In the council of Cangas de Narcea, in one of the many valleys that sit between the winding Asturian mountains, is Llamas del Mouro. In this small village in the parish of San Martín de la Sierra, one of those traditional black ceramic kilns from Asturias is still active : that of the Rodriguez brothers. Behind the alfar Manolo prepares the clay. Every 10 or 12 years, from some dumps of his property located one km away, he brings with his brother some loads of earth to this warehouse. “I am preparing the clay because, immediately afterwards, comes the kneading. You have to add it to the mojo so that it softens a bit. It has stones and it has things. You have to clean it well because it always has some cracks of filth. Then it mixes with the red, which is there next to it, a small proportion of red. " In preparing the clay, it uses two types of soil: white and red. "70-75% white is mixed, this yellowish one and the rest, then red." While collecting the earth, Manolo takes special care not to get small pebbles that could spoil the work. “If a stone comes out, you have to make sure that it does not carry it, because when turning, everything appears. It cannot carry a single grain of wheat. It has to be cleaner than bread. " “This one is enough. Let's add a little red. " Each of the two clay used in Llamas del Mouro ceramics has characteristics that complement each other, which gives the mix an optimal quality. Manolo gently scratches the earth to find those small stones that still remain. "If there is any stone, when chopping often, it is easier." "Let's go there, I'm going to add it to the mojo." “We toss it here, to mojo for a few hours. I'm going to add a little water to it to soften it up. " "The clay is added to mojo, so that it softens, because it has stones, well, no stones, it has hard things and you have to soften them to then do the kneading, and then take it to the lathe, because of course, that is not directly You can knead it, you have to soften it, let it be here for 3 or 4 hours with water. I'm going to add a little water, which is missing, and then mix it up. " “This after 4 or 5 hours can already be kneaded, to soften it. You have to let it rest. " After 4 or 5 hours of rest, the clay can be kneaded. So that the mud mixes well and releases all the air, Manolo gives it several strokes and turns on the dough. "If a stone appears, it must be removed." "Well, this is ready to go to the lathe." "The pella is finished. For the lathe. " Marcelino is Manolo's brother. He has separated a portion of clay from the large pellet and, after beating it with his hands, he works it on the lathe. “Well, the mud, the more kneaded it is, the better. There are pieces that can be made with the softest clay, even the small pieces in particular can be made with the softest clay , but the large pieces the clay has to be harder when kneading it. " "This is a plain jug they used to call it, for water, for example." With a rhythmic movement of the foot, Marcelino always maintains the same turning speed on the lathe. "And now, with a piece of thread we proceed to cut the piece from the lathe." "Now we are going to make a bocint to the jug." Manolo and Marcelino inherited this trade from their parents and they, in turn, from theirs, after a long family tradition. "There is no legend that says when the pottery started here in Llamas del Mouro, by hearing from our parents, and some of his grandfather's uncles, some of his grandfather's aunts knew how to work, that is, they already had an oven." “We are making about 15 or 20 traditional models of those that were always made , of those made by our ancestors. For example, this one I'm making is a botarran pot, this is one of the most traditional pieces on earth. We try to preserve the forms because it is important, although many modern pieces are made, the traditional forms of always, those, above all we must continue doing them. " “I remember when my parents walked through the villages, to the truck as they called it, exchanging them for potatoes, wheat, rye, or whatever they gave them, to the truck. Before they did not come "This drawing that I made is not an invention of mine, this drawing was carried by all the pieces, when the other potters made it, of course." After turning the bodies of the pieces, Marcelino takes them out to air in the open. If it were hot, in an hour they could be dry, but the humidity of the climate of these mountains forces the potters to leave them outside for a whole day. When the pieces are dry, Marcelino can put the handles and all the accessories on them. "I already made these yesterday afternoon and they are already hard, they are a little hard, not much, but they are a little hard now and you can finish them, put the handle on." “It is just made, the piece is very soft. You can put it, but it is worse. When the piece is a little hard, the body is already hard, it is easier to put it on because the piece and everything looks better. Furthermore, when the handle is attached to the body, if the body is soft, it goes inside, it sinks, and when the body is hard, it looks better. " The tradition of this family of potters does not end with Manolo and Marcelino. Despite their youth, their children are learning all the secrets of the technique of working with clay that they have inherited from their ancestors. In addition to their unmistakable shape, Llamas del Mouro's works still bear the family seal: the J and R. These letters correspond to the initials of Jesús Rodriguez, the father of Manuel and Marcelino, a master potter who knew how to maintain and transmit this tradition. "Now we are going to proceed to the burnishing, to the last touch-up of the piece." Once the pieces are slightly hardened, Marcelino burnishes them with a rounded stone to cover some cracks and give them the ornamental motifs characteristic of Llamas del Mouro ceramics. "After firing, these stripes are shiny, at the same time that the piece is already covered, which may have some pore in the piece or others, and that is the reason to leave it well." With this phase of burnishing, the pieces are ready for firing. When there is enough finished work to make a batch, this family of potters gradually and carefully fills the traditional wood-fired oven. “They are the supports that we place below to later place the pieces on top. Supports to hold the large pieces on top, because they are the ones that best support the weight of the others. We put a pitcher, the first. " With patience, Manolo places, one by one, the more than 300 pieces that can fit in a batch. In 1985, Llamas del Mouro had 92 inhabitants, the majority descendants of potters. Today, the only active oven is this one belonging to the Rodríguez family. “Currently it is just us, the family, for several years, 25 or 30 years. I met 3, plus us, four. My father told me that he knew 15 or 16 pottery in this whole area of Llamas. " To obtain better performance and quality, these potters replaced the old large kiln with this smaller one. When the kiln is already full of pieces, the potters cover them with ceramic chips. The "tapines" were pieces of land with grass, taken in the meadow, which were used to cover the entire work during cooking. In this new oven, the "tapines" have been replaced by plates that fulfill the same function. “This is covered to keep the heat and for tomorrow to throw the earth and that it does not go down into the pieces. Because if the land falls on you, it falls into the pieces and stains all of you. " One of the sheets is split in two to leave a hole to control the cooking process. With a forca, Marcelino prepares the earth he will need to control the fire. The oven will be turned on at six in the morning the next day. “You start with a very slow fire and you increase the fire, little by little, from hour to hour, by eye it increases, because if you increase more than necessary, the whole batch can be annoying. You should go slowly. It is 13 hours or 14 hours that are used for baking. and now it is lit with a very small fire and then it increases until it reaches a temperature of about 1,400 degrees per batch. " Marcelino throws in the logs of firewood little by little, making sure that the temperature of the oven rises slowly so that the pieces lose moisture. "The smoke coming out at the beginning is virtually no smoke is steam, steam the pieces that are still wet and they release steam, mud is releasing steam at the arrime of heat." "Now, ending them as we passed the oak chips, so that they give more calories and more flare. " To increase the temperature of the oven, for two and a half or three hours, Marcelino will add oak chips. “Now we start with the gorse to give the oven more temperature, but we have to start slowly because the gorse raises a lot of flames and .. The first time with gorse you have to poke very gently. " With the "forquita" which is a wooden stick chestnut, Marcelino introduced into the furnace small bundles of gorse, thus avoiding overheating that could spoil all the work. "If you get involved more than necessary now that are not tempered yet, they would explode. You have to wait until the pieces are well tempered to put the fire, already, strong. " Cooking is slow and heavy. Manuel takes over from Marcelino in the last three hours left to finish this phase of the process. When the pieces are already warm, Manolo increases the temperature by adding more wood. Meanwhile, Marcelino separates the sheets so that let the oven breathe. "This, we are now opening the oven a little so that it breathes more, as it is already very hot, it is convenient that it have openings so that the fire breathes more, so that more comes out, so that the fire comes up. " "Well right now it will reach about 800 degrees, still. Now there are about two hours left, because it has to catch about 500 degrees more at least, because now the temperature increases rapidly." Now the fire, having the open shot, acts directly and intensely on the pieces until you catch your doneness. "Open must be until we finish now. When you finish and come together to take the land and to not lower the earth to the pots, and you have to put them back together. " When the kiln has reached 1,400 or 1,500 degrees of temperature and the work is already fired, the potters proceed to give the traditional black color to the pieces. This color is obtained by a reduction process, which consists of drowning the kiln with earth until all possible smoke exits are covered. It is the same smoke that will give that characteristic black color. The pieces will rest for between six and eight days, receiving the heat and smoke that the fire that has remained in the oven gives off . "Six , seven, it depends. Maybe, if there is a rush, it can be removed in five days, but they are still hot. Then they explode. It is convenient that they be six or seven days. " A few days have passed and Manolo opens the oven to remove the work done. With the help of Alicia, his wife, Manolo Rodriguez takes out the pieces one by one and gradually removes the dust that has entered during cooking. Although this is a process slow, is compensated by the good result of the baking and the optimal quality of the work carried out. The pieces that come out of the kiln have light stains that come from rubbing against each other. These signs are a guarantee that the process of The cooking has been done in a wood-fired oven using the traditional reduction system. The finished pieces will occupy a space in the exhibition for sale that the Rodriguez family has in one of the rooms of the house. Fortunately, today, to sell this black ceramics it is no longer necessary to go through the villages to exchange the pitchers, jugs and pots for potatoes, chestnuts, or wheat, ... The current demand for traditional pieces made in this last pottery of Llamas del Mouro, confi It confirms the decision that Manolo and Marcelino made several years ago, when they resisted the temptation of emigration, following the advice of their father when he told them : "a day will come when you can earn a living with this." Today, all those ceramic pieces of daily use coexist on the shelves with others of new design, the fruit of imagination. But the most emblematic and perhaps the most representative piece of Llamas del Mouro is the pitcher or “penada.” Black ceramic de Llamas del Mouro, protected by the Spanish Heritage Law of 1985, bears that hallmark of a family that, for many generations, has been intensely dedicated to this craft.
