contemporary pottery, ancient techniques
Wild Clay Pottery Techniques
Pots are all hand-built, meaning the full shape is obtained without using a wheel. In fact, all steps in Wild Clay pottery are done by hand. The information below is included to let you peek behind the finished pots to the process.
Hand-building Pots
Pots are made by hand, using a combination of coil and pinch pot building techniques. Here, a bisque form is used to start the pot, and coils added as required. The coils are joined and then pinched to thin the walls and create the form. The tool shown here is a modified hacksaw blade, the main tool used to shape and blend the clay.
Building up the sides, and smoothing the interior walls with the hacksaw blade. As the walls are smoothed, the sides are pulled up to add height and thin the wall.
Larger forms require pauses in the building process to allow the clay to stiffen and support more height. If working on only one pot, a blow drier is the common tool to speed the process. This is the highest-tech tool used to create one of these pots.
On a warm summer day, placing the pot on a rock is another method to speed the drying. Note that the edge is protected by plastic. It's important that the edge remain soft so new clay can be added.
Preparing the Surface
Once the form is completed, the pot is allowed to dry to "leather-hard," or about the texture of cheddar cheese. You can slightly correct the balance of the pot, if required. You can also thin the pot and create a smooth surface for sanding by scraping the pot with a rib at this point.
The final finish for this type of pot depends heavily on an immaculately smooth surface. The pot, now fully dry, is sanded with increasingly fine sandpaper to create a perfectly smooth surface. Drywall screen works very well for the initial sanding stages, as shown here.
There is no glaze used on this type of pot, and the shine comes from a process known as burnishing. Burnishing simply aligns the tiny clay particles so they will reflect the light. Many different tools can be used to burnish. I use a small rock. Note the gloves – burnished surfaces can be marked by fingerprints until they are fired, and the gloves prevent marks on the newly burnished pot.
Once burnished, the pot is either painted or carved to provide the design. Here a simple pointed stick is used to outline the design, and create texture. The clay is still green at this point, so you must be very careful not to break through the thin walls when carving. Painting is easier, but the texture stands out very well, especially in a black fire pot.
Firing Black Pots
The decorated pots are placed in a home oven for an hour to force out any moisture, and help guard against thermal shock in the bonfire. The pots, shown here in a specially made wire basket, are placed over a bed of sawdust. The sawdust will provide the black colour in the pots.
A 20 gal (approx) oil can is used to protect the pots and trap the smoke from the sawdust. The can is inverted over the pots, with the lip buried in sand to create a seal. This photos shows the fire stating to burn around the oil can in a firing pit. Kindling size wood is used to create a hot fire. With this method you are seeking high temperatures, not long heat time.
The fire burns very hot at its peak. Wood is fed to the fire until at least 10-15 minutes of full fire has been reached. Then the fire is allowed to burn down naturally. Once most of the fire is gone, the coals are scraped away from the bottom of the can to prevent oxidation, which will take away the black colour.
When the pit is cooled considerably, the can is removed, revealing the pots, now black or grey from the smoke inside the can. Unless the pot is heated to over 600 degrees F, the black is permanent and will not wash away. All that remains now, is to wipe off the ash residue, and apply a thin coating of beeswax to protect and deepen the shine.
Pit Firing Pots
The firing description above is very close to how the coloured, pit-fired pots are fired. Pit-fired pots are first fired in an electric kiln to Cone 08. They are not protected by the 20 gallon pail as described above, but instead have the fire built directly on the pots. The ashes are literally scraped away to find the pots at the end of the firing.
