Primitive ceramics workshop/obradoiro at Os Biobardos con Quibutz

Os Biosbardos is a unique place for agricultural and crafts exploration. Os Biosbardos hosts many different projects always with a permacultural mindset. It is like an oasis located on the border of an industrial state. There is clay in Os Biobardos and this was the main reason for this workshop, to collect process and test the clay. Two sessions were open to the public and admitted participants. One session for produccion and another for firing. At the produccion session participants were shown the source of the clay,but they did not have to dig for it. They all had a go at kneading and in the meanwhile I explained them about the need to wedge the clay, where / how to look for local wild clay and how to process it in order to get a workable clay. I used clay obtained from different locations, all in the vicinity.

The particippants formed an heterogeneous group of children and adults. They did not have much experience with ceramics and its techniques. I demostrated coiling, pinching and building with soft slabs into wich we pressed leaves for decoration.

My first choice for the firing was an open pit firing . Open pit firings do not require many hours and are very engaging and celebratory ,so it was the most suitable choice for this ocasion. Sadly that was not posible due to dry weather and firing restrictions. So we improvised a kiln with a metal barrel. They have some at Os Biosbardos, there was also a lid/chimmney, as they are experimenting in organic charcoal production. It was a magic day but finally at night we had to put off the fire as there was no people from Os Biosbardos and we had to leave, so we had put out the fire, before most pots could not reach sintering temperature temperature. This was dissapointing but an important lesson.