POTTERY WITHOUT A POTTER'S WHEEL
ALMOST every girl at one time in her life has loved dearly to make
mud-pies, and it is not strange, for her mother, grandmother, and many,
many times great-great-grandmother before her delighted in making
mud-pies. The last, the primitive women of our race, made them to some
purpose, for they were the inventors of pottery. The home-making,
house-keeping instinct was strong even in these women, who had no houses
to keep, and they did their best with the material at hand.
First they wove rude baskets for holding and carrying food; then they
learned that cooked food was better than uncooked and could be preserved
much longer, so they made baskets of a closer weave and cooked in them
by means of water heated by hot stones; finally, they tried cooking over
the fire in shallow baskets lined with clay. The clay came out of the
basket baked and hard, and behold, they had a new kind of
vessel--fire-proof and water-proof.
We may imagine with what joy they welcomed this addition to their meagre
store of home-making utensils and with what patient industry they strove
to improve upon this discovery.
[Illustration: Making coiled pottery]
They used their baskets as moulds to hold the soft clay, and they
fashioned the clay without moulds into shapes suggested by natural
objects. The sea-shells furnished inspiration and many vessels were made
in their beautiful forms.
The first potter was a woman, even as the first basket-maker was a
woman, and, coming down to our own times, the important discovery of the
production of exquisite colors and blending of colors in the Rookwood
pottery was made by a woman.
Discovered, developed, and still, in many cases, carried on by women,
surely pottery is a woman's art, and as a girl inheriting the old
instincts, you may find it the simplest and most natural means of
expressing your individuality and love of the beautiful. Beginning as
these gentle savages began, using their primitive method, you may be
inspired to study deeper into the art, and perhaps become the discoverer
of some new process that will give to the world a still more beautiful
pottery.
Even the smallest girls may do something in
Coiled Pottery,
for it is very simple and easy at first, growing more difficult only as
one grows ambitious to attempt more intricate forms.
The Clay
ready for use you will find at any pottery. If it is dry break into
small pieces, put it in a large stone jar, and cover with cold water;
let it stand until thoroughly soaked through and then stir with a stick
until well mixed, and work with your hands--squeezing and kneading until
free from lumps and perfectly smooth. When it is dry enough not to be
muddy, and is of the consistency of dough, it is in good working
condition.
Keep the clay always in the jar and closely covered that it may not
again become too dry.
Besides the clay you will need a table to work on, a pastry-board, a
thin block of wood about twelve inches square, a wet sponge for cleaning
and moistening your fingers, and several simple tools.
The Table.
If you stand at your work, a tall office stool with rotating seat will
be just the thing you want, for by turning the seat this way and that
you may look at your work from all sides without disturbing its
position. Any kind of ordinary table will answer the purpose, however.
On top of the table or stool place your pastry-board, and at the
right-hand side the sponge, which must be kept quite damp.
[Illustration: Fig. 321.--A short, flat stick.]
[Illustration: Fig. 322.--The tools. Piece of round stick sharpened at
each end.]
You will want but
Few Tools
as most of the work is done by the fingers alone. A short, flat stick,
sharpened on one side like the blade of a knife (Fig. 321), an old
penknife, a piece of round stick sharpened at each end like Fig. 322,
and some emery-paper are all you will need at first.
On the pastry-board place a large lump of clay, then take a handful of
the clay and begin to make
The Roll
by turning it lightly between your hands (Fig. 323). When the clay
lengthens out lay it on the board, and roll under your hands, as perhaps
you have done when making dough snakes. Keep your clay snake of an even
size its entire length, be careful not to flatten any part, and continue
to roll it with a light touch until it is about the thickness of your
little finger. Place your square block on the stand before you, and in
the centre begin
To Coil the Clay
(Fig. 324). When you have made a disk about two and one-half inches in
diameter, lift the roll and build up the sides, coiling slowly round and
round, pinching it slightly as you go, with the last row always resting
on the one just beneath (Fig. 325).
[Illustration: Fig. 323.--Turn it lightly between your hands.]
[Illustration: Fig. 324.--Begin to coil the clay.]
Unless you have made a very long roll, which is not easy to handle at
first, you will soon have to stop coiling for lack of material. Do not
use all of the first roll, but allow the end to rest on the table, where
it can be joined to the new roll you are to make. Pinch the end of the
new roll to that of the old and round the joint between your hands.
[Illustration: Fig. 325.--Lift the roll and build up the sides.]
Continue coiling until you have made a cup-shaped vessel three inches
high, then break off the roll and flatten the end to meet the surface of
the brim. Moisten your fingers on the sponge, and smooth the inside of
the cup, holding the walls in place with your left hand curved around
the outside (Fig. 326). Do not press too hard with either hand, but
slide your fingers gently round and round over the inner surface. When
the coils on the inside have become well flattened mix a little clay and
water into a paste, and spread it on, filling any cracks that may still
be left between the coils, constantly smoothing all the time.
[Illustration: Fig. 326.--Smooth the inside of the cup.]
You will find that this process has, at first, the effect of broadening
the base and lowering the sides of the cup, and until you have quite
mastered the method you must allow for the broadening and flattening of
your work. Your cup, with a base of two and one-half inches and sides
three inches in height, will now probably be a saucer measuring about
four inches across the bottom, and not more than one inch and a half in
height. It matters little, though, at this stage what shapes you turn
out. Do your best with each piece, and if the work flattens turn it into
a pretty dish by pinching the edge to form a little lip, and adding a
handle like Fig. 327.
[Illustration: Fig. 327.--Turn it into a pretty dish.]
As you are working without a wheel the symmetry of your pottery must
depend entirely upon your eye and hand, therefore keep turning the block
upon which it stands that no irregularity may be overlooked.
When you add ornaments or handles see that the roll of clay from which
you make them adheres closely to the vessel. Add soft clay to the joints
and smooth until the whole seems to be of one piece.
[Illustration: Fig. 328.--The outside corrugated by the coil.]
In your first attempts leave the outside of the pottery corrugated by
the coils (Fig. 328); later work you may smooth, making a surface equal
to that turned on a wheel. Do not try to finish a piece in one day; it
is much better to allow it to harden a little and become set, then make
it as smooth as you can with your tools, levelling the edges and taking
away extra thicknesses. If this cannot be done at one time, set the work
away once more covered with a damp cloth and it will keep in good
working condition for any length of time, but remember, the cloth must
be kept damp, otherwise the clay will harden.
When you have perfected your piece of pottery to your satisfaction put
it away to dry, _not_ in the sun. Several days later, after it has
become quite hard, go over the surface again with knife and emery-paper,
scraping and rubbing down until it is entirely smooth and free from
flaws. The work will then be ready to take to the potter for firing.
The color of clay changes in firing, and your little piece of pottery
will probably come back to you almost the color of old ivory. One cannot
be very positive about the color, however, for clays vary, and perhaps
yours may be of a kind that will fire another color. The potter will
glaze your work for you if you wish, or leave it in the bisque. Nothing
has been said about what
Shapes to Make the Pottery,
for that will depend much upon your own taste and ability. Rather low,
flat, dish shapes are most easily handled and variations in the cup or
flower-pot shape. After these may come the jars and vases. Set a
well-shaped piece of pottery before you as a model to copy, until you
have ideas of your own to carry out, and learn to handle your clay
before attempting too ambitious a subject.