Ceramics of Sifnos

Its clay soil Sifnos feeds the delicious offspring, wheat, barley, grapes, oil, capers, figs, almonds, herbs and wild herbs, which in turn nourish and give aromas and nutrients to local goats, sheep, milk and cheese - the famous maneuver -, but it is also used to produce ceramics, which made Sifni famous throughout the Aegean.

And if in the beginning the tsoukalia and the other ceramics were exported by boats, at some point the potters, who many times landed at their temporary place of work, made families and so there is no island in the Aegean where you will not find families with the surname Sifnaios!

Most tsoukaladika are on the glass - they descended from the inaccessible mountainous places when the pirates were expelled -, and in coves that are protected from the strong north winds (Vathi, Platis Gialos, Herronisos) for easy loading on the boats.

A classic sample in operation of a tsoukaladiko is this in Tsopos beach of Antonis Atsoniou in Vathi which is in full development (timber fuel storage areas, kilns, grooves with valuable soil, the tanks that become the gate, the ovens, the drying, polishing areas, the workshop with the wheels). A living pottery museum.

At the other end of the island in its beautiful dolly bay Herronisou where 20 kilns used to be housed, it is now alive kiln of Konstantinos Depastas of the oldest potter of the island.

At Apollonia is his furnace Licking, who also makes traditional functional utensils (tsoukalia, pitchers, jugs, foufoudes, flaros) and even exports them to the surrounding islands.

Scattered in Sifnos are a dozen kilns left which, in addition to decorative ceramics, make traditional useful ceramics, such as cooking utensils, mastella (for the goat), skewers (for chickpeas), tsikalia, utensils for transporting liquids such as pitchers, jugs, half pitchers (jugs for boats, .a. and other utensils such as fufoudes, armeoi (for milking animals), dipselia (ceramic hives) and flares that were the top of the chimney.

Hence the expression "your bad weather and your black flare" which meant that the flare was not working well and he was smoking.