The Castro Heras ceramics workshop is a traditional family pottery firm run by Manuel de Castro Carballo. The ware that Manuel makes includes decorative ceramic items such as tiles, fountains, domestic objects, mosaics, or clay and brick floors, all made in a traditional, artisanal way.

The… raw materials he uses are clay, mineral oxides and fire, and the techniques are practically the same as were employed when the craft originated. In making clay objects, the first thing Manuel does is to turn earth into clay, which involves mixing earth and water until the mixture becomes smooth. He then sieves it to remove any foreign bodies and impurities.

Clay objects are first shaped by hand, with the help of a potter’s wheel or a mould, by the press-moulding technique. Once the objects have dried out over several days they are fired in a kiln at 1050ºC. Once fired, the items are inalterable in form. Ornamental artefacts are enamelled with silicates and mineral sands and decorated with mineral oxides. They are then fired again at 960ºC.

The main upgrades to this trade have involved mechanical equipment to replace human exertion, such as electric machines for extracting earth or kneading clay, or an electric motor to turn the potter’s wheel. Other differences are the use of an electric rather than a wood-fire kiln or the grinding of fine sand for enamels now normally done by industrial processes instead of by traditional stone mills. Paintbrush bristles are today mainly of synthetic materials in place of the former goat beard, horsehair or other soft hairs.