired crochet and organics

So,  a costume and some souvenirs. I went to my favourite low cost shop and sourced some ridiculous hats, bunting and flags but I think I need a more sensible souvenir or something to wear. I've scoured my favourite shops and come up with some perfect items. If you're quick you can still grab them.

missbohemia 

PixiesDesign 

Polymer clay Costume Jewelry Rings Brooches Pendants

accidentalvix 

I have made myself one of these fused glass pendants to wear but have a couple extra.I think they would work for the Olympics too. Blog readers don't forget my special code BLOG10 for 10% off at checkout.

Den Building Party.

How time flies! Rather a cliche I know but on my childrens birthdays it really hits home. It was little ones 6th birthday this week. Obviously he's not that little anymore though! He only wanted three best friends which was a comfortable number for a campfire theme.

Den building first so we dragged branches around the garden and climbed trees to tie on ropes and hang tarps. The children created perfect little hiding places for the nerf gun battle that followed.

We used a flint to light the fire and then cooked local sausages from Primrose Pork on the new grill.  The children wrapped bread dough around sticks to make dampers and then each cooked their own.We used a potato peeler to safely shave the bark off the green sticks.

 I made chocolate fairy cakes with flame coloured icing and then the boys turned them into campfires using flakes for the branches. We finished off dessert with a marshmallow toasting session.

We sandwiched the marshmallows between 2 dark chocolate digestive biscuits for our own version of smores.

At the end of the party the children completed a nature quiz that led to a final clue in the chicken house to locate their party bags. I buried them in a bin bag in the veggie patch and they had to work as a team to dig them out. Quite a lot of flying mud!

Continuing with the smores theme I made each child a tea light coaster with their name on, added a tea light, two cocktail sticks and a bag of mini marshmallows. Take home s'more! I made hessian bags to haul the loot home home.

I think they had a good time. They went home extremely dirty!

Folky Friday.

Picks from this weeks listings in the Crafty Folk daily listing club on ETSY.

This weeks featured selleris  www.etsy.com/shop/DecoEclectic  I hadn't come across this shop until now and what a find. This shop sells a huge mixture of unique jewellery designs with a vintage & retro twist.

 I love this little blue brooch.

This pink Bollywood elephant is super fun and really unique .

I loved this necklace from www.etsy.com/shop/averilpam. The shape is really different. My pendants always seem to be a similar shape. I'll do some wobbly ones next time perhaps. The colours on this pendants are wild. There are stripes in a myriad of colours and sizes that are all united by the background. They work brilliantly.

Another shop to catch my eye this week is www.etsy.com/shop/ChattyNora. I'm redecorating the boys rooms at the moment and love inspirational type things. (Not sure if they quite understand their significance yet though!)

This one made me laugh. Apparently it's a quote from Moss from The IT Crowd (a British TV series).I've not heard of this one but that's not suprising really as I'm not much of a TV fan.

Meet the Klips!

The Klips are a new range of bookmarks designed for children. Each consists of a giant paperclip with a fused glass head at the top. The eyes, nose and mouth have been tack fused on so they are 3D but will not come off. The glass is glossy and shiny and some even dichroic glass. The heads have been securely mounted onto the paperclip with a high strength metal and glass epoxy that will not come off. The glass has been fired at high temperature, this rounds the corners and makes it very strong and durable. These can be dropped and don't tend to break making them suitable for the demands of young children.

Each member of the Klip Klan is unique.

Meet Kobalt Klip, the wisest of the Klip Klan. He is deep blue when he is thinking hard. He loves to read and particularly likes mystery stories. He is very good at solving these. He loves to read Nancy Drew Mysteries and The Hardy Boys.

 Klever Klip is very clever (obviously). In his spare time he loves to read dictionaries and eat spelling lists. (Some Klan members may have been inspired by my own family!)

Klever Klip

These are the first two members of the Klan ready for listing on ETSY. I have a lot more to add daily. They were inspired by my sons who are avid readers and consume books by the truckload.Instead of those scrappy bits of paper they use to mark pages they now have the first members of the Klan. I hope to design some girlier members in the next batch! 

Each Klan member comes with a notecard telling the child which kind of books he/she likes and perhaps a recommendation for one they might like to try.

No 1 son helped to take the photographs this week and he came up with all sorts of ideas for uses(some more sensible than others!) He has one to clip his pokemon cards together. No 2 uses his to hold his paper birthday money.  I think they would make great stocking fillers.

What about a graduation gift with a favourite book? The clip could mark a inspirational quote.

These have been great fun to design and make.I have a section in my shop dedicated to the Klan. There are also some more sensible designs for book reading adults. I am adding to this daily.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluedaisyglass?section_id=11490163

 

Berber Pharmacie

We were met at the door of the pharmacy by a man in a white medical coat and ushered into a room with benches around the walls. The walls above us were lined with shelves. Each shelf was heaving with jars. Some were filled with coloured liquids, some lipstick style pots and some seemed to be filled with odd looking animal parts. The smell of the room was intense and sent a few of the children into couging fits. I tried to focus on the rose smell which was one of the more pleasant aromas wafting around.

The berber pharmacist opened packets of dried herbs and spices and insisted that berber saffron was both the best and the cheapest. He had a cure for everything. The snoring potion was a favourite. This was a muslin square with crunched up cumin seeds inside. He took great delight in taking it to each person and shoving it up one nostril whilst pinching shut the other. Eventually you had to inhale the vile concoction. I preferred the rose perfume and cooking spices. We had to rub in samples of lotions until our arms could absorb no more and our noses had been overdosed.

Black olive soap, arnica, mint tea, natural oils, excema cures, natural viagra, deodorants, and the famous Argan oil were just a few more of packages to be sampled.

I started to get a bit tedious and the children were starting to get bored until a new game was invented.  It was time to divulge your parents hidden medical secrets. "Well my Dad has got... " The pharmacist was delighted with dodgy knees and bald patches for a while until it started getting a bit more personal!

We particularly enjoyed the magic Berber lipstick. My youngest son found this highly amusing. It was a clear lipstick that when you put it on turned red after a few minutes. A lot of skin can be drawn on in a few minutes and suddenly the magic worked. His face and arms had Adam Ant stripes for a couple of days.

In Morocco Argan oil is known as liquid gold.It is golden in colour and very expensive. The local people use it in both cosmetics and culinary forms. It can also help rheumatism, high cholesterol and even diabetes.

The two ladies above were demonstrating the labour intensive process required to produce the oil. I have found this informative video showing the process in a bit more detail. I like it because it's a co-operative so in theory the profits go to the ladies.

I really enjoyed the visit to the phamacie and would thoroughly recommend it. I bought a variety of potions and spices and the lipstick has provided hours of amusement.

I did a quick search and found Argan oil and other Moroccan inspired items on ETSY.

SugaredBeauty

Handmade Skin Care and Natural Beauty Products

HilarysBazaar