In the ocher sites of Rustrel in the Vaucluse department, the ochres extracted from the deposits then washed and dried in the settling basins by the work of the wind and the sun gradually took on a consistency close to that of butter. Clumps of ocher were then cut and transported to the factory to be baked, crushed and sieved. The marketing of the ocher powders thus obtained marked the first step towards their transformation.