The blue glaze
Ishkor.
Asturio Cantabrio — CC BY-SA 4.0 · AIDEPCUL — CC BY 4.0 · AIDEPCUL — CC BY 4.0 · Asturio Cantabrio — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mahufi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mahufi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · AIDEPCUL — CC BY 4.0 · AIDEPCUL — CC BY 4.0
The Fergana Valley town of Rishtan is Uzbekistan's most famous and one of its oldest ceramics centres, sitting on a layer of fine reddish-yellow clay 1 to 1.5 m below ground that potters can use without refining or mixing it with other clays. Its potters take dyes, quartz sand and fireclay from the surrounding mountains and make the famous blue «ishkor» glaze from natural mineral pigments and the ash of mountain plants, giving their plates and bowls their blues and greens, pomegranates and flowers. Several master potters' workshops welcome visitors, among them Rustam Usmanov's, which has a small museum, per visitor guides; you can watch throwing, painting, glazing and firing, and buy directly from the makers. The town also has the Khoja Ilgor Mosque, a multi-columned Fergana mosque of 1905. Visiting the workshops is usually free and buying is optional, per visitor guides. Rishtan lies on the road between Kokand and Fergana, so it is usually combined with Kokand or Margilan in a day.
Ishkor.
Wheel to kiln.
Hand-painted.
Rustam Usmanov's ceramics workshop, Rishtan, between Kokand and Fergana
Yes, many workshops welcome visitors, including Rustam Usmanov's; visits are usually free and buying is optional, per visitor guides.