From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, potters Felipe Ortega and Brian Grossnickle will be at Café Pasqual's Gallery to demonstrate the coil-and-scrape technique they use to make micaceous cookware.

The thin-walled pots, traditionally used to cook beans and stews, are made by hand from glittering, mica-rich red clay dug from the Northern New Mexico mountains. Made and used by natives of many of the state's Northern pueblos as well as by the Jicarilla Apache in the region, the vessels have been in use for more than 400 years.

Ortega, a Jicarilla Apache who learned the technique from his family and taught it to Grossnickle, believes pots made from this special clay and wood-fired over high heat improve the flavor of any food stored or cooked in them. Many others agree with him.

Although micaceous clay pots are made to be used, they are also works of art and, as such, are expensive, averaging about $100 per quart capacity.