studio-practice, undoubtedly evolved experimentally, resembles Pueblo
Indian methods: “The clay for building should be rather soft as it is
apt to dry quickly on handling. A plaster bat (mould) should be made. It
is first necessary to roll out the clay into cords which should be a
little thicker than the proposed walls are to be. These cords should be
as uniform as possible and should be rolled quickly to avoid undue
hardening. It is best to roll them as required. A roll of clay is taken,
one end laid in the center of the bat and the rest is coiled around it
in a spiral line. When the disc so formed has reached the proper size,
the coils are gently rubbed over with the fingers until they have
thoroughly united and the lines of the spiral have disappeared. The clay
disc may now be turned over and the rubbing continued on the other side.
The circle is cut true and a new coil is laid on the outer edge, thus
making a shallow circular tray. In raising the walls it is best to pinch
off the roll of clay when one circle has been completed, and the new
roll should be begun at another point so that all the joints will not be
at the same place. This plan is better than coiling a long roll in a
spiral, for in this case one side of the piece will be higher than the
other.
“After three rolls have been laid in position, the wall, both inside and
out, should be worked like the bottom so that the rolls will disappear
and the clay be welded uniformly together. This should be done without
water or with as little as possible. The use of water is very tempting.
It makes the clay so smooth and seems to help, but it will inevitably
make the work sloppy and will tend to soften the walls.
“After three or four rolls have been worked in, the piece should be laid
aside for some hours to stiffen. If this be not done the weight of the
second building will cause the work to sag and fall out of shape. For
this reason it is well to have two or three pieces in hand at once so
that there need be no waiting. When the cylinder is of sufficient height
it should be allowed to become quite stiff and then the irregularities
should be corrected with a little soft clay which is worked into the
joints. The whole surface may now be gone over with tools and brought to
the required finish.”[31]
Before describing in detail the moulding of the various sorts of
vessels, the accidents which are associated with this process should be
discussed. These may result from one of two causes, the presence of
foreign matter in the paste or imperfect moulding.
If the clay has been carefully sifted, as it usually is, there should be
very little foreign matter in the paste. It is, however, impossible to
remove entirely all gravel or stones fragment. If gravel is allowed to
remain, it will cause the vessel-walls to scale during firing because of
the difference in the rates of expansion under heat of stone and paste.
In order to prevent this, the potter while moulding is constantly on the
lookout for these small particles, which may be discovered at any stage
of the work. They are at once picked out of the vessel, even if it is
all but finished. The irregular hollow formed is then filled with a
small pellet of fresh paste and smoothed over. The women say that a bit
of hard clay does not cause flaking as does a piece of gravel or a stone
splinter. Another kind of foreign matter is an air-bubble, which if left
in the vessel will cause the same form of accident, because of the
difference in the rates of expansion of air and clay. In order to
eliminate these small air-bubbles, the pat is pressed down hard upon the
puki
[Illustration: PLATE 14
a
Levelling and smoothing the rim of a bowl after it has been scraped with
the kajepe, or gourd spoon. The left hand serves to keep the piece
turning and to support the plastic wall.
b
Use of the kajepe in shaping a vessel; the left hand supports the wall
within, while the kajepe, held in the right hand, thins the top of the
wall and gently presses it inward.]
and the rolls are carefully pinched at every point about the vessel. A
skillful potter is able to feel an air-bubble even if it is covered with
a layer of clay: such a bubble is pricked and the resulting hollow is
filled as before.
If the moulding is imperfect, that is, if the rolls are not carefully
welded, a weak spot occurs at the junction, which probably contains a
thin layer of air. When the vessel is fired, it cracks along this line
and is ruined. Such accidents seem to occur most commonly at the bases
of large vessels, either because the first roll was not sufficiently
welded to the base, or because the pat itself was not pressed into the
puki with sufficient force. Since flaws between the rolls cannot be
discovered until the firing, they cannot be corrected as in the case of
foreign bodies in the clay.
BOWLS
From two to eight rolls may be used to form a bowl, according to its
destined size and shape. When the building has been completed, the piece
is in the form of a cylinder, with sides either vertical or very
slightly flaring (pl. 12, b, 2, and pl. 13, b). As a rule the
fingerprints and the irregular horizontal junction-lines may be seen
both on the interior and exterior. The next step is the finishing of the
temporary rim. This is done with the right hand, the fingers of which
assume much the same position that they would for holding a pencil (pl.
14, a). The thumb is on the interior of the rim, the forefinger on the
top, and the middle finger on the outer edge. The thumb and middle
finger are used as guides to help keep the rim uniform in thickness. The
forefinger removes the paste from the higher parts of the rim and
transfers it to the hollows. The fingers do not move with respect to
each other except to exert slight pressure. The play of the right hand
during this process is a gliding backward-forward motion repeated many
times, while at the same time the puki is usually kept revolving
counterclockwise by the left hand, which also is generally but not
always, used to steady the side of the vessel. Occasionally the same
potter will turn the puki clockwise. In the former case the right hand
is kept in the twelve-to-two-o’clock sector; in the latter in the
six-to-eight-o’clock sector. If the rim is smoothed hastily, as it
sometimes is at this stage, the puki may not be turned at all. This
completes the building of the bowl, which is then set aside for a few
minutes, while another is begun.
The next step is the shaping. This is done with a kajepe, or gourd
spoon. The kajepe should always be damp when used, and for that reason
is often kept in the water-pail. It is somewhat difficult to describe in
detail the use of the kajepe, for no two potters work with it in exactly
the same way. Often the same potter will show variations in her method
of handling the tool.
Each woman has from four to a dozen kajepes beside her while she is
moulding. These implements vary much both in size and shape (pl. 11).
Most of them are circular or elliptical with all edges convex, although
every potter has at least one with a concave edge. Generally the
smaller, circular kajepes are used on the interior of bowls, the oval
ones on the exterior, and the one with a concave edge on the exterior at
the shoulder, where it would be difficult to use the other types. As a
rule the larger kajepes serve for the larger vessels. A potter
occasionally changes kajepes in the midst of her work, usually because
of the edge, which may be rougher on one than on another. The kajepes
are held at an angle of from thirty to sixty degrees to the tangent of
the bowl at the point of contact, according to the curvature of the part
of the vessel being worked upon.
The kajepe is always used first on the inside. This is done in order to
press out the sides and to give the bowl something of its final shape
before the paste becomes too dry. The work begins at the bottom of the
vessel and slowly advances toward the top; the bowl gradually assumes a
spherical shape, the sides being forced farthest out about half way
between the base and the rim. During this process the outside surface,
since it is being expanded, begins to show innumerable small cracks. The
strokes of the kajepe on the interior are short and always nearly
horizontal, the implement being pulled towards the body. During this
first use of the kajepe all traces of the junction-lines between the
rolls are removed from the inside of the vessel. The tool is always held
in the right hand, and the left hand, which is constantly used on the
exterior as a brace and stop, is placed directly opposite the spot on
the inside which is being worked. One woman scrapes in the
seven-to-ten-o’clock sector, turning the bowl clockwise; that is,
working from the scraped to the unscraped surface. The vessel is turned
through about sixty degrees at each change of position, and about a
third of the surface just scraped is gone over again by the strokes on
the new sector. Another works in the nine-to-twelve-o’clock sector,
turning the bowl counterclockwise, that is, working from unscraped to
scraped surface; in doing this she turns the puki five or six times
through an angle of between sixty and eighty degrees for each turn,
before the entire interior has been gone over.
The kajepe is then applied to the exterior of the bowl (pl. 14, b). The
concave surface of the kajepe is preferred for the first of the exterior
scraping, although the convex surface is not infrequently used. The
strokes begin again at the base. At first, when the kajepe comes in
contact with the puki, the strokes are very nearly vertical. A little
higher on the bowl they become diagonal. Near the rim the strokes are
almost horizontal, but still have a perceptible downward slant. The
kajepe is always pulled toward the body. The stroke on the exterior is
from four to five inches, generally a little longer than that on the
interior. During this step one woman turns the puki counterclockwise,
working in the two-to-four-o’clock sector; another turns it in the same
direction, but works in the four-to-six-o’clock sector. In both cases
the strokes are from the scraped to the unscraped surface. Although the
larger portion of the actual shaping of the bowl is done from the
interior, the drawing in of the upper part to form a constricted mouth
is done with the kajepe on the exterior, when the step last described is
nearing completion. As when working on the interior, the left hand again
acts as a brace and a stop, but this time on the inside of the bowl.[32]
Usually only the ends of the fingers rest against the side. Upon the
completion of the use of the kajepe on the outside for the first time,
all traces of the coil-marks and of the fine cracks developed during the
interior scraping are removed, but the surface is still rather rough
(pl. 14, b; also 12, b, 3). After both surfaces have been gone over for
the first time with the kajepe, the rim is once more trued up in the
manner already described. Then, depending upon the stiffness of the
paste, the piece may be set aside to harden a little or the work may
continue without interruption.
The women hold the kajepe with fingers either slightly bent, or nearly
fully flexed; in the latter position the tool is grasped between the
thumb and bent forefinger. Just before using, the kajepe is dipped in
water; and the edge is then drawn across the palm of the left hand to
remove excess water before it is applied to the bowl. After perhaps a
dozen strokes, the paste which has collected on the tool is removed by a
dexterous motion: the inner side of the thumb of the left hand is run
along the edge of the kajepe to collect the paste; then the inner side
of the forefinger of the same hand is run from the base to the tip of
the thumb. This brings the paste to the ends of the two fingers in the
form of a pellet, which is thrown upon the mass on the canvas. Since the
paste has a tendency to stick to the fingers, the potter must throw it
with a jerk or snap.
When the kajepe has been used once over the entire surface, it is
usually reversed so as to present its convex side to the bowl, made a
little damper than for the previous scraping, and the whole process
repeated in detail for both the interior and exterior. This results in
better symmetry and a smoother surface. The rim is again finished in the
manner already described. The walls of the bowl have by this time been
thinned to about one-half or two-thirds of their original thickness, all
major irregularities and rough spots have been removed, the vessel is
fully shaped, and only the finishing touches are needed before it is
ready to be sun-dried. The paste now has the consistency of soft thick
leather.
The first step in the finishing sometimes consists in again going over
both surfaces with a wet kajepe, to smooth them still more. Occasionally
only the exterior is so treated. Then the bowl is turned repeatedly,
while the potter touches small areas with the convex surface of the
kajepe. At this point particular attention is given to the bottom of the
interior; it may be retouched with the kajepe, or simply smoothed over
with the ball of the thumb or forefinger. If the surface seems slightly
uneven, small pellets of paste are rubbed into the bottom and then
levelled down with the kajepe. The bowl on the puki is then placed upon
the palm of the left hand, held at eye level, and revolved slowly, while
the potter examines it for rough spots and slight irregularities of
contour, which when found are smoothed over with the forefinger of the
right hand. After being replaced upon the floor, the bowl may be gently
pressed between the hands in order slightly to improve its symmetry.
Finally the rim is smoothed for the last time, little pellets of paste
being added, if necessary, to fill in shallow depressions, and great
care is taken to make it as regular and smooth as possible. It is
obviously impossible to describe in detail the exact procedure followed
in this finishing process, for the method adopted is chosen according to
the needs of the individual vessel. After all this is done, the piece is
ready to be sun-dried. Its present appearance is very different from
that which it had when the building was completed (compare pl. 12, b, 2,
and b, 3).
The moulding of bowls less than four inches in diameter is a very simple
matter compared with that of the larger ones, for there is no use of
puki, rolls, or kajepe. After working the paste in the hands the
resulting lump is formed into a flat spheroid. The forefinger of the
right hand is inserted in the centre of this, the clay held horizontally
and slowly revolved by a slight tossing rotary motion of the left hand.
The forefinger of the right hand enlarges the hole and gradually shapes
the mass into the desired form, thinning the sides at the same time. If
the resulting bowl is too high, the rim is pinched off with the thumb
and fore-finger of the right hand. When the proper shape and thickness
have been attained, the little bowl is held upright in the left hand,
while the fingers of the right smooth the sides and the rim. When
completed it is set on a board to dry. Sometimes one of the larger of
these bowls is placed in a small puki and reshaped with the kajepe. One
woman used the kajepe on the interior of the vessel while it rested upon
her left hand. The bowl, when treated in this way, and finished in the
same manner as the larger bowls, was noticeably a better piece of
moulding than the average small piece.
The time consumed in moulding bowls is variable, depending on the
dexterity and speed of the potter and to a somewhat lesser degree upon
the sort of vessel being moulded. Comparisons between potters are apt to
be misleading, for no two make bowls of exactly the same size or
exercise the same amount of care in finishing, which, from the point of
view of time consumed, is the most variable phase of the moulding. One
potter moulded a wide-mouthed bowl of four rolls in twenty minutes;
another finished two spherical bowls of six rolls each in forty-eight
minutes; a third potter, the swiftest of the three, finished a
wide-mouthed bowl of two rolls after it had been under her hands just
fourteen and one-half minutes. The first potter moulded six of the small
bowls (less than four inches in diameter) in fifty-five minutes,
averaging nine minutes to each, but to refinish one of them with a
kajepe she took thirteen minutes. The third potter moulded one of the
small type of bowls in four minutes.
In considering in detail the time consumed in moulding, the work of
Maria Martinez was studied. She is the swiftest and most dexterous
potter of San Ildefonso, and moulds in a quarter to a third less time
than the slowest of the others. In three hours she turned out ten bowls,
averaging about seven inches in diameter, of the constricted-mouthed and
similar types; this is an average of one in eighteen minutes. She was
working constantly, first on one, then on another. Subsequently she
moulded six two-roll constricted-mouthed bowls in one hour and
twenty-six minutes, an average of fourteen and a third minutes each. The
various steps in the moulding of two bowls are recorded in Table I,
which gives the actual time consumed in minutes and seconds from the
beginning of the first of the pair until the two were finished and set
aside. In Table II the growth and treatment of a single bowl are given
in more detail, with the time in minutes and seconds that it was under
the hands of the potter. This piece was one of five constricted-mouthed
bowls of three rolls each which were moulded in sixty-four minutes, an
average of twelve minutes, forty-eight seconds for each vessel.
TABLE I
Bowl A, constricted-mouthed bowl, diam. 8 in.; Bowl B, wide-mouthed
bowl, diam. 7 in.
_Min._ _Sec._
{ 0.00 Bowl A -- clay picked up from pile
{ 2.00 “ “ -- pat in puki and pinched up
4.30 { 3.00 “ “ -- first roll on and pinched flat
{ 4.00 “ “ -- second roll on and pinched flat
{ 4.30 “ “ -- rim smoothed and bowl set aside
(_no pause_)
{ 4.30 Bowl B -- clay picked up from pile
{ 5.30 “ “ -- pat in puki and pinched up
2.50 { 6.20 “ “ -- first roll on and pinched flat
{ 7.10 “ “ -- second roll on and pinched flat
{ 7.20 “ “ -- rim smoothed and bowl set aside
(_pause of 40 seconds_)
{ 8.00 Bowl A -- picked up again
{ 8.30 “ “ -- interior scraping stopped
{ 9.15 “ “ -- exterior scraping stopped
{ 9.45 “ “ -- first rim smoothing stopped
{ 11.00 “ “ -- first interior smoothing stopped
8.00 { 11.30 “ “ -- first exterior smoothing stopped
{ 12.45 “ “ -- second rim smoothing stopped
{ 13.45 “ “ -- second interior smoothing stopped
{ 14.30 “ “ -- second exterior smoothing stopped
{ 15.15 “ “ -- third rim smoothing stopped
{ 16.00 “ “ -- finishing touches stopped; bowl completed
(_pause of 15 seconds_)
{ 16.15 Bowl B -- picked up again
{ 16.45 “ “ -- interior scraping stopped
{ 17.00 “ “ -- exterior scraping stopped
{ 18.00 “ “ -- first rim smoothing stopped
{ 18.30 “ “ -- first interior smoothing stopped
5.05 { 19.00 “ “ -- second rim smoothing stopped
{ 19.45 “ “ -- second interior smoothing stopped
{ 20.45 “ “ -- touching up stopped
{ 21.00 “ “ -- third rim smoothing stopped
{ 21.15 “ “ -- third interior smoothing stopped
{ 21.20 “ “ -- bowl completed
Total, Bowl A--12 minutes, 30 seconds
Total, Bowl B--7 minutes, 55 seconds
TABLE II
Small, constricted-mouthed bowl
_Min._ _Sec._
00.00 -- clay picked up from pile
00.15 -- pat put in puki
01.00 -- clay for first roll picked up
01.15 -- one end of first roll pinched on pat
01.50 -- first roll flattened, and clay for second roll picked up
02.10 -- one end of second roll pinched on pat
02.40 -- second roll flattened, and clay for third roll picked up
02.50 -- one end of third roll pinched on pat
03.30 -- third roll flattened, and rim smoothing begun
03.50 -- bowl set aside
(_14 minutes, 10 seconds, elapsed_)
03.50 -- interior kajepe-scraping begun
04.25 -- exterior kajepe-scraping begun
04.55 -- rim smoothing begun
05.20 -- bowl set aside
(_18 minutes, 30 seconds, elapsed_)
05.20 -- interior kajepe-smoothing begun
06.00 -- small roll placed around edge of interior base and patted down
06.40 -- interior kajepe-smoothing begun
06.55 -- exterior kajepe-smoothing begun, lip turned in
07.45 -- rim smoothing begun
08.50 -- exterior kajepe-smoothing begun
09.25 -- interior kajepe-smoothing begun
10.05 -- rim smoothing begun
10.50 -- bowl held at eye level, exterior kajepe-smoothing begun
11.17 -- bowl placed on floor, interior kajepe-smoothing begun
11.45 -- moulding completed, bowl set aside
OLLAS
In the moulding of ollas the first step is the building of the lower
part of the body to a height of four or five rings in the same manner as
in bowl-construction. Since ollas have a larger diameter than bowls,
more than one roll is needed to form a complete ring about the growing
edge. The number of rolls per ring varies from one and a half to four,
depending upon the size of the olla and the part worked upon. When this
first building has been completed (pl. 15, a), the rim is smoothed
somewhat and the scraping and shaping are at once begun.
The use of the kajepe in the shaping of ollas is identical in all
details with that described above in discussing the moulding of bowls.
The roll-junctions and the fingerprints are entirely removed and the
sides of the vessel are flared a little. Great care is taken not to
flare the sides too much, for the paste at this stage is still rather
soft, and if the sides are flared unduly they collapse outward of their
own weight. When the preliminary shaping has been finished the rim is
smoothed a
[Illustration: PLATE 15
SUCCESSIVE STAGES IN THE MOULDING OF AN OLLA
a. Lower wall built up of rings of clay. b. Sides smoothed and flared by
use of the kajepe. c. Sides further flared and more carefully smoothed.
d. Shoulder partly formed. e. Shoulder finished. f. Neck built. g, h.
Neck flared and final smoothing completed; the vessels have been shifted
in the moulds to allow work on lower sides.]
little, and the olla is placed in the sun to stiffen. The moulding has
now reached the second stage (pl. 15, b).
The vessel remains in the sun from twenty to thirty minutes. This period
may be extended to as much as an hour and a half, if the vessel is in
the shade or if other things occupy the potter’s time. During all the
drying periods, at intervals varying from five to fifteen minutes, the
potter dips her right hand in the water of the lard-pail, and moistens
the rim of the partly finished olla in order to keep it soft enough to
permit perfect welding when additional rolls are added. While one vessel
is drying, the potter is usually occupied with another. In case the work
on the latter is finished before the former is dry enough, the potter
simply waits, or finds some other work with which to occupy herself
until it is ready.
The test of the condition of the olla after this short drying is to pat
the side gently with the balls of the fingers. The clay is now very much
like soft leather. The degree of resistance offered by the side
indicates the condition of the paste. Of course the value of such a test
depends entirely upon the knowledge and sense of touch possessed by the
potter, two qualities which can be gained only through long experience.
When the paste in the olla, which now has the shape of an open-mouthed
bowl, has reached the proper degree of firmness, the vessel is brought
in and the shaping continued. By using the kajepe first on the interior
and then on the exterior, the sides are flared still more until the
desired shape for the lower part of the olla has been obtained. Then,
after a hasty smoothing of the rim, the vessel, now in the third stage
(pl. 15, c), is again set aside to dry. When it has become firm enough
to support the weight of the new rolls to be added, the building is
continued. The temporary rim has been kept soft by the application of
water from time to time. The method of preparing this rim for the
application of the rings varies slightly with different potters. The rim
may be pinched into scallops between the thumb and forefinger of either
hand, usually the right, or it may be roughened by vertical strokes of
the kajepe on the exterior. In the former case the scallops may touch
one another (pl. 16, a), or they may be separated by a quarter to a half
inch of unpinched rim. When the kajepe is used, it also destroys the
original smoothness of the rim, producing an irregular, broken surface
to which the new roll can easily be welded.
The potter must now build that part of the olla which has the greatest
diameter. Each new ring of clay must therefore be of greater diameter
than those which preceded and those which will follow. Three or four
rather slender rolls are used to make such a ring. After two complete
rings have been placed on the vessel and flattened, the shaping is
begun. Gradually the new rim is drawn in until the shoulder of the olla
has been formed. Again the rim is smoothed before the vessel is set
aside. The moulding of the olla has now reached the fourth stage (pl.
15, d).