Hi,
09.00 Dep by cars for Sarreguemines; guided tours of the pottery.
(26 euros)
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Arr Metz
Barbecue at the home of André and Mariette Sturel
May God smile on you today,
Elizabeth
|
|
The Pottery Museum is located beside the River Blies. Sarregnemine is located at the junction of the Sare with the Blies, and the town grew as an important pottery production area using water to produce power to run the machinery, with 30 kilns in production. One of the factories is now the museum we visited. It ceased production in 1969 and has now been set up for tourists.
|
|
The first event was crushing the sea pebbles brought by water from the North Sea then heated so they turned white, and crushed to a powder. The powder is mixed with clay, kaolin and feldspar in water to form 'biscuit dough' able to be shaped. This factory dates from 1799, where the Potter was employed after learning his skills at a Wedgewood pottery in England.
|
|
The lengthy production process took an hour to describe as we were led around the two floors of the reconstructed factory. Lunch at Laroche was served with wine and enjoyed with happy chat.
|
|
The afternoon was spent seeing the displays of finished samples of the potters skill combined with artistic flair. Valerie was our guide for both sites, and she spoke mostly in English, with French when she could not remember the English terms.
|
|
The potters did not restrict themselves to tableware. The walls displayed murals made from tiles, and fireplace surrounds were also beautiful tiles. In 1981 the local pottery decided to specialise in tile production, as the region restructured itself to suit the modern era.
|
|
Valerie explained that rich people liked to show off their walls, and had murals to suit. The Paris scene is a famous item, which was purchased by the Museum, and has had a tour to America as part of a Cultural Exchange exhibition.
|
|
In the late 19th century artistic flair gave us wimsical pots as well as very realistic ornaments. Flower holders in the shape of insects were fun (but spiders were not depicted) and easily mass-produced. This turtle is much bigger than our family's garden pet. Technical progress included iridescent lustre, or surface cracking to give animals muscle structure depicting motion.
|
|
The pottery industry has been relocated as events have evolved, and since 1981 only tiles are produced locally. Only one kiln has been retained and set up for visitors, so the firing process can be explained.
|
|
|
 |
In the evening we went to a barbeque at the home of Mariette and Andre. I admired the garden, and the French barbeque produced smoke to assure the rest of us food was coming. We led the singing of Waltzing Matilda when our turn was announced, and found we had forgotten the verses (they did not mind). We were first to leave, and were in bed by midnight, after pointing out Mars, in the night sky, to Elodie.
|
|
