Main Discussion Area > Primitive Skills
New pottery, getting better every time
stickbender:
Do You use any kind of a glaze, or just the bare clay itself? Also, do you bury them upside down, or do you put them in the pit, right side up, and fill them with sand, or ash, and cover them? Those are great! You've come far, Pilgrim...... ;) How far are you from Eddie? I would like to stop by sometime and see those, and talk to you about them. Thanks for showing them.
Wayne
Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive:
thanks guys
I fire them in a pit. you don't bury them like chert b\c you need the flames themselves to fire the pots. I gently heat them all up around the fire for about 1 hour, turning them every 5-10 minutes.. they pretty much burn you a little after a while. you progressively get them closer to the flame. I let the flames die way down to a good bed of coals and then flip them upside right onto the coals (with a stick). then throw sticks over top of them and build the fire back up. somewhere between 1 - 1.5 hours of cooking them seems to do the job. The color happens all on it's own, likely a carbon thing, or oxygen exposure...I have no idea really.. As the fire cooks, I like to mound dirt up around the fire but not on the pots, this insulated them and lets them cool slow. I let them cool down all the way by themselves and remove that night or next day. The whole process isn't really something I can explain. Most of it is trial and error. My first attempts made pots, but some were not cooked enough, others too much, the clay didnt have enough sand.....then too much.. lot of variables when doing it abo.. Truth is I am still learning a lot, but no other way to do it than to just get out and do it.
I am maybe 2 hours or so from Eddie. Not real close but not real far
stickbender:
Cool, thanks! Yeah, am about two hours away from him also. Thanks for the info.
Wayne
M-P:
Stickbender, You've sure come a long way from your first posts! The pot shapes are looking good and the firing seems to be working well for you. I like the colors that are happening.
Ron
swamp monkey:
Very nice looking pottery. I love seeing projects like this. thanks for sharing.
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