Mexican Terracotta Pottery of Tecate

There is a band of Tecate clay that is 25 miles wide and stretches from the Northern Baja border South 60 miles. This is the only place in the world that has the strong Tecate clay — the strongest in Mexico. Traditionally the clay has been used to make floor tile, roof tile and pottery.

It is the pottery that PR Imports makes in Tecate, Mexico. By combining the clay with a binder, grinding it, soaking in water (slaking) and mixing (pugging) the clay it is ready to be made (thrown) into a pot.

Molds are used to shape the pot, but the designs are still HAND made by the artisan. This process takes one week from throwing the pot, designing, drying and finally firing at high temperature for 12 hours.

You can tell a good pot if it is rosy red (good clay) and rings like a bell (high fire).

From the kiln the red clay pots are dipped in pottery sealer for longer life. Pottery is then pre-priced, upc'd, palletized by layer and shipped directly from the factory to the garden center.