Blue Pottery Art

Jaipur blue pottery is liked, loved by millions of people around the world. Its rich blue is a unique, which is derived from Cobalt oxide. Other prominent color is green which is derived from copper oxide. Yellow, and brown colors also in use. The pottery has a unique appearance as it is made using Egyptian paste, glazed and low fired

Different shades of art Historical Tale

his art of blue pottery is distinguished from other forms of pottery as its usage of a unique dough prepared by mixing snow-white (Quartz) powder, glass powder, Fuller’s earth, borax, gum and water.The history of blue pottery art is as old as history of mankind, this splendid art came to India from central Asia with Islamic invasions (14th Century) and become famous during the Mughal empire. This art travelled interestingly to Jaipur, when Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh ji-2 attended a kite flying festival and noticed two brothers from Acchnera cut down the royal kites of his kite masters.

 He founds the wonderful secret ; they were potters and had coated their strings with the blue-green glass powder. King was impressed and invited those potters to Jaipur and in this way art startedAs every art receive ups and downs, Jaipur blue pottery also came to an unprecedented downfall. But a great art lover Mr. Kripal Singh Shekhwat ji came with great knowledge, passion & enthusiasm. At the same time, Maharani Gayatri Devi ji helped a lot for the revival of amazing art. Result appeared as successful revival and nourishment of Blue pottery in Jaipur & nearby villages of Jaipur.

Process to make Blue Pottery :

The Process of making blue pottery is monotonous at many points although painting step is exciting among many steps. The dough which is main material in the process is a mix of Quartz powder, fuller’s earth and water. This mix (dough) is the rolled & flattened to the form of 4-5 mm thick pancake.Later on, it is put into molds with a mixture of dust, ash powder. The mold is now turned upside down and then removed, and the dough pancake is left to dry under the sunlight.

Art work cannot be done perfectly without great support from nature. Sun drying process takes about 2-3 days. Dried pottery item, which is having few uncleaned, odd points get rubbed with sharp paper(regmal) in result polished. Later on, it goes on potter’s wheel to get few difficult but beautiful shapes like flower vases, surahi, hand shapes, etc. Later on sun drying happen again.

Post drying process beautification step that is painting, coloring. Painting artisans use magical brushes made with Pigeon feathers and squirrels tail hairs. Painters do have magic in their hands, designs in their brain. Most of the time designs are floral, geometrical but Indian artisan started to design animals like elephant as well birds too. Sometimes figures of God & Goddesses on request possible. Coloring is done by using oxides of various metals.

Beautiful hand on an artisan palm.
Next step is called final touch, which is a coating of glaze. The coating contains powdered glass, borax, zinc oxide, red oxide and potassium nitrate. These mixed with water and wheat powder (Maida). It is little dangerous process, so experienced artisans do it. 
Finally, the prepared products like flower pots, plates, floor tiles, candle stands, tea pots, wall decorative etc are heated in the kiln(Oven) at a temperature 800-850 Celsius. Olden days charcoal was in use to fire, but now gas cylinders are available. After 1-2 days to time final products, ready to use are taken out from oven.

After going through all this time-consuming processes, Jaipur blue pottery art products get ready to export, to decorate our houses, garden areas, dining tables and much more. Although the products are strong enough to survive for long time, so art lover can appreciate art for long. But by nature pottery items are fragile, so we have to keep these with love & careExperienced Artisan with completed Products.
Next time when you do plan to visit Jaipur, don’t forget to give us a call to experience making of blue pottery at artisan’s village house