Modeling

Clay twists, bends and flattens. You can tear clay apart and put it back together again. You can make coils by rolling the clay between your palms. You can make balls by rolling the clay in your hands, and you can make slabs by mashing it flat. The clay’s potential is, literally, in your hands, so it is most important to listen to it’s commands—feel the rhythm, the pulse. In this way you will realize the potential in this latent lump of earth, potential for graceful contours and disciplined lines.

Coil and scrape technique

Be sure to keep the clay moist as you work. Begin by taking a bit of prepared clay slightly larger than your fist and rolling it into a ball. Press the ball into a pancake about one-half inch thick. If a crack appears, dip your fingers in water and smooth it out. If many cracks appear, you need to start over with fresh clay because cracks will ruin the vessel for any use. (Remember, clay with too much temper will crack easily.) Next, place your pancake into the puki and gently contour it to the mold.

From this point you will construct your vessel with coils. Start the coils by holding a small amount of clay in both hands and rolling it back and forth between your palms, working from the center to the ends. Then lay the rope flat and roll it evenly until it is about the length of the circumference of your pot. Dip your fingers into the water and moisten both the base and the coil before laying it in place to assure that each layer adheres to the next.

Continue to add coils according to the size and shape of your planned pot, smoothing both the inside and outside to meld one bit of clay into the other; or, the pinch marks can remain visible if you choose. A ‘shingling’ technique can also be used, resulting in a corrugated vessel—this was especially common among Anasazi groups. While the clay is still moist, the piece can be re-shaped and smoothed with a flat paddle by gently tapping the outside of the pot.

As the clay dries somewhat, it attains what is called a leather state and can be removed from the puki and thinned. (Large vessels should be allowed to dry about forty-eight hours.) Thinning is accomplished with a scraper and serves a twofold purpose; first, to thin the sides, thus reducing the weight of the finished piece, and second, to improve the surface of the vessel by removing marks left by the puki.

There are three steps to the scraping process: wetting, scraping and smoothing. First, soften the exterior surface by wiping it with a wet rag. When working on a large piece you may have to moisten the surface a second time, particularly in the area being worked. This step can be omitted when the pot only needs a small amount of scraping.

Now begin scraping near the shoulder of the pot and continue toward the base using short, quick strokes while turning the piece. Bowls are scraped to the very rim, but in ollas with a flaring lip the scraping continues only to the base of the flare. The interiors of vessels, even wide-mouthed bowls, are not scraped except to smooth and thin.

If scraping uproots an impurity, simply remove it and fill in the hole with a pinch of soft clay, then smooth it over. If stress marks appear during the scraping process, remove them by redistributing the clay particles, moisten, then add bits of clay to the cracks. At this point you can add handles or decorations to your vessel by scoring the spot where you want to add on, spreading a layer of slip over both sides and pressing the clay together firmly. Hold it together gently for a minute until you are sure it will stick.

Smooth both the inside and the outside with your thumb to obliterate the coils as each rope is added. (Photo: Richard Jamison)

Once all the scraping is done your piece can be placed in a dry spot out of the sun to dry. Use care when drying your handiwork, as pottery dried too quickly in the direct sun often cracks. If you are interrupted before you complete your pot, cover it with a damp cloth or invert a large clay crock over it to prevent excessive drying.

When the pot is dry, use a piece of sandstone to smooth any rough or uneven spots, then soften the surface and interior with a wet cloth and rub it vigorously with your fingers to give it a uniform smooth texture. This process is the same as putting on a thin slip of paste. Also smooth the rim of the piece with great care using the wet cloth to even all the surfaces in preparation for the slip.

A polishing stone dipped in water is then used to smooth the exterior walls. Sometimes this is a mere smoothing, or the process can be continued to the point of giving an actual polish to the vessel.

Slips and polishing

Now the pot is ready for the slip—a liquid paint made from water and clay. Slip can be used as a base color and/or as a paint to supply the elements of polychrome designs. A slip is for the purpose of refinement, and therefore not necessary to making a useful and attractive piece of earthenware. It is a personal decision.

The materials used for slipping and polishing include the water-clay solution, mopping cloths or brushes and polishing stones. In prehistoric times slip was applied with a rabbit tail or animal fur mop. Slips can be watered-down clay from which the pot was made, or they might be from a different source. They can be thick or thin, colored or white. White slip, which is usually applied as a base for decorative work, is generally made from a fine, white, calcareous earth consisting mainly of carbonate of lime.

The slip is prepared in much the same way as the clay: it is dried thoroughly then ground and mixed with water to form a thin solution (slip the consistency of cream is preferred by some potters). Or, it can be dissolved in water in small lumps without the initial grinding. A sufficient amount is mixed with the water to give it the desired color.

Begin at the neck and rim and work down. At least two applications are made, covering the pot with uniform color.

The beautiful luster of burnished ware is the result of skillful polishing. Polishing is an exacting process begun while the slip is still damp. The first polishing strokes are done quickly, covering the whole piece. The next rubbing requires a little more pressure and overlaps the strokes. A thinner and longer stone can be used to polish the interior of the rim, but it is difficult if not impossible to polish the lower interior of the pot. Every inch of the slipped surface must be rubbed again and again. Once your piece has been burnished, be very careful of water, perspiration or other stains; these defects cannot be removed.

After the initial polishing, a thin coat of grease or oil can be applied with the fingers. The Southwest Indians often used turkey grease, but vegetable oil also works. The grease is allowed to soak into the surface for five to ten minutes, then the vessel is polished again. When the polishing is finally complete, wrap the pot in a soft cloth and store it until you are ready to fire.

Decoration

Decoration of pottery involves many aspects, including layout or adaptation of design. Painting is the most common decorative technique, but altered surfaces were also popular in prehistoric times.

Some common techniques included corrugated, wiped, tooled, punched, partially obliterated coils and flattened coils as well as combinations of these. Sometimes the coils used in making a vessel were simply left unobliterated (corrugated), or they were indented to produce a simple design. As a rule, cooking vessels were not decorated; color would have been lost completely on a cooking pot with its first blackening use. (The all-over corrugation popular with the Anasazi may have been for ease and security in handling the hot vessel.)