How to make pottery

There has always been a close connection between pottery and basketry. Those who study Indian handicrafts learn that pottery was evolved from basketry in the long ago. Neltje Bl...

That the primitive potter did not mould his pottery on a wheel we can be reasonably sure. The Egyptians, however, as early as 4000 B. C., used the simplest potter’s wheel, as is...

One of the most encouraging signs of the advance in taste among American people is to be found in their appreciation of the pottery which is now being made in this country. Time...

In no other country can primitive pottery be so conveniently studied as in ours. Within our borders, he who digs may read the history of clay-working from the earliest days. Tho...

This sturdy little candlestick shows that it is hand moulded by the marks of the potter’s thumb on base, handle and candle cup. The square base is moulded from a single large pi...

Clay is what might be called the drift of the rocks of ages past. Most stone consists mainly of silica and alumina. In some bygone age, the potash and other alkalies, under the...

One can imagine what a blow it must have been to the early potter when he found that this was the case. Some say that he used wax at first to close the pores of his pottery, and...

In building pieces of pottery whose walls have a decided flare, a plaster mould will be found most useful. Its sides support the coils of clay and enable the potter to form his...

that one has been able to buy one’s clay ready mixed. Otherwise there must be a tub for mixing the clay, and a sieve (see Chapter I.). In addition to the clay and the tools alre...

Pottery, until it is fired, has little or no practical value. One who owns a piece of Gay Head ware, made in Martha’s Vineyard, and called by the name of the bluffs of whose cla...

The ancient Egyptians were probably the first tile-makers. Some of their most remarkable pieces of enamel work are clay plaques or slabs, made as early as 1300 B. C. Figures of...

The more simple and strong pottery designs are, the better. Those that are intricate, no matter how beautiful, are out of place on the big, substantial forms; while delicate tra...

A quaint Dutch dish, brought from Holland years ago, was the model for this sturdy little piece of pottery. It may be used for candy or to hold a vase of flowers, or a potted pl...

around the bowl just above the bottom. Pat it flat and even, and cut one end into a long point. After cross-cutting the edge of the bottom piece (to insure its holding firmly to...

Five leaves, much the shape of poppy leaves, radiate from the centre, making a base from which the stem rises for three inches. A round, slightly flattened calyx, topped by a fi...

in pencil. Next it is outlined with firm, sure strokes, using a pointed steel tool, and taking great care not to cut under the edge of the outline, but bevel it, as in other pro...

When one thinks of the limitless possibilities of pottery in household decoration—the great dishes for flowers and fruit, the lamp-bowls, candlesticks, and tiles—one may make, o...

Divide the circumference of the top of the bowl into fifths, with pencil marks, lightly made. Then draw the design upon it, so that the top of the upper wings shall be not less...

Three handles are cut from a flat piece of clay about three inches wide by sixteen long and half an inch thick, in the shape shown in Fig. 52, and attached as follows: The circu...

It is quite important that the potter should have a workshop—be it ever so small—which clay-dust and water will not harm. A light, dry cellar is a good place, or an outbuilding,...

A tile such as this, eight inches square, is rather large for some purposes; it is, however, most effective as a decoration, and may do practical service in holding a flower-pot...

Thirty strands of natural-coloured raffia are doubled around one of the handles, and the ends are braided in a three-stranded plait for twelve inches, where they are tied. Two o...