THE POTTER'S WHEEL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22489, 5 August 1936, Page 6

THE POTTER'S WHEEL

NEOLITHIC MAN AND HIS ART A BALL OF CLAY i BY CHRISTINE CAMERON j What handicraftsman's art can with our art compare, , We potters shape our pots, of what we potters are. , „ —Longfellow. Pottery as a craft has been prac- 1 tised almost universally, and from the most romoto antiquity has been connected with man's domestic life in all ages, changing, perhaps, in methods, as social conditions changed. This ancient art has come down the centuries to be with us still. From a ball of clay, neolithic man shaped the first vessels and baked them in the cun. Fragments of these earliest pots may be seen in our museums, in shape primitive "thumb pots" and for decoration, markings with flint arrow-heads. Somo examples from the neolithic and Bronze Age potters show great ingenuity in types of design worked from the impressions of twisted and knotted grasses tightly stretched on the soft clay. Thumb-pots were made by hollowing a ball of clay with the thumbs, then, by keeping the thumbs inside and tho fingers outside, the sides of the pots were pulled up. The Bronze Age ga\*e us three main types, the "beaters," the "food vessel" and the "cinerary urn." These were made by coiling, perhaps by using a hole in the ground for building the coils. And so the craft went on, down the ages, evolving the potter's wheel and clay baked by fire. A Universal Graft Every country has contributed its individual shapes Egypt, Greece, China and India all give characteristic shapes. Feeling for contour and colour are depicted in these old potter}' treasures, some being the products of lost civilisations. It is interesting to trace the later influence of the different countries. In Peru, for instance, somo years ago, prehistoric pottery was discovered. This was the product of vanished tribes, and bore distinct tracings to Chinese &nd Indian influence. Some was found to have a bias to Egyptian form. This ware is calculated to be at least 10,000 years old. A remarkablo thing about the pottery was that no two pieces were alike. These pots were buried with the doad and were supposed to be evidences of the love and respect of friends and relations. They varied in shape and size, some being portraits, some birds, animals and fishes, others providing for the comfort of the departed in the spirit world, being for food. Some of these vessels were containers of water, while some contained tokens of gold and silver, with which the dead would pay for their passage across the ferfy or river of death. Critics say that the workmanship of these is equal to any of the design figures in vogue in England in the 18th century, and in some cases the art is better. This Peruvian pottery, when found, was in the best state of preservation, for there is little rain in Peru, and the silicates in tho earth had arrested decay. Have any of you watched a modern potter at work? It is wonderful to see how they turn out shape sifter I shape on the wheel. There are Home in Auckland doing this work, and 1 was privileged to look on as a woman worked at her craft, using local clay and fashioning with clever hands fascinating shapes—first a lump of olav thrown down," then, as the wheel ! turned, slowly and surely, a form of i beauty came to life, swelling there,. | curved in here, shaped by the hands iof a woman of our day in a tra- ! ditional pattern. I wondered if in that dusty, dusky shed some presence of the potters of long ago was helping to fashion that thing of modern clay. When the unfired clay pot is drv enough to handle without bearing the impression of the fingers, the finishing touches and tidying up, known to potters as "fettling,' is done, and the pot set aside to dry. - This must be done slowly, or it will crack. As the pots dry they are surprisingly light in weight and have a dry, chalky surface. The next process "is to have them fired. After the first firing the ware is known as "biscuit" and to make the articles impermeable to water they must be coated -with a glaze and fired a second time. This second firing is known as glost firing. Diversity of Glaze Glazing and glost firing are among the most interesting processes of pottery making, and different types of glazes are as diverse as different types of human beings in their characteristics of surface and habits in the glost I fire. The processes of this absorbing craft hold much that is interesting, - but to try to explain all the principles and varieties of firing cannot be i dealt with briefly. We may, however, 7 speak of the charm of under-glaze r colours, which are, as the name implies, , put on before glazing, the colours 1 Bhowing their true beauty only when • glazed. The colours employed are - ! metallic oxides or oxy. salts, which, 1 when combined with the glaze, produce 1 various colours, according to the metal used. The individuality of tho craft comes in here again, for, as well as having a beautiful form, we want glowing, gleaming colour to enhance • the charm of shape. Under-glaze work 1 has a precious quality, which is rather lacking in some other processes. What commercial pottery has the chann of • the piece that has been shaped and coloured by the inspiration of the artist worker? Clay, shape and colour, all ■ are individual, and the thrill that seizes one as the pieces emerge from [ the kiln, resplendent with life, depths , and brilliancy, is something to be sought for again and again. ; FRUIT SALTS l In answer to an inquiry for making I fruit salts, the following recipes have been sent in:—Take }lb. Epsom salts (rolled fino), 41b. carbonate of soda, cream of tartar, Jib. tartaric acid. }lb. icing sugar, 2oz, magnesia. Put 1 altogether through a sieve several times. Bottle and keep airtight. Another recipe deals with smaller amounts of ingredients, and is as follows: —Mix well together tho following: 2oz. carbonate of soda, 2oz. tartaric acid, 2oz. cream of tartar, 2oz. 1 Epsom salts, loz. magnesia, soz. to 6oz. of powdered sugar (icing sugar). Put all through a flour sifter thrco or four times, put in well-corked bottle and take one teaspoonful to three-quarters of a glass of water. Another correspondent writes to say that all the ingredients must be kept absolutely dry or the salts will not be successful. Tho Epsom salts should be spread on an oven tray and left in a slow oven to thoroughly dry. After mixing the ingredients, sift well, breaking up all lumps. Sift again and again if necessary and keep tightly corked.