Capula Pottery Village

Capula, a small village about 25km west of Morelia, is known within Michoacán's craft geography for a specific technique -- punteado, a fine dotted patterning applied by hand to plates, bowls and jugs -- and for producing tall painted Catrina skeleton figures in large quantity ahead of Día de Muertos each year. Unlike the general craft markets of Morelia or Pátzcuaro, goods here come almost entirely from a single, narrow specialisation, so the ratio of authentic, locally made work to generic tourist stock is very high; workshops sell directly from the front rooms of family houses rather than through market stalls or middlemen, and buyers can often see pieces being painted on the premises. Prices are modest and reflect labour rather than material cost, with simple dotted tableware at the lower end and large, detailed Catrina figures priced highest; because sales happen house to house rather than through a fixed market structure, some room for negotiation exists, particularly when buying several pieces from the same family. Cash is the near-universal method of payment given the informal, home-based nature of the trade; card facilities are uncommon. The village has no dedicated market square or food court, and visiting means walking between individual houses, so it suits travellers interested in a specific craft rather than a broad shopping stop; demand and stock of Catrina figures rises sharply in the weeks before Día de Muertos in late October and early November, when some families sell out of their best pieces.