What's really amazing about Ecuador is all of these home workshops where everything is really getting made just beyond discreet thresholds. My ceramics guide took me to this family shop to show me how the clay is made fine by simply stomping the rocks down by foot and then feeding the mix into grinders. The clay is then spun and shaped by expert hands on a foot powered wheel.
Another technique I was shown was the distinctive black ceramics. My spanish might have been failing me but I believe that the raw clay pieces are hand rubbed to a shinny polish and then fired extra hot (by adding explosive saw dust into the kilns).