On the slopes of the Peña Utrera, where the Sierra Morena of Extremadura announces its presence among the great plains, the town of Salvatierra extends. Its restored castle, ordered to be built by Alfonso IX around 1190, leaves evidence on its walls of a history of reconquest and expansion. This privileged situation at the top of the mountains has allowed it to contemplate for centuries the passing of the daily life of its neighbors. Further down the slope, in the well-preserved Pozo de la Nieve, built in the 16th century, there are memories of that activity that consisted of storing ice. It is precisely this mountain condition of Salvatierra that makes it enjoy, on the one hand, an exuberant vegetation of ferns and chestnut trees typical of the mountain. And for another of its waters, ferruginous waters that in the Baños del Moral have famous medicinal properties. In the lower area, the vegetation cover is characterized by forests of oaks and cork oaks, some of them gigantic. The cultivation of olive trees, fig trees and vineyards underline the agricultural nature of the Salvadoran landscape. The acorn is the fruit of the holm oak, and in these dehesas it constitutes an extraordinary nutritional contribution for pigs, which have achieved such fame for the products that are made from it. But the town of Salvatierra has a surname: “de los Barros”. This name has been taken from one of its hallmarks that has been and is the basis of the Salvadoran economy: pottery. From the most traditional pieces and decorations to the works resulting from research and experimentation, the more than 30 potters that are active in Salvatierra de los Barros essentially preserve that manufacturing system with an ancient flavor, inherited generation after generation. On the slopes of the Peña Utrera the "barreros" are drilled, from which the raw material is obtained to supply all the workers. Along with the potter's trade and throughout its production process, a very peculiar labor diversification appears that begins with the carriers. These men dedicate themselves to extracting the “barro”, which is what they call the land here, and drying it in the “tendales” for five or six days before selling it to the potters. Among the various kinds of "mud" that exist in Salvatierra, the strong one, which has a light color, the loose one and the "pasolo" stand out. The loose clay has a characteristic reddish color and the potters mix it with the strong one according to their taste, although the most usual is to add two parts of loose to one of strong. The work of preparing the clay in the different workshops is carried out by the "colaores". Juan Antonio Nogales, in addition to being an expert potter, knows very well the "coligo", which is the work of mixing the earth in the water to obtain quality clay. After pouring the necessary layers of earth into the basin, the “colaor” stirs the mixture with the straining table, until it reaches the point it has to have so that the mud dissolves in the water. When he considers that the soil is well dissolved, he strains the mixture to separate the solid matter and then transfers it to the pool so that the water evaporates. There, the mud will be purified and stored. Daily, the potters extract portions of clay from the pool, according to the needs of their next works, and place them on the wall in the form of cakes so that they lose moisture. Juan Antonio is gluing the "brazaus" of clay and smoothes the surface with his hands to avoid the "peaks" and projections that would dry with the air. Normally, the clay itself tells how long it has to be, because it falls off. As soon as it loses water, which is what makes it stay still on the wall, as soon as it loses moisture it only falls to the ground. Then we have to once it's on the ground, pick it up again and pella it again and stick it on the wall again because if not, it 's very soft. But come on, a couple of days, one day on one side and another on the other side. Agustín Suero, "Avalo" as he is familiarly called, is one of the traditional potters of Salvatierra de los Barros, who still has in his arms the art and strength necessary to "push" by hand. When the clay is ready to be worked, Agustín takes the amount he needs by eye and hits it with his hands to make the “pellas”. Depending on the vessel you are going to make, that is how you take by touch. By the touch of the hands we know the weight and nothing changes, nothing. This is called "empellalo", making the pellets. The round "pellas" will be for the small pieces and the "peaked" or elongated ones for the larger ones. But this manual technique has been replaced in all the pottery by the mechanical kneader, which allows this work to be done with minimal effort and without harming the quality of the clay. It is on the wheel where each potter shapes the clay, following a traditional technique that has been passed down from father to son. The old lathes, activated by the impulse of the foot, have been replaced by motorized ones, with an accelerator and clutch, which allow a uniform and controlled speed to be maintained. With his hands, Agustín raises and molds the clay with a special sensitivity to control the thickness, until he gives shape to each of his works. Some pieces require two different stages of turning and the largest up to three. The final review of the surface of each piece is done with a cane, and when it is finished, he separates it from the lathe with a rope. The skillful hands of Juan Antonio Nogales have a lot of practice in making the bodies of the jugs in one piece. While the bodies are drying, this craftsman prepares the complements, which are the "piche" and the "boca". When the bodies of the jugs have been aired, the potter makes the "government" that consists of putting the "piche" and the mouth on the pieces. Another phase of the "government" is enasar, which consists of placing the handle on each of the jugs to leave them finished. The day after making some Roman vases on the wheel, when they are well aired, Agustín places the handles on them. To do this, prepare a flattened churro which is then glued onto the dry pieces. A new airing of the pieces outdoors will prepare them for the next process. In order for the traditional unglazed pieces of Salvatierra de los Barros to take on a more intense tone, each one of them must be passed through a bath of reddish earth. Fermina, Agustín's wife, is the one in charge of this phase called “tinting”. When they are dry, the pieces that have to be decorated go to the "bruñeras". Women play an important role within this labor structure of pottery. Although there are also women who work on the wheel, by tradition, they take care of the complementary work of the potter. Burnishing consists of rubbing a piece of plastic on the surface of the pieces to give them the characteristic shine. Until a few years ago, the bruñeras' tools were: a boulder from the river, saliva and a lot of patience. If you don't have patience, it doesn't work out. This is too hard. For more than 30 years, Luisa dedicated herself to decorating the work that her husband manufactured using the burnishing technique. If they are soft they cannot be burnished, if they are hard either, they have to be "seasoned". The decoration of each piece is different from that of the others, since the bruñera does not follow established canons. Maybe I'll make a heart and I'll get a little bell. Of everything. At the end of the burnishing, Luisa goes over the drawings with her hand to give them more shine. It's finished. Once burnished, the pieces return to the open air to lose part of the remaining moisture. Some of the pieces also have an engraved decoration. Fermina is a great expert in this technique that requires a good hand and a simple homemade tool. I engrave it with a hairpin and a pen and a hairpin. The fork is turned around so that it scrapes the mud. So this lasts a lifetime. When the potter, in this case Agustín, has enough work to make a batch, he patiently proceeds to fill the oven, trying to place the pieces in an orderly manner. Well placed so they can all come out healthy. You have to put them very carefully and each model that goes the same. They can be put in many ways, some lying down, standing up, and it becomes enfornando until it reaches the top. When the oven is full, and before lighting it, the craftsman removes the picón obtained in the previous firing, which has been cooling in the piconera. Agustín collects this charcoal in a sack because, among other uses, it is an ideal fuel for roasting meat. Blas Guillén is another of the potters from Salvatierra de los Barros who, for firing the pieces, continues to use the traditional oven, fueled with firewood supplied by the carriers. The firing of a batch lasts between 18 and 24 hours. At first, the potter makes very little fire to heat the pottery. As the temperature rises, it gives more power to the oven, feeding it with wood until it reaches the ideal temperature. From time to time, Blas stirs the embers with the hurgonero so that the fire is distributed throughout the oven and all the wood burns equally. I look at how the oven is doing, if it is more advanced on one side than the other, to control it. It still lacks enough. The hours go by while the heat fulfills its function of cooking all the pieces of the oven. In this process, the potter puts the work of many days at risk, because if he overdoes it with the fire , the work would melt and if he falls short of heat, the pieces will come out unfired. When Blas checks that the pieces are cooked, he removes the ember from inside the oven and puts it in the piconera. His son Pirri pours water to put out the combustion and turn the embers into hot coal. Cooking has finished. Now all that remains is to leave the oven open so that, little by little, it loses the heat it has. Agustín cooked a week ago and, although the oven is still hot, he has decided to “unbake”. First, he removes the brick wall that closed the oven, preventing the fire from escaping, and then, with great patience, he removes the pieces. In this work Fermina helps him, who places them in a corner of the house entrance. Although seeing the finished work produces satisfaction for the potter, this work becomes heavy because in one batch there can be more than a thousand pieces depending on their size. Today, today it has pitchers and it has less, but this is,... being listed pieces and that, more than 1,000 pieces fit, quite a bit,... and if it is small, well, two or three thousand pieces. The fired pieces will take their place in the different rooms of the house where Agustín has the warehouses. The rough unburnished pieces will go in one room and the burnished and decorated pieces in another. With the first firing, called "biscuit", the artisans have left their consolidated work. But on pieces already fired, some potters apply traditional decorations with special varnishes. This is the case of Cerámica Amario, which gives its pieces a traditional glaze or “vedriau” as they say in Salvatierra. Before, it was always painted raw, it was always fired in a single firing, that is, the entire system was fired in one firing, and now it is not, now it is first fired in biscuit, then it is decorated, glazed and fired again. Still today, Luis continues to paint those drawings that he inherited from previous generations. There are some that are lifelong. They belong to my grandmother and my grandmother died when she was 94 years old, and then, my grandmother showed them to me, because normally, this work was done by women, but not now, now everyone does it. This does have a specific name, the waves have always told it. Once the drawings are done, Pedro gives the pieces a “vedriau” bath, stirring the mixture from time to time so that the earth does not settle to the bottom. That is already the touch of the hand. By taking it out up here, depending on how much it weighs more or less, that way you know if it's lighter or thicker. After a second firing, the white color of the paint has turned yellow and the greyish layer that hid the drawing has become transparent. Another type of traditional “vedriau” on the “biscuit” pieces is the one made by Ignacio Guillén. This bathroom is a white earth bathroom, because in the past, most of the pieces were bathed inside to give greater cleaning sensitivity. All the pots were bathed inside, the jugs for the wine... After bathing the pieces, Ignacio leaves them to dry for a few hours before proceeding with the sgraffito. As in almost all families of potters, in this case, the woman also plays an essential role in the work process. Carmen is in charge of drawing on the pieces the floral motifs that will be the basis for the subsequent decoration. Sgraffito consists of making an incision on the layer of earth so that the original color of the piece is visible. On the sgraffito drawings Carmen applies the oxides that, after firing, will give the desired colors. And to finish the decoration, Ignacio gives a “vedriau” bath that, although it is opaque, will become transparent during the firing process. This bathroom is the shine, the one that gives it shine and consistency so that it lasts for many years and does not deteriorate, it is a vitreous layer. It gives the piece personality. Another traditional technique that was already used several centuries ago and that Benito Cuéllar is recovering is that of "la cuerda seca", which consists of separating the enamels by means of a trace of fat. This mixture of grease with mortar and flux is applied with a small brush on a drawing previously traced on the tiles. This is a tile that already has the oil given with the drawing and now the next step is to fill in all the motifs with these knobs and a glaze. Once it has dried, the grease prevents the glazes from mixing with each other when applied. This type of decoration, which differs from the others due to the relief that the enamel acquires once fired, is also applied to curved surfaces. After firing at 980º, the decoration using the "dry rope" technique remains unaltered by inclement weather and climatic variations. The evolution of pottery in Salvatierra de los Barros has been and is constant. Many of today's potters are experimenting with new shapes, motifs and designs that combine with traditional techniques. The workshop of the Pérez Brothers is an example of this. After applying slips on traditional pieces, Juani, by incision and casting, draws geometric and floral motifs. For all these techniques, the gas oven has replaced the traditional wood oven, which allows better temperature control, benefiting the quality of the final result of the work. But in this diversification of pottery work in Salvatierra de los Barros, until the beginning of the 90s there were some important characters who were in charge of selling all the production and making it known outside the region: they were the muleteers. From here to Valladolid, from Valladolid to León, from León to Ponferrada and running around, all of Benavente and all that. Cristóbal Enrique started as a muleteer at the age of 14. They were five brothers and the five of them dedicated themselves to this sacrificial trade of going through the villages with their donkeys loaded with crockery. And other times you would go on a trip for 4 or 5 days and you and the boys didn't bring anything to eat, because it ran out of time, raining, and you had to pay for the lodging and everything. Sometimes things were sold, depending on the weather. Now is the time, at this time they sold the orzas for the olives and the baths for the slaughter and the pots and the pots for the women. A few years ago, in 1991, Cristóbal spent his life as a muleteer in memory, and stopped touring the towns of Spain with his donkey loaded with pots and pans. It's over now because they wouldn't let us sell anymore with street vending, it was taken away with the beasts. The pots have always been sold by the muleteer and the donkey. The same abroad as the Spanish. These men, the muleteers, played a decisive role in keeping this traditional trade in full production, which for centuries has been the economic engine and hallmark of Salvatierra de los Barros. I'm Eugenio Monesma, director and producer of the documentary you just saw. If you liked it, I encourage you to subscribe to the channel by activating the notifications from the bell and so you can enjoy the hundreds of documentaries that I already have on the channel and those that I will upload weekly.
