New tiles, early developments - what do you think???

This batch was not fired perfectly but I love the resulting black swirls

We run womens projects when all the harvest is in - giving them a chance to earn their own money. 

Sofiana with daughter feeding

laying large tiles -
some have a Kudu print

They do various jobs, like collecting grass to repair rooves but last year we began making floor tiles and have now, after lots of trialling, really mastered these large plain terrocota coloured tiles.  (Indeed Dominik has used them to pave every surface inside and out he can think of.) 

They are beautiful and highly practical...when fired correctly.  Over or underburning results in disintegration in the rain or brittle cracking.  The first firings were done in a large pit with much firewood, then the Donkey furnace by the house and now the new furnace which was built with the help of Jason (an ecoBrit who works in Pemba.)

Amina and Margaretta

We are now embarking on a new phase, working on smaller tiles with patterns and designs.  It is a highly interesting and experimental phase.Our local Makua tribe are not known for their art.  They make baskets, matts and beautiful cooking pots smoothed and perfectly rounded and balanced but the extent of the design is markings at the top, dots or dashes.  There is not tradition of jewellery or other mark making -unlike neighbouring tribes.  So this is a real adventure ...one I am greatly enjoying.  We all sit together and happily work in the dappled shade of the cashew trees.

So I tried to encourage them to play and explore the idea of design, creating images from their life at Mareja- with books for inspiration. Sitting in silence with occassional chat and I write down Makua in the hope they might penetrate my dry brain (Niparooto is butterfly - said with emphasis on the 'oo').  These days were probably the most fun I have had in a very long time.

Levene and her son...lending a helping hand/foot!

Two of the young women (Sofiana and Levene) have small children who eat, sleep, fiddle with clay making their own creative constructions and occassionally interfere with the process with a sudden fist or foot, but this happens surprisingly little considering their mothers attention is elsewhere.  They are amazingly skilled at working while a child is attached to a breast or slung neatly about them.  And you can't but help reflect on the benefits of this style of mothering.

They have produced some wonderful designs - using a porcupince quill or guineafowl feather. 

Here you are...

Guineafowl and cashew tree

Sable Antelope or Pala pala

Cashew tree by Amina, this is one of my favourites-
wonderful composition





Do you like these early designs?  Please let me know your thoughts.