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The gypsum of Fez which is part of the Zellige squates composition is extracted as blocks and immersed in a big basin which is called (ZOUBA) for a day and night. Men bake this paste with their arms and feet so as to unify it, raw it and of course make it less hard and stiff. The soil reduced to paste and split into pieces and blocks, stiffened again under the sun beams and then made flat with a bat and after with a piece of wood. It is devided into parts of 10 x 10 cm. in the following stage, these parts are exposed to sun beams to completely dry in a relatively long time according to its need. So this is the first time that it is burnt.
The brightening surface of the squares is dived quickly into a colouring before the second burning phase, these colorings that contain sand and lead, give a different paint, thanks to a specific substance (Oxyde) which is added.
The mixture of lead + sand + specific substance (Oxyde) is shaped in dust and dived in water which helps dying and coloring. The oven is warmed up from the bottom. We put the pieces to be burnt according to a definite order:
At the bottom, those that are to be exposed directly to the heat such as the white ones, where as, at the top, the other sensitive ones like the green ones. In big and important projects, the same color may occupy the whole oven, that's the reason why we don't pay much attention to the impact of the heat on the colors.
In Fez, every color is burnt a lone just like the one used in the production of squares. After twenty-four hours, we take the squares out of the oven, we control them and classify them according to their colors
The brightening surface of the squares is dived quickly into a colouring before the second burning phase, these colorings that contain sand and lead, give a different paint, thanks to a specific substance (Oxyde) which is added.
The mixture of lead + sand + specific substance (Oxyde) is shaped in dust and dived in water which helps dying and coloring. The oven is warmed up from the bottom. We put the pieces to be burnt according to a definite order:
At the bottom, those that are to be exposed directly to the heat such as the white ones, where as, at the top, the other sensitive ones like the green ones. In big and important projects, the same color may occupy the whole oven, that's the reason why we don't pay much attention to the impact of the heat on the colors.
In Fez, every color is burnt a lone just like the one used in the production of squares. After twenty-four hours, we take the squares out of the oven, we control them and classify them according to their colors
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The split :
The split of Zellige, and the composition of a construted part, is one of the paramount moments of the whole operation. The artisan draws the maximum of the pieces using drawn and cut moulds op paper. These pieces are drawn one after the other and interrelated so that the artisan gains benefit from the maximum of this previous raw material, bearing in mind that it is out of tough work.
On a small shape of forty centimeters height, on which a small table-like shape of metal or marble is put, the sizes in quick motions the forms already shaped. Thanks to the piece of metal or marble. Zellige don't break the split are very fine. On the one hand, the maalem moves the square to fit the strikes of the hammer. On the other hand, he strikes in constant and regular movements with his hammer, putting his elbow on his knee to perfectly adjust his strikes.
The small Zellige pieces are finally lime stones that are used in sides to give a wide surface to the cement. After that, these pieces are rearranged again.
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The composition :
All the pieces, just like in puzzle games, are rearranged according to their shape and colour.
The artisan puts them, one after the other, in opposite directions, on a perfectly smooth floor which is called (LLOUH). This latter is traced with lines and circles that serve as a guide, in the whole construction. This operation is very delicate for the simple reason that you must not forget or mistake any piece, bearing in mind that sometimes some shapes and forms are identical but presented in different colors and of course can be noticed once passed the other way around.
The artisan groups the pieces of Zellige one inside the other to compose each part of the whole task. He works without paying attention to his colors, without following any line or any drawings on the floor, just kneeling down and concentrating on the task.
When these pieces are in shape in the workshop, they are devided again in big baskets according to their colors and drawings. In Fez, these big baskets of Zellige are displaced on donkeys because cars can not move inside the Medina. Sometimes,in big projects, thousands of little pieces of Zellige are transported.
After the composition and the assembling of different parts, it is covered with a mixture of cement and a paste that joins the pieces. As a second step, the artisan pours cement on the puzzle and let dry, when the cement is dry, the whole part is finished and its size is 100 x 60 cm so as to be easy to transport, but some parts are very big, as an example, those of the fountains.
New creation :
The Muslim art has created a long age, wealthy (rich) and expressive, taking into consideration the characteristics of the proportion that burst as usual from the geometrical necessity, the simple geometrical forms and the primitive will be assembled with emptiness not recuperation in one motif able, by symmetrical report, to pave an ideal infinite surface.
This assembly seres as a repertoire in the artist's service and this contributes to the news creation of other motif generated from very simple compositions and moved to be more complicated. This art witnessed exceptional changes which contributed to the welfare of Zellige.
Morocco inherited some knowledge of the andalousian civilization and its artisans and saved jealously the techniques of Zellige that require a lot of precise work. It is owed to the development of the geometrical art. And the medersas of Fez are the great examples of the extra-ordinary compositions that some houses, of the some period, inherited as well.
Haunted by the idea of unity, the Muslim art, in each of its kinds emphasized the relation ships and the lines among the shapes and the forms.
The learning process of the Zellige techniques goes on and takes place in family workshops, most of the time moved from fathers to son. Everyone saves his own secrets of knowledge that are transmitted from generation to generation.
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