Buy Mexican silver jewelry! Buy Indian carpets! Hey, buy Turkish carpets instead! Buy Italian shoes! Indian marble inlay! Mexican blankets! Indian silks! Turkish dolls! Hungarian dolls! Turkish leather! More jewelry! Pottery! Buy it, buy it!
Well, I'm a dutiful tourist; I admit it. I buy stuff. I try to avoid spending too much, but I do want to take home just a little memory or two... or more...
My trip to Turkey was no exception. Our tour group was taken to a leather store, a pottery store, and two rug stores, all of which did the "dining, demo, and sell" combination. That's not even counting all the shopping I did on my own every chance I got!
Ceramics in Cappadocia
The Cappadocia region of Turkey is famous for its earthenware pottery, even back in the times of the Hittites. The red silt from the local river, Kizilirmak (Red River) makes good pottery. We went to a ceramics place called Omurlu Ceramic in Avanos, Nevsehir, Turkey.
One of the potters demonstrated making thrown pots using a kick wheel. Omurlu is a family business, and he has been doing this for most of his life.
He constructed a teapot during his demo. First he made what looked like a tall thin vase, then a fatter, wider pot. He cut the tall thin vase and formed it into a spout, attaching it to the pot. Finally he made the lid of the teapot. The last test was to see if he had gotten the lid to fit perfectly on the first try. He is a master potter, so of course it fit!
One member of our tour group answered his challenge to go up and try it. She has done pottery as a hobby for many years, so she did a pretty good job, though she had some trouble with the kick wheel. Hobbyist potters in the U.S. generally use electric wheels, which they expect to keep going around without being kicked!
We also saw demonstrations of making white ware, the fine ceramics that are beautifully glazed in fine detail with lustrous colors. The clay for white ware is much firmer and withstands the higher firing temperatures needed for the fine glazes. Here a potter spins the clay down over a mold that is attached to an electric wheel.
This plate shows the various stages of coloring, glazing and firing.
One of the big, complicated vases can take multiple months to make! I can't even imagine working on drawing a single design for months, but I'm not a master craftsperson like this woman...
Here is one of the big fancy vases finished, similar to what the woman was drawing in the demonstration workroom. A vase like this costs thousands of dollars just because of the intense skilled labor involved.
They had many beautiful pieces on display in the demonstration workroom.
For a color junkie like me, though, the main showroom was heaven.
Turquoise
My favorite pieces were the ones with the turquoise and dark blue glazes. This has always been one of my favorite color combinations--even when I was a kid, my bedsheets and curtains had turquoise and navy prints on them. The turquoise and blue pieces here just glowed in the light, with a depth of color that captivated me.
Even the ashtrays were beautiful!
After much wringing of hands and squeezing of wallet, I finally settled on a small plate and a tiny bowl from the following display:
My two little pieces didn't look like much compared to the magnificent vases and other large pieces in the showroom, but when I got them home, they still glowed. Ahh.
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