Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Primitive Skills => Topic started by: Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive on August 08, 2013, 09:57:15 pm
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Been keeping up on the pottery. Have been 100% on the firing process so far cept for a crack in the big flat bottom pot in the first picture. All out of wild clay and fired in a pit. They hold water and drink very well.
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man, that is totally awesome. kow do you fire them?
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Excellent! I have A LOT of really great clay at my property in Montana. It feels like modeling clay. I may have to give this a try. I will have to contact you to see what I should and should not do. Those are great! Now, can you make clay pigeons? ;) ::) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Wayne
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Look good Ryan, nice shapes in those. I like the one I got from you in trade, got it on our fireplace mantle and its rustic looks fit our decor well.
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Looks great, do the burn marks go all the way through?
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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
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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
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Cool, thanks! Yeah, am about two hours away from him also. Thanks for the info.
Wayne
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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
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Very nice looking pottery. I love seeing projects like this. thanks for sharing.
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Thanks MP, but actually it is Ryan, or Twisted Limbs who made them, and yes indeed he has come a long way, Grasshopper.
Wayne
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Really nice...Can you boil water in these?
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looking good twisted limbs,
nice symetrical forms too... flat bottoms do crack easier than rounded ones, because of shrinking, the way you are firing is the most direct
and simple way to do it...If you make bigger cooking pots you might consider turning them upside down on the coals and covering them with dry ash.
then build a big fire over them...the ash will insulate them a little
and will keep those flames from mischief
haven't been on line for while so i've missed alot of whats been going on...
keep it up!
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Looking good man really cool !!!
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Those look awesome. Love the colors they have.
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Hey Twisted, you should do a demonstration at the Classic. I'd love to see the process.
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thanks guys. Hedge- I have yet to attend a Classic. I spent a lot of time on the road in the last few years and just cant stand to be in the car for more than about 3 hours here lately! It takes about 2 weeks for the pots to air dry before firing. by force drying or leaving it in the sun, you run very high failure rate. Just wouldn't be enough time to demonstrate... well I guess a guy could make pot and set it aside to dry and then fire a couple already previously air dried.. but either way, I hope to make it to the classic on day, but it's hard to get me to take a trip unless it involves hunting
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I understand Twisted. I hope you make to the Classic one day.
Do you dig your own clay?
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yup, I dig my own.
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There is a lot of clay in the soil on my farm and some places seems pretty thick. So, I've been wondering if this clay could make pottery item. When you did clay is there a way to clean it to remove soil to leave mostly clay? What's the whole digging process?
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SWEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT I'VE NEVER TRYED THAT.
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If you dig it up, break it into little pieces and let it dry out completely. Then rehydrate it in plenty of water and it will dissolve. If you let it set a while, you can pour off the water slowly, but the clay slurry will remain higher than rocks and heavy dirt. It takes a while and some practice, but with native pottery, you end up adding a lot of grog, or other crushed rock, sand and old fired pottery shards anyways, so nowadays, I just try to select clay with very little organic matter in it (leaves and twigs) and I don't try to overly process it down. I just add a little more grog and and wedge the clay well and away you go. I'm still learning as I go, so I am not expert at all....but I know as far as what the native peoples had, trying to process the clay perfectly clean would have been a wasted step since you typically add grog anyhow. God made dirt, and dirt don't hurt. This will be good for small cups and bowls like I've done. I am working on some bigger pieces that have plant fibers in them to bind them together... just takes some trial and error really.
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Thanks Twisted. What's "wedge?"
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knead = wedge gotta get it consistent and air bubble free