Dedza Pottery

Our family loves pottery.  A special outing for us when we were still in the States was going to one of those places where they let you paint your own pottery and then they fire it for you.  I have handprints on plates of each of the kids when they were young.  Thankfully, we have a place here in Malawi where we can do this as well.  It's about 2 1/2 hours away- but it's on Lake Malawi so it's worth every mile (and the VERY HARD TO FIND fuel)!  Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge is a perfect weekend getaway for the family.  Sometimes you just need a break!

Here is baby J at 6 weeks old chillin' out at the lake.

The family getting ready to paint our pottery.

And this is how the pottery is made.  There are two places in Malawi where this amazing pottery is made and purchased.  Here at Nkhotakota and in Dedza as well.  I've now been to both and they are both fabulous!  I want to buy everything in the store! ;)  We all loved getting to watch them make the pottery. We were able to see step by step how our precious items end up on our table.

Yusef (our pottery guide) is helping CJ put his hand print on his plate.

These are our finished products.  Now they will be placed into the kiln and fired.  We'll pick them up in a couple of weeks.

Here is Julius.  He's one of the professional painters at the Pottery Lodge.  He was so happy to let me take his picture.  He's very proud of his work.  It's amazing to watch them!

Some of the many items for sale at the Pottery Lodge.  Be still my heart!  This is one of my biggest weaknesses here! ;)