Kurt Unterschuetz on fri 14 jun 96
Hi Clayarters,
I need your help, if I may. I demo at a local pottery for the
tours that pass thru, a couple days per week. They have changed the format
and now I must speak about how pots were made before wheels etc. I tell them
about pinch pots and that they used to walk around the clay, pinching and
using bones and stones to build and smooth out the pots, which they needed
for their corn. Then I talk about the coil method used to make bigger pots.
Then I tell them how they put clay on flat stones and used a stick to turn
the stone---then I get on the potters wheel and throw a couple pieces.
Can anyone tell me how I could elaborate or enhance my spiel? Do you know of
some historical source on the internet that I could refer to? I only have
about 10-15 minutes to speak to these people but I'd like to tell them
something that they don't already know.
Also, what is the definition of a Master Potter? I've been asked but did not
know if it was more than simply longevity.
TIA, Kurt Unterschuetz
SchatziBoyz Pottery
Marengo, IL USA
Richard Gralnik on sat 15 jun 96
Kurt,
You could discuss the African tribal method of making storage urns.
These containers were built by leaving large balls of clay in the
path of an oncoming elephant. As the charging beast passed by it
would stomp on the ball of clay, making a large round depression that
held gallons of water. The pot was completed by adding a slab for a
bottom, and the thick walls would be decoratively carved with various
images. This technique was discontinued due to the high mortality rate
of potters with slower reflexes. It was the custom among some tribes
to fire the last pot of the deceased in his funeral pyre and leave the
pot in the elephants' graveyard as a symbol of the circle of life.
A Master Potter is one who is a locksmith in his/her spare time.
Feel free to elaborate on this spiel to your heart's content.
Richard
Another forming method is to press a pancake of clay over your elbow to
create a simple cup.
Dave Eitel on sun 16 jun 96
>Can anyone tell me how I could elaborate or enhance my spiel?
Kurt--I'll stick my neck out here and say that I used to speculate to
tourists who visited my shop that very early pots may have been formed when
baskets were lined with clay to keep stuff from leaking out of them. Then,
when the baskets were discarded they were burned and voila--a basket-shaped
pot with a great texture design. I never told this story as fact, but as a
personal theory--so I hope the misinformation cops don't get on my case!
Later...Dave
Dave Eitel
Cedar Creek Pottery
Cedarburg, WI
daveitel@execpc.com
http://www.digivis.com/CedarCreek/home.html
Anne McFadden on sun 16 jun 96
Kurt wrote:
>>Can anyone tell me how I could elaborate or enhance my spiel?
Dave wrote:
>Kurt--I'll stick my neck out here and say that I used to speculate to
>tourists who visited my shop that very early pots may have been formed when
>baskets were lined with clay to keep stuff from leaking out of them. Then,
>when the baskets were discarded they were burned and voila--a basket-shaped
>pot with a great texture design. I never told this story as fact, but as a
>personal theory--so I hope the misinformation cops don't get on my case!
Further to what you were saying, Dave...
In Glenn Nelson's CERAMICS: A POTTER"S HANDBOOK (fifth edition, page
19), it says:
"The women of Neolithic families gathered wild and cultivated seeds
and stored them in tightly woven baskets. Often the baskets were
coated on the inside with clay to form a more effective container.
Because the oldest pots in Neolithic cultures have a basketlike or
corded texture, many scholars have speculated that pttery making was
first discovered by the accidental burning of a basket and the
subsequent hardening of its clay lining. This is only theory since
the oldest known pots (the early Japanese Jomon ware...) were made by
a fishing and shellfish gathering culture that had not yet reached
the agricultural stage.
It is true, however, that the first pottery in all cultures was
probably made by women as part of their household chores. Only as
settlements grew and a market developed where a skilled worker could
trade wares for grain, leather, and other goods, did pottery become a
craft practiced largely by men and their households"
etc...
Anne McFadden EMAIL: pekay@simcoe.igs.net
Crafty Potters
Beeton, Ontario
Dave Eitel
Cedar Creek Pottery
Cedarburg, WI
daveitel@execpc.com
http://www.digivis.com/CedarCreek/home.html
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