Pueblo Indian women of New Mexico and Arizona create some of the finest artistic pottery in the world.
Pottery making byis a tradition among American Indian women stretching back over two thousand years. The first hand-built pots of the prehistoric period were utilitarian vessels for the storage of food and water, with little aesthetic value. Women gathered the grains and seeds used for food and made the pots for their storage. In the historic period beginning in the mid-1500's, women's clay pottery evolved into a fine art. The pots were decorated with designs and symbols, both abstract and semi-realistic. In the American Southwest, this tradition is carried on by the female potters of the twenty pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, along with the Navajo Tribe. To this day, pottery can be made using their basic techniques.
Instructions
1. Southwest American Indian women's pottery making is an ancient tradition.
Buy a bag of commercially available dried clay powder. Mix it with water until it's the right workable consistency. It will hold together when formed into balls. It will take some trial and error to get it right. Your clay must be kneaded to remove all air bubbles before you can work with it. String a wire between two nails and cut a ball of clay in half several dozen times. Knead it like dough with your hands until there are no more visible bubbles when you cut it open. Mix your clay with a tempering agent like ground seashells to give it added strength. Store the clay in a plastic bag to prevent drying.
2. Form a fist-sized ball of clay into a cone shape. Pound it with your hands into a round base about 1/4 inch thick. Turn the clay over and work it clay with a wet shaping spoon until it's perfectly smooth. Make snakelike clay coils by rolling it between your hands. Try to keep them the same size. Coil the clay tubes upon the base, one atop another until the shape of the pot is roughly formed. Use water and smoothing with your fingers to join and blend the clay together. Aim for symmetry and uniformity of thickness in the walls of the pot.
3. Dry the pot in the open air for two or three days. Sand it with sandpaper, working from a coarse to fine grit paper. Rub the pot with a wet cloth to further smooth the surface. Apply several coats of slip, a runny mixture of clay and water. Let the pot dry and sand it between coats.
4. Decorate the pot by adding a coloring agent to the slip and painting on the design with a brush. Study examples of pueblo pottery for ideas. Carve lines into the smooth surface for added texture. Incise your name and the date into the bottom of the pot.
5. Fire the pots in the traditional manner by digging a shallow hole in the ground. Enclose the pottery in sheets of tin before lining the pit with wood sticks and brush. Light the wood on fire and let it burn down completely before removing the pots, after about thirty to sixty minutes. This will give the fired clay a reddish color. For a black color, surround the pottery with dried, powdery cattle dung. As a final touch, burnish the pot with a smooth stone until it's shiny.
