The whole process starts with a dense clay-like soil called barro, which is found in the hills that surround the village of Guatil. The Chorotega indians believe that the barro must be collected at the end of the lunar cycle, otherwise the density and strength of the clay is compromised. The barro is combined with a fine sand, called Iguana Sand, and then mixed with water by foot, similar to stomping grapes!

The pots are made using a “coil” building technique, piece-by-piece on a manual hand wheel. You start by rolling your clay into a ball, and then using your thumbs to pinch the clay into a bowl like shape (a pinch pot), that will become the base of your pot. You then roll more clay into a long log shaped strip and coil it on to the base. You use your fingers to fuse the clay together then spin the clay on the manual wheel, and use traditional tools like corn husks to help shape the pot. You continue in this way, adding coils until you have your desired shape.

Once you’ve shaped your pot it needs to dry for about 24 hours, before you can polish it. Hand polishing is done using small pieces of smooth plastic or stone that are rubbed over the clay to work out all the lines and imperfections created when shaping the pot. It’s a long tedious process, but worth it. The more you polish your pot the smoother it will be after firing.

After polishing a white-clay is painted on and allowed to dry for a couple of hours, before painting and etching begins. For my piece I chose to do a black base with a design etched into it. For this I needed to polish the white clay like in the previous step, then paint a black base, and then polish it again. At this stage polishing is just as important, there are no glazes used in Chorotega pottery so polishing is done to make it shiny after firing.

After painting and polishing, the piece needs to dry overnight again. The next day I etched out a design exposing the white clay beneath. This part made me a little nervous, as there’s no fixing it once you’ve started etching, so you have to be sure about your lines. (I chose to do something a little more modern, but in addition to etching, traditional pieces are often painted with clay that has been mixed with different colors of sand.)

Once the piece is completely done it’s fired in a wood burning kiln made of black earth, bricks and dried horse manure. The entire piece is created pre-firing, so once it’s fired in the kiln and cooled it’s done.

If you’re heading to Costa Rica, I highly recommend spending a few days with Arbin at his Tamarindo Potery Studio. Not only did I have a great time, but now I have a fantastic souvenir of our time in Costa Rica.

- For more information visit the studio’s website.

Read the original post here: Handmade Pottery in Costa Rica

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I’ve finally gotten around to putting all of my underwater photography from our year in Southeast Asia into a book. Just in time for Blurb’s “Best Books Contest”. Finalists are based on the number of votes so this is where you come in. Please go here and vote for my book! You’ll need to register (so they can make sure people only vote once) but it’s quick and it would mean a lot to me.

- Vote for my book here! (Click the blue ‘Vote’ button on the top left of the page)

You can even purchase it, if you want your very own copy (but don’t worry, it’s not required to vote).

About the book:

Bottom Time
Southeast Asia from below
“After 10 years in the Internet industry, web designer Kelly Hale and developer Mike Schimanowsky sold all their worldly belongings, bid farewell to friends and family, packed a laptop and traded in the daily 9-5 for a life of nomadic freelancing and travel.

365 days, and 90 dives later, these are some of their favorite photos from our year in Southeast Asia.”

About Blurb

For those of you not familiar with Blurb, it’s a great resource for creating your very own book. For Christmas last year, I made a book, for both Mike’s and my families. It was a great gift, since we weren’t gonna be home for the holidays and not only did our parents love it cause it was full of pictures of us, but the quality was really great, and it was easy to create.

All you need to do is download the BookSmart® software (or InDesign® templates if you’re an experienced designer) for either Mac or PC, and start creating. The software lets you import photos from your computer or from photo-sharing sites like Flickr, and Picasa, and it will even slurp your blog for you. It comes with a bunch of templates for layout, as well as backgrounds, borders and themes. Once you’ve created your book you upload it to Blurb, and order away. You have the option of hard cover or soft cover, and can choose premium paper for that extra professional look.

Most people use Blurb to document their vacations, or their wedding, and especially their children and pets. But there are also lots of people out there using Blurb to self publish their photos, stories, or illustrations. Ever wanted to write a children’s book, or publish your photography. Blurb allows you to do this, and gives you a place to sell your book. You set the price (above the production cost) and keep the profits.

The first time around my book was purely for family, but this time I wanted something less personal in hopes of selling a few copies. I chose only my best shots and concentrated on subjects that might appeal to a broader audience. I’ll let you know how things go and if I manage to sell any, but for now, please vote for me!

- Vote for my book here!

Read the original post here: Vote for my Underwater Photography Book!

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As I mentioned in the last post, we’re currently traveling around South East Asia, and I’ve been looking for crafty experiences wherever I can find them. While in Bali, I was introduced to Studio Perak, a family run jewelry shop, in the artistic community of Ubud. In addition to selling bohemian inspired silver jewelry, they also offer half day silversmithing classes, where you can create you’re very own piece.

Ketut, Co-Owner and Bali local, will show you the basics of silversmithing and help you create a ring or pendant of your own design in just 3 hours. The small class size only has space for 4 people which means you get lots of personal attention.

^{My ring from design to completion}

Classes are held Monday to Saturday, 9am to 12pm
Phone: +62 81 236 51809 or +62 361 780 1879
E-mail: info@studioperak.com
Website: www.studioperak.com

STUDIO PERAK
Joanna Witt and Ketut Darmawan
JI. Hanoman, Ubud 80571, Gianyar
Bali – INDONESIA

Read the original post here: Studio Perak, Bali – Jewelry Making Class

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1. Handmade Pottery in Costa Rica

For the last 9 months we’ve been traveling around South East Asia. It’s been an amazing experience, but unfortunately our nomadic lifestyle doesn’t really lend it self to well to crafting. I mean it’s not exactly practical to lug around a sewing machine in my backpack just so I can get my craft fix.

As a result I’ve been searching for a new craft hobby, something that’s not too hard to learn and that’s not too material intensive. I settled on Amigurumi. I found some really great tutorials online, and figured that yarn was probably one of the easier craft materials to find in Asia. Last week we were in Bangkok for a few days before catching our flight to Bali, and I made it my mission to get set up with some supplies.

If you’re in Bangkok and love anything to do with yarn I highly recommend checking out the Big Knit. The Big Knit is a cute little cafe lined with wall-to-wall yarn. It’s bright, cheerful and sure to inspire you the minute you walk through the door. There are plenty of comfy couches and a huge work table, one could easily spend the entire day creating in a cozy spot like this.

For those of you that are new to knitting or crocheting (like me) and don’t really know where to start, don’t worry, the staff at the Big Knit are all really helpful and will get you started in no time. They’ll even give you a lesson to get you started.

BIG KNIT CAFE
www.bigknit49.com
Open Everyday 9.00 AM -9.00 PM.
88 The Natural Park Bldg. next to Dental Hostital, Sukhumvit 49.
Tel: 02-260-5050

Read the original post here: The Big Knit Cafe, Bangkok

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