THE OPEN-FIRE KILN
The open-fire kiln is preferred by many potters. Such kilns have been used for generations by potters in England; and for ware that needs hard firing they have proved most reliable. Fig. 44 shows the interior of one of these kilns, and Fig. 45 the ground plan. From these diagrams one can get an idea of the principle on which such kilns are run. This kiln is built mostly of fire-brick, and should be under cover for more than one reason. First, there is no danger from frost if the kiln is inclosed by a wooden building, and then it is more convenient for the potter to do his work where he is not exposed to the weather.
BBBBBBBBBBBB the passages for the hot air.
CCCCC the outlets for the hot air.
The kiln is circular, built on a foundation of brick or stone, and strengthened with bands of wrought iron. At all four sides of the central chamber, where the pottery is placed, are fire-boxes where the coal is fed on to a grate below the level of the floor of the chamber. The hot air from the fire-boxes finds two outlets, one through a direct escape, close to the box, the other through a passage and out at the centre of the floor. Within the central chamber are piled the saggers—great circular boxes or drums made of fire-clay—all of which, if possible, contain pottery, but, whether full or empty, they must fill up the chamber, as their clay holds and radiates heat which would otherwise be lost. The office of the saggers is to protect the pieces of pottery from direct contact with the flame, smoke, and ashes of the fire.
The heat from the fire-boxes, if it rushed directly into the kiln, would fire the pieces near the bottom of the chamber too hard, so slabs of fire-brick, called firebacks, are arranged so as to send the heat up (see [Fig. 44]). It then, passing up between the saggers (which, stacked one above the other, form flues to improve the draught), passes off at the top opening. This aperture, as will be seen in Fig. 44, has a slab supported by bricks above it to control the draught. The heat escapes through the cone, and thus through the chimney. The cone is made of ordinary bricks, and its office is to help the draught. There is another kind of kiln much like this model, except that it has a down draught. The heated air, as it escapes, passes down through an opening in the floor, along a horizontal passage, up and out. This keeps the heat in the kiln for a longer time, but it also confines the gases, which affect the colour of the ware so that it is not practicable for art pottery.
Seen from the outside on a day when the kiln is being filled, its aspect is quite different. Inside the great brick chamber, workmen are stacking the saggers filled with pieces of pottery, some of which, not yet packed, are standing on tables near at hand. They look wan and pale, faint grayish-green, or leaden gray. Not until they have felt the fierce heat of the kiln will they glow with living green or will the beauty of their blues appear. Yellow that is almost orange seems to be only a deep cream colour before it is fired. Then there are pieces of green, or unbaked clay, to be fired in the biscuit—that is, without the glaze. These are put in another part of the kiln.
Just a word about the saggers. These huge, rough boxes of burnt fire-clay, whose office has already been spoken of, are sometimes bottomless, simply rings. Should a sagger be too low to contain a piece that is placed in it (as is often the case), one can build up the clay-box to the required height with the bottomless saggers. Between every two saggers rolls of clay are laid (coiled around the edge) to hold them together. When the kiln is filled at last with its stacks of saggers, the doorway is bricked up and the fire started. The open-fire kiln requires the best part of three days to complete it. The first day it is filled with pottery and the fire started. In firing a kiln, the heat should be raised very slowly. All that night the fire is watched and fed, as it must be kept at the requisite temperature, for if it gets low, or, as the potters say, “slips,” the glaze is spoiled and the pottery must all be reglazed and fired again. The weather affects the kiln, the draught not being so good on a damp or rainy day as on a fair one; and the coal also must be specially chosen for the kiln. It takes several tons to fire one kiln, so that the success or failure of a firing is no light matter. The second day much attention must be given to keeping the fire up, and at about nightfall the guides are drawn as follows:
At equal distances around the kiln are four peep-holes—small, round apertures on a level with the eye, which are closed with a cylindrical tube having a transparent asbestos end. In the glare of the kiln, directly on a line with these peep-holes, one can see a row of clay rings, which were daubed with glaze before the fire was started. Having withdrawn the cylinder which closes the hole, the potter runs in a long metal rod, with a hook on the end, catches a ring, and draws it out. He can tell from the appearance of this ring, or guide, how the kiln is firing and about when the pieces will be done. Usually they are finished that night, but the kiln is not opened until it has cooled for many hours.
THE MUFFLE KILN
The muffle kiln is shown in Fig. 46.
A is the muffle-box or chamber for the pottery.
B B B B B B B are the arches supporting the box and other parts of the kiln.
C C The doors where the fuel and pottery respectively are put in.
D D D The passages for the heated air.
E The ash-pan.
This fires at a low degree of heat, compared with the open-fire kiln. It is mostly used for under-glaze pottery and for glazing. In this kiln the fire could not come in direct contact with the ware, so that saggers are unnecessary; instead, there is a system of shelves upon which the pottery is placed. The fuel, which may be wood, is fed through a door on one side of the lower part of the kiln, with an ash-box below. A brick arch supports the muffle-box or chamber where the pottery is placed. On the opposite side from the furnace door is the opening through which the pieces are put into the kiln. This is carefully bricked up before the fire is started. The hot air passes through a passage extending around all sides and above the box, and the outlet is over the door where the pottery goes in. A slab extending nearly across this outlet controls the draught.
Basket-Covered Pottery
CHAPTER X
BASKET-COVERED 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 Blanchan suggests that it may have happened in some such way as this: “Perhaps a hunter returned home hungry one day ... and his wife, anxious to hasten dinner for her impatient lord, coated her cooking-basket with clay that she might set it directly over the fire without danger of burning. Imagine the woman’s surprise and joy to find, on removing it from the embers after dinner, that she had a basket plus an earthenware pot!”
The two crafts have helped each other from that day to this. The Indian woman suspends her earthen cooking-jar with coils of wild grapevine, which ever and anon she smears with wet clay when the flames come too near. Japanese craftsmen enmesh their pottery jars with wistaria stems to protect them from breakage, or to suspend them against the wall, where growing plants or trailing vines may fill them to overflowing. Even the little ginger jar one buys for a few cents in Chinatown has its case and handle of pliant cane.
Charming things may be made for the beautifying of one’s own or another’s house if one knows something of the two crafts. A few of them are described in the following pages:
Indian Pottery Bowl Suspended with Raffia
Materials required:
An Indian pottery bowl in white and Indian red, 6 inches in diameter at the top,
A bunch of Indian red raffia,
A curtain ring,
A tapestry needle No. 18.
Any one who has made raffia hats with the knots that our mothers used to call macramé in the early eighties, will see by a glance at the plate how the network of raffia which incloses this bowl is fashioned. The bowl is the first consideration. It may be bought at an Indian store for about a dollar; or, if one prefers, one can mould one’s own bowl of flower-pot clay. In that case, however, the white background which is so effective in the Indian ware will be missed.
The straight-sided hanging jar on the left was once the pillow of a Chinese woman. Beside it is a green bowl of Spanish pottery, inclosed and suspended with green rattan. The small jar below is a Flemish piece, with a covering of pale-green rattan. Above is an Indian bowl, with a knotted raffia covering. The three-handled plant-bowl on the right has a gray-green mat-glaze. It is suspended with raffia ropes.
To begin with: Thread a No. 18 tapestry needle with a strand of Indian red raffia. Twist the end three or four times around the middle and forefinger of the left hand, and cover the small ring thus made with button-hole stitches. The ring should be about an inch in diameter.
Finish off the end of the raffia by sewing several stitches through and through the ring. Pin this ring to a cushion on one’s lap or to some firm, soft object near at hand. Take two strands of raffia, double them around the ring, and with the four ends thus made tie a Solomon’s knot as follows: Hold the two upper strands straight and taut. Bend the under strand on the left across them to the right (see [Fig. 47]), and bring the under strand on the right over the end of the left strand, back of the middle strands, and through the loop made by the left strand in starting. Another pair of strands is knotted on in the same way, and another, until there are thirteen groups around the ring. Beginning anywhere on the ring, the strands on the right of a group are brought beside the two on the left of the group to the right of it, and the middle pair of the four are held straight down, while the strands on the right and left are knotted upon them as already described. This knot should be about half an inch from those in the previous row. Make a double knot this time—that is, repeat the process already described. Take the strand which was on the left after the first knot was tied, bring it over the middle strands to the right, and after bringing the strand on the right over the end of the left one and back of the middle strands, pass it up through the loop made by the left strand in starting. The two strands at the right of the right-hand group are next knotted in the same way with two on the left of the next group to the right, and so it goes on around the net—making a double Solomon’s knot each time.
Five rows more of this knotting are made, each row being half an inch from the previous one, except the fifth, which is three-quarters of an inch from the fourth. Now bring all the strands from three groups together at an inch and three-quarters from the last row of knotting. Hold the middle one of the three groups taut, and tie the strands to right and left upon it in a Solomon’s knot. Tie another knot close to the first one, and another, until there are seven—one below the other. Three more groups are brought together at an inch and three-quarters from the last row of knotting, and tied in the same way. Then another three. The fourth bunch will have four groups of strands in it (as there were thirteen groups in all at starting). Two of these groups, the middle ones, are held taut, and those to left and right are tied upon this double group as the others were. Then, taking the long ends of one of these bunches, tie them again in three Solomon’s knots at an inch and three-quarters from the seventh knot. They are next brought straight down without knotting, for two inches more, when two knots are made. For two and three-quarter inches more they are brought without knotting, then tied and wound around a large ring—an old curtain ring about two inches in diameter will do. When all four bunches have been knotted in the same way, and the ends of all have been fastened securely to the curtain ring, the ring is covered neatly with button-hole stitch in raffia, and a raffia binding about half an inch wide is made just below the ring, where the strands are fastened to it.
Green Pottery Jar Inclosed and Suspended with Brown Rattan
Materials required:
The Pottery Jar: About 2½ pounds of clay,
The wooden modelling tools,
The rectangular tool of sheet steel,
The pointed steel tool,
A bowl of slip,
A small sponge,
The Basket Covering: About six lengths of No. 4 deep-brown rattan,
A piece of fine but strong wire 24 inches long,
A pair of pliers,
A bunch of deep-brown raffia.
Around the quaint and attractive hanging jar from which this one is copied is woven a tale as curious as its covering of knotted brown twigs. It is this: the rectangular green jar, which looks like a pottery box, was once the casket in which some Chinese lady kept her pomades and perfumes. When she slept, her head, which had been dressed most elaborately with the aforesaid pomades, was laid upon this same pottery box for a pillow—another instance of the painfulness of pride in China!
How strange the little Chinese lady would think it of us to use her earthen pillow as we do—for a hanging flower-jar! Who covered it with knotted wistaria twigs? I should suspect it was some deft-fingered Japanese—though the jar was bought in Hawaii.
It will not be very difficult to copy. First there is the box-like jar to be made. A rectangular bottom is cut from a well-worked lump of clay after it has been patted flat with the hand and rolled with the rolling-pin. It should be five by three and a half inches—which allows an inch on length and breadth for shrinkage. Upon this foundation coils of clay are built, as described in previous chapters, making them thinner, however, than usual—not over a quarter of an inch thick. As the walls are built they should be finished carefully inside and out, keeping them straight and true at the corners, as well as on all sides. When the jar is seven and a quarter inches high, the top is made even by eye and perfected on the ground-glass slab, as described in Chapter II. A rectangular piece of clay is then rolled and cut the size of the bottom; an oval piece about two by three inches is cut out of the middle, with the pointed steel tool, and it is left on a plaster slab to stiffen for half an hour. The upper edge of the jar is then criss-crossed with the pointed steel tool and wet with slip, and this flat top is attached to it deftly and carefully. After drying for several hours, it may be finished with the sheet-steel tool, the shape perfected, and the surface dampened with a sponge and polished with the fingers. When it has dried for several days it is coated with a glossy green glaze and fired.
The covering of knotted rattan is made as follows: Six pliable lengths of No. 4 brown rattan are needed for this covering. They must be carefully selected, for as they are to be tied they should, when wet, be almost as pliable as cord. It is not difficult to find them as soft as this, especially after they have been dyed. In starting, a length of rattan which has been wet until soft is tied around the jar at about half an inch from the top. The long end is twisted once around this foundation ring. This may be done off of the jar if it is easier. When the ring has been replaced on the jar, two pieces of very pliable rattan about sixty inches long are doubled around the ring at the middle of the front of the jar and tied in a Solomon’s knot, as already described (see [Fig. 47]). The second part of the knot, however, is not tied as the raffia was in making the knotted covering for the Indian bowl. Instead, the end which is on the right after the first knot has been tied is brought over to the left, above the middle strands, and the one on the left, coming down over its end, goes back of the middle strands and up through the loop left in starting the right strand (see [Fig. 48]). Another pair of strands of the same length is tied in this way around the ring at the middle of the back of the jar, and a pair at either end. The strands at the right of the knot in the middle of the front are then brought beside those at the left of the group on the right end, and these are knotted as just described, at about an inch and three-quarters from the first row, and at the corner of the jar. The remaining strands of the group on the right end are knotted with those at the left of the group in the middle of the back, and so on around the jar. There will then be four knots, all an inch and three-quarters from the first row, and each at a corner of the jar. Three more rows of knotting are made in the same way, and then the four ends remaining at the front and back after the fifth row of knots has been made are wet with warm water until very pliable and tied together under the jar. Those from the sides are tied in the same manner and at the same place. All the ends are bound securely just below these knots with fine wire, and over this an inch-wide band of raffia. The ends are cut irregular lengths, the longest not more than fourteen inches from the bottom of the jar.
A handle is then made as follows:
A piece of pliable brown rattan, No. 4, about two yards long, is wet until soft and passed around the knot nearest the top at one end of the jar. The ends are brought together and twisted for their entire length. At the opposite end of the jar they are brought around the knot nearest the top, turned up, and firmly bound to the handle with a piece of wire, which may then be covered with a binding of raffia.
Take care to make this wire binding secure, for this is the place where the greatest strain comes. It is in such places as this that the Oriental craftsmen show their superiority. Their ends, thus bound, are bound to stay, while ours sometimes slip.
Jar of Flemish Pottery Inclosed with Pale-Green Rattan
Materials required:
A jar of Flemish pottery, 4 inches high, 2½ inches in diameter at the bottom and 1 inch at the top,
About six lengths of No. 00 green rattan.
A little jar of quaint Flemish pottery, charming in form and colour, is the foundation of this piece. This ware, which is just becoming known to us, is interesting in many ways. First of all, for its own sake—the attractive shapes: candlesticks, bowls, jugs, jars, and tiles all have the stamp of individuality, rare in any ware that is within reach of the average purse. The colours are beautiful—deep greens and blues, soft browns and dull orange for the most part. Some of the pieces are made by Belgian school children, others in potteries started by a club of men in Belgium, followers of Ruskin, who have revived the craft, employing only Belgians to design and mould the ware. The old methods are carefully followed—the pieces are wheel-made, not formed in moulds. Much of the decoration is done by boys, who make a charming picture, clad in blouses and sabots, their young faces all interested and absorbed in the work.
The open-meshed weave of pale-green rattan with which this jar is inclosed only slightly veils the colour of the glaze—deep-green at the base, shading through blue to a soft mousy-brown at the top. The covering is made as follows:
One end of a piece of green No. 00 rattan twenty-seven inches long is tied into a ring two inches and a half in diameter. Around this foundation ring the long end of the rattan is twisted in and out, until it has made the circuit twice—three times, counting the foundation ring. Some very pliable lengths of No. 00 green rattan are cut into twenty pieces thirty-two inches long. They are wet until quite soft, and then two of them are doubled around the ring and tied with a Solomon’s knot (see [Fig. 47]). Another pair is doubled and knotted upon the ring, and another, until ten groups have been attached at intervals around the circumference. Starting with any one of the groups, the two strands on the right are brought beside the two on the left of the group to the right of it, and knotted together as described on page 132, at three-quarters of an inch from the first row of knots. The two remaining strands of the right-hand group are brought beside those on the left of the next group to the right, where another knot is made, and so on, until the circuit is complete. One more row of knots is made in the same way, three-quarters of an inch from those in the previous row. The whole network is then wet thoroughly and fitted over the lower part of the jar, tying it if necessary, to mould the rattan in to the form. At about an inch and a half from the last row of knots, a row of pairing is made with a very pliable piece of No. 00 green rattan. For the benefit of those who may not know this simple basket weave, the following directions are given:
Holding the jar with its partial covering of rattan right side up, draw the ends of the strands remaining after the last row of knots was tied, close up against the sides of the jar. Double the pliable piece of No. 00 rattan around a pair of ends which formed the middle strands of one of the knots. Taking the upper half of the piece, which seems to come from behind the two strands (to the left of them), bring it over them, under the next pair and out in front. Hold down, with the left hand, the end you have just used, while with the right bring the other end (which was on the right of the first pair of strands) over the next pair of strands on the right and under the next. It is now held down in front, while the process is repeated—always taking the end on the left to weave with.
The doubled strands, or spokes, on which these stitches are woven, should be drawn close together, till not more than a sixteenth of an inch apart, so that they will cling to the jar. When the circuit of the jar has been made, another row is woven. At the end of this second row both of the weaving strands are cut, so that their ends will come back of the last pair of strands in the circuit. For half an inch the strands are drawn up toward the top of the jar without weaving; then, one row more of the pairing is made, and after thoroughly wetting the ends of the vertical strands the following border is woven: Bring each pair of strands over the next three on the right under the succeeding two and outside of the jar. The entire circuit of the border is made in this way, only leaving the first part of it loose and open, so that the last strands can be woven in easily. When finished, the border is again wet, and its edge made even and true, on a line with the top of the jar or slightly above it. The ends of the strands are then cut close to the jar, so as to allow each to lie back of the last strand it went under. If the covering stands out from the jar—does not cling as it ought, it should be thoroughly wet and bound around with string or raffia, and firmly tied, until it is dry. Fig. 49 shows the completed covering.
Green Pottery Bowl with Covering and Handles of Green Rattan
Materials required:
A green pottery bowl 5½ inches in diameter at the upper edge and 3¼ at the bottom,
30 pieces of pale-green No. 00 rattan 48 inches long,
2 lengths of pale-green No. 00 rattan.
This green bowl, inclosed with a knotted covering of pale-green rattan, may be used as a hanging flower-pot or for cut flowers. The original was a piece of deep-green Spanish pottery, but if one can make the bowl, so much the better—as long as the dimensions are those given above. In starting, fifteen pieces of No. 00 green rattan which have been wet until quite soft and pliable are laid side by side in a group which is doubled at its centre, and the ends tied securely together, about two inches from where it was doubled. One group of ends, containing fifteen pieces, is made flat and even, and then separated into three groups of five pieces each and braided in a three-stranded plait ten and a half inches long. It is then tied securely. The other group is separated and braided in the same way, keeping the strands flat and the plaiting close and even. Fifteen more pieces of rattan of the same size and length (which have been wet until pliable) are now passed through the loop made by doubling the other pieces, bent at the middle and tied as the others were, two inches from the place where they were doubled.
The ends of these pieces are also braided in two plaits for ten and a half inches and then tied firmly.
Holding the braids so that the ends of the strands turn up, and starting at about two inches from where the braiding stops, a pliable piece of No. 00 rattan is doubled around the pair of ends on the left of one of the groups, and is woven in pairing upon these ends and those succeeding them—keeping them about half an inch apart. As there is an uneven number of ends in each group, the fifteenth one is brought beside the first end in the next group, and the pairing woven upon them (see [Fig. 50]). Thus it goes on, until the circuit has been made, when the bowl is fitted into the ring (the braided handles, of course, turning up; and the ring about an inch below the top of the bowl). If the ring is too loose, the stitches may be wet and drawn up a little; if too tight, they are wet and stretched. Two more rows are woven with the handles turning down; then the work is reversed, so that the unfinished ends shall turn down. The ends are wet until soft and pliable, and at three-quarters of an inch from the last row of pairing they are tied into a row of the knots described on page 132. A second row of knots is made at an inch from the first. The case is then fitted over the bowl and wet if it is necessary in order to mould it in to fit the shape. Turn the bowl upside down, and at half an inch from the last row of knotting double a pliable piece of No. 00 rattan around a pair of ends anywhere on the circumference of the covering and weave one row of pairing, drawing the ends of the strands in, to fit the bottom of the bowl. This will bring them about three-eighths of an inch apart. Another row of pairing is woven, and then a base is made as follows: After the ends have been wet until pliable, start with any one of the pairs, bringing it over the first pair on the right, under the second, over the third, and under the fourth, taking care to leave the base loose and open where it begins, that the last strands may be easily woven in (see [Fig. 51]). The next pair of ends on the right is woven in the same way over the first on its right, under the second, over the third, and under the fourth. So it goes on around the bowl until the time comes to weave in the last strands, which will not be difficult if the caution in regard to leaving the beginning open and loose has been heeded. When the base is finished, wet it thoroughly, and draw up the strands or let them out until the edge is even and on a line with the bottom of the bowl. The ends of the strands are then cut so that the tip of each will lie behind the last strand it went under.
Three-Handled Bowl for Plants or Flowers
Materials required:
About 3½ pounds of clay,
A plaster mould for a bowl,
The wooden modelling tools,
The oval tools of sheet steel,
The sharp-pointed steel tool,
A bunch of raffia.
This charming bowl for a growing plant or cut flowers may either be used as a centrepiece on a table, or suspended by a heavy raffia braid in the recess of a window or on the porch. The dull gray-green mat-glaze with which it is finished harmonises delightfully with the colours of growing things.
It is formed in a bowl-shaped plaster mould in the same way as the rose-bowl described in Chapter VII. and the bowl for a lamp in Chapter VI., but the bottom is made unusually thick (three-quarters of an inch) to allow for cutting away, as the form is as nearly a hemisphere as possible, only flattened slightly at the bottom.
When the bowl has been built up to within an inch, perhaps, of the top of the mould, if it is not a deep one, make the next coil free from the sides of the mould—almost vertical, in fact. The coil that succeeds it slopes in ever so slightly.
This will make the shape deep enough. It is now necessary to let the bowl harden enough so that it can easily be slipped out of the mould. The hollows between the coils, after they have been wet with slip, are filled in with clay of the consistency of the bowl. The bowl is again set away to harden, and then smoothed and finished, as described in previous chapters, aiming to trim it as nearly as possible to the form of a half-sphere. After the edge has been cut as nearly true as possible by eye, it is made absolutely even by the process described in Chapter II.
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 circumference of the top of the bowl is divided into thirds and marked with a tool or pencil. It is then an easy matter to place the handles so that the centre of each shall be just above one of the marks on the top edge. At the points where the handles are to be attached, the top of the bowl is criss-crossed with the pointed steel tool and wet with slip. The handles are then placed in position, and their edges worked closely against the top and sides of the bowl with the flat of the nail. They should be curved in a little to follow the lines of the bowl (see Plate).
After the inside has been glazed with the glossy mixture mentioned in Chapter V., a mat-glaze of gray green will complete the bowl. The three raffia ropes by which the bowl is suspended are made as follows:
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 other braids are made on the other handles in the same way, and when they are twelve inches long the strands from all three braids are united in a thick loop.
Indian Pottery
CHAPTER XI
INDIAN POTTERY
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. Those who are denied this study at first hand will find in museums plenty of material—quaint bowls and jars, some of them smoke-stained and cracked, but all wonderfully well preserved when one thinks of their age. From the rudest pots, made by inferior tribes, we can trace the progress of the craft gradually advancing until, in the pottery found in or near Mexico, we see what may be considered the masterpieces of American ceramic art.
In the United States, the pottery of the Pueblo tribes ranks first, and, close to that, the charming wares of the Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast.
There are many tribes which are still practising the craft, some following the old methods, while others, influenced by the white man, are making ware of little interest to the student of primitive pottery. The Indians of the Pueblo country are using almost the same processes as those of ancient days.
The pottery of different sections of the country varies in material, form, colour, and decoration. That the ware of a certain tribe was crude and imperfect does not necessarily indicate that the people who made it were inferior in culture, but that the natural conditions were not favourable to pottery-making. A tribe living near clay-beds would as naturally make good pottery as one around whose homes materials for basket-making grew in abundance would excel in that craft. Perhaps, on the whole, the pottery of the South is more advanced than that of the Northern tribes, probably because of the difference in climate. While the people of the North were wandering hunters for the most part, those of the South were more prosperous and stay-at-home, and would be likely to have more wants than the Northern tribes, with leisure to gratify them.
As to the uses to which the Indians put their pottery; most of the pieces show with simple straightforwardness what purposes they served. In only a few cases is there any doubt—notably some spool-shaped articles of clay, found in the Ohio Valley. At first, pottery was chiefly used for the storing, cooking, and carrying of water and food; taking the place, in some degree, of vessels of wicker, horn, and stone. This has always remained its most important function. Earthen vessels were employed in religious and other ceremonies, and earthen tools were often made, while there are, besides the myriads of pipes, a host of small clay vessels and figures which were evidently toys or used in games (See Figs. [53] and [54]). It is interesting to note the difference between our cooking-pots and those of this primitive people. Theirs have almost invariably a round or cone-shaped base (See [Fig. 55]), which Prof. W. H. Holmes explains was natural, as, among barbarous nations, hard, level floors were the exception, while those of sand and soft earth were the rule. Under those conditions, the rounded base would be much the best. In putting the pot over the fire, the fuel or other supports kept it in position. Often cooking-vessels were made with short, strong handles (See [Fig. 56]) or a flaring rim, so that they could be conveniently swung over the fire with vines or cords. In certain parts of the country where the Indians made salt by evaporating the water from saline springs, large vat-shaped vessels of clay are found which were evidently moulded for the purpose. They are peculiar because of their size and the great thickness of the walls, while almost invariably they have, on the outer surface, markings which seem to have been impressed with a woven fabric.
Other Indians made maple sugar, using earthen vessels to collect and boil the sap.
Numbers of the early writers tell of the use of clay vessels for drums, and earthen whistles and rattles are common to-day (see Figs. [57] and [58]).
A curious-shaped implement, somewhat like a toadstool, was evidently a modelling tool—to support the walls of a partially stiffened piece of pottery from within, while the outer surface was finished with other tools.
In the lower Mississippi Valley clays were employed in plastering the walls of cave dwellings, as well as for the floors.
As burial urns, pottery bowls and vases were often made use of. Not so often, however, for holding the ashes of the dead as for the skull and other bones, which were crowded into a single jar, or bowl, such as was common in the household. This was covered with a smaller vessel (see [Fig. 59]). Sometimes several of these bowls surrounded and covered the bones. Occasionally, an earthen casket seems to have been made especially for the purpose. There have been found, beside these burial vessels in the Indian graves, smaller receptacles for food, and even rude toys. The latter were usually animal forms—figurines, images of fish, turtles, and birds. It is surmised that these were offerings made with the expectation of their being of service to the dead in a future life.
Unlike the Egyptians, the Indians made little use of clay in moulding beads and other personal ornaments. They evidently did not find it gay enough in colour, not knowing the secret of the brilliant enamels with which the early Egyptian potters coated their clays. Pipes, while they were often made of stone and other substances, were in some parts of the country moulded from clay, and ranged in form from a simple tube to curious and grotesque shapes. Those made by the Iroquois were particularly elaborate—a head of an animal or bird formed the bowl, or a snake coiled about it (see [Fig. 60]).
One would have thought that, in making their clay pots, which were primarily planned to serve useful purposes, and were, moreover, somewhat perishable, no attention would have been given to decoration; yet this is far from being the case. Bowls, cups, and cauldrons, water-jars and bottles (see Figs. [61] and [62]) were often elaborately incised with beautiful and intricate designs. The forms, too, were simple and good.
The black pitcher on the right is of Santa Clara ware. Beside it is a water-cooler or tenaja made by a Zuñi.]
The black pitcher on the right is of Santa Clara ware. Beside it is a water-cooler or tenaja made by a Zuñi.
The clay used at first was such as could be found almost anywhere near the surface, and consequently was full of impurities. Later, however, clean clays were much sought after, and no pains were spared to grind and work them into good condition. This was done with the feet or hands, or both. As the craft advanced, potters began to temper their clay with other ingredients, according to the use to which the vessel was to be put. For instance, the clay for toys and the smaller vessels needed no tempering. Pipes were made of such clay, or of one tempered with a finely ground substance, while cooking-pots and cauldrons, which were subjected to constant heat, were made of clay containing a large amount of coarser tempering ingredients. Some of the tempering agents were rock, sand, pulverised shell, bits of baked pottery, cinders, ashes of bark, and even raw vegetal materials. The heat at which the pieces were fired was rarely strong enough to change any of the mineral substances in the clay.
In shaping the pieces, the fingers did the work unaided, except where a basket or gourd was used as a mould, or where such simple tools as could be fashioned of clay, stone, or shell were employed. A piece of a gourd was sometimes held against the inner wall to support it while the outer surface was being scraped and smoothed with these rude tools.
The bottom of the piece was formed either from a small lump of clay patted and moulded into proper shape by the fingers, or with the end of a clay strip which was coiled around on itself. In whichever way the bottom was begun, the walls were made of coils of clay. The ancient Cliff Dwellers, or Pueblos, used this method very skilfully. Their strips of clay were cut and coiled with great exactness, and the edges overlapping on the outside made spiral markings. There are no evidences of anything like the potter’s wheel, the nearest approach being the basket-mould, which was probably turned with one hand as the coil of clay was applied with the other.
The markings of cords and weaving which are often seen on the outer surfaces of Indian pots and vases were probably made by pliable fabrics, which were used to support the piece as it was formed. Woven textures were also wrapped over the hand, or a tool, to impress the wet clay, and cords wound about paddles or other tools made similar impressions. In some cases, the outer surface was rubbed smooth with the fingers and thumb, or with a stone; in others, the coil structure is plainly seen. After the body of the piece was finished, the rim was perfected, and the handles, legs, or other parts in relief were applied. These were made separately, and were attached by pressure and rubbing.
In decoration, the potters of each tribe had different ideas, as well as tools and devices for working them out. The fingers and nails were used to produce certain effects, and tools of various kinds were made for special purposes—pointed ones for incising, gouge-like tools to scrape away the clay, and all kinds of stamps for impressed designs. Some of the stamps were in paddle form (such as we use for making butter-balls), others were thin disks with indented edges, which were rolled over the soft clay surface.
Incised designs were perhaps the most usual, though colour was often employed in decorating the ware. Especially was this the case in the Pueblo country and in Arkansas. The colours were white, brown, red, and black, and they were mostly powdered clay, sometimes mixed with ochres. The surface of the piece first received a wash of fine paste, and afterward the colours, ground fine and mixed with water, were applied with the finger or a piece of reed-grass. The designs were generally made by the women. Circles and curved designs were most used, probably because they could be made with such freedom, in contrast to the slow and painstaking process of weaving right-angled designs into baskets.
The pottery was dried in the shade, in the sun, or before the fire, and afterward baked more or less thoroughly. Some tribes—the Catawbas, for example—simply baked their ware before the fire, while others covered the pieces with burning bark or other fuel, surrounding them evenly with it inside and out. The pieces were protected from contact with each other by broken pieces of pottery. They were carefully kept from draughts during the firing and the first part of the cooling, for fear of cracking.
Among the Cherokees, a glossy black was given to the inner surface of the pottery by what was known as smother-firing. When the process of baking, just described, was completed, the vessel was turned bottom up, over a small hole in the ground, which had been filled with burning corncobs. From time to time the fuel was renewed until in half an hour the inside of the piece had become glistening black.
It is to be regretted that, among the Indians, this art, like that of basketry, is passing. The coming of civilisation has brought iron and tin cooking-vessels and ordinary tableware to take the place of the bowls, platters, and cups, the jars and bottles of clay, so full of individual charm. Not only to the collector and the student of ethnology is Indian pottery of value; the potter of to-day finds much that is helpful and suggestive in primitive processes, as well as in the forms and decoration.
A study of the range of shapes and designs in Indian pottery is a revelation to many who have thought of the Indian as an ignorant savage. Aside from its beauty and decorative value, the uses to which Indian pottery can be put in our homes are many. The great bowl shown in the plate suggests one delightful way of utilising this ware. Foliage plants of any size, from a tiny cactus, which seems to find a bowl with a rounded base the most comfortable of abiding places, to a great spreading fern, harmonise with the Indian colours. So will flowering plants, except those which have red, pink, or purple blossoms; and what a relief these plant-bowls are to the eye after some of the jardinières one sees!
On the right is a piece of pottery in terra-cotta and black, made by a Pima Indian. Beside it is a dish with a handle, moulded by a Zia Indian of New Mexico. The bowl is also of Zia ware. On the left is a water-jug such as the Maricopa Indians make.
Large bowls are useful, too, for holding fruit on the porch of a country house, while smaller ones serve as nut-bowls. Low plaque-shaped pieces make excellent card-trays, and the small bowls hold matches. There are curious little pieces in the form of shoes made by the Indians of New Mexico. These also are useful for matches or cigar ashes (see [Fig. 63]). Last and least, though only in size, is the toy pottery—money-banks in the form of well-fed pigs, whistles, and toy dishes, cups, jugs, and plates—bewitching alike to little girls and big. A few of them are shown in Figs. 64 and 65. They are Indian red and creamy yellow in colour, with designs of black, and rarely are two of them alike.
Fashions change in pottery as well as in other things, and freakish forms which please us to-day may be ridiculed to-morrow; but primitive wares have an enduring value. Pieces that were moulded for service, by potters whose love for nature and its beauties must needs express itself even on the decoration of a cooking-pot, will last long after the ware that is made only for money has gone back to the ground from whence it came.
Modern American Pottery
CHAPTER XII
MODERN AMERICAN POTTERY
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 was when majolica jardinières and Austrian china, with their high colours and glassy glazes, were things to be desired. Happily, they are going the way of plush-covered “suites” of furniture and crazy-quilts.
Much of the simplicity of method and design in American pottery comes from the study of primitive processes, shapes, and decorations. Indian ware, though of less value than some others to the student of ceramics, on account of its softness of body and unglazed surface, is nevertheless full of artistic feeling and suggestion to makers of pottery. There are many evidences also of French and Japanese influence.
In various parts of the country, true art pottery is being made—each ware with its own individuality and more or less characteristic of the section of the country from whence it comes. As yet but little tableware has been attempted at these potteries—the Dedham being almost the only one where it is made.
Modern pottery is either moulded by hand, thrown on the potter’s wheel, or cast in moulds. After it has been formed, it is generally decorated, either by the artist-potter himself or by some young man or woman who has learned design as applied to pottery. The decoration is either painted with colours which have been mixed with clays, like some of the Rookwood ware, or incised, modelled in relief, or built up, as the Volkmar pottery.
After it is quite dry, the pot is fired in the great kiln, this time without glazing, or in the biscuit. It is then glazed, and fired for the second time.
The philosophical potter—and every potter needs philosophy—will not despair if, in the second firing, the piece is not satisfactory. He glazes it again, with every care, in time for the next firing, and is often rewarded by having this ugly duckling of one kiln turn out the swan of the next.
Among the pioneers of art pottery in this country was Mrs. Maria Longworth Storer, a Cincinnati woman, who in 1880 opened a pottery called by the name of her father’s place, Rookwood. Mrs. Storer had, in addition to an artistic temperament, the patience and determination, as well as the financial resources, necessary to such an undertaking. The first kiln of the new pottery was drawn on Thanksgiving Day. By 1889, the pottery had become self-supporting. Rookwood has always been a distinctively American pottery. From the first, native clays were used, and their possibilities were discovered with the firing of each new kiln. Clays that fire at a comparatively low heat were used at first, and this necessitated employing the soft glazes. Later, the yellow, or Rockingham, ware formed the body of the pieces, and now a creamy-white body is used, which produces a strong and beautiful pottery. This is finished with a mat-glaze. At first, the tint of the native clay inclined the colour scheme to warm browns, yellows, and reds. This ware was decorated with flower or figure designs under a brilliant glaze. It is known as Standard Rookwood. The Tiger Eye and Goldstone are other wares with glaze effects not unlike the Standard Rookwood. Both of these have dark grounds with an occasional luminous gleam of gold—one of the interesting accidents of the kiln. Other varieties of Rookwood, in the order of their development, were Sea Green, in which an opalescent green effect is sometimes relieved with a touch of yellow or red, and Iris, which has the creamy-white body already referred to. This enables the potter to produce gray tones in his glazes. In Rookwood, which is coated with the flowing glaze, there is a quality not unlike some of the old Chinese wares. It has a richness of texture luminous and beautiful. The decorations are painted in relief, so simply that the glaze flows charmingly over them. There is also a variety of the Rookwood pottery with a mat-glaze. In this, the process is entirely different from that used in making the other kinds of Rookwood. The glaze is of the greatest importance, the forms are simple, sometimes almost rugged, and the decorations are subordinate. There are even pieces entirely undecorated, which depend upon their beauty of colour and texture alone. Decorations adapted from Indian designs are often modelled in relief or incised. Occasionally, metals are applied. Mantels, wall-panels, drinking-fountains, and architectural reliefs are also made of the Rookwood faience.
Many are the potters’ marks that have been used at Rookwood. Before 1886 there were eight in all. At that time, the mark shown in Fig. 66 was adopted. This was used, with the addition of a flame mark for every succeeding year, until 1900, when the mark was like Fig. 67. Since that date, a Roman numeral has been added below the mark, according to the year the piece was made. For example, the pieces of the present year have the Roman number IV. below the mark used in 1900.
A comparatively near neighbour of Rookwood is the Gates pottery, near Chicago, where Teco ware is made. The potter’s love for his work, and the potter’s zeal to produce something more perfect and beautiful than he had ever done before, led William D. Gates, who had long made terra cotta for architectural purposes, to experiment with clays and glazes until finally Teco ware was evolved. It is a hard, durable pottery built on simple lines. Western artists and architects of note have contributed designs and forms for this ware, and, for the most part, the pieces are beautiful and restful to the eye. The few incised or moulded decorations are not made prominent, but are suggested rather than sharply defined. Over all is a mat-glaze of soft, wax-like texture in green—the green that makes one think of weathered bronze.
Set in a picturesque valley, surrounded by flowers, and near a little lake, the Gates potteries are so situated as to inspire the artist potters who mould the forms and decorate the ware. It has been the aim of the makers of Teco pottery to produce a ware that shall be satisfying and beautiful, and yet of comparatively slight cost.
It is a far journey from these potteries to the three New England cities where are the Grueby, Dedham, and Merrimac potteries. Grueby ware, which was first made in Boston in 1898, is remarkable for the glaze, which was discovered by Mr. William H. Grueby. Although, for many years, dull-finished pottery has been produced by sand-blasting ware with a glossy finish, or by taking a piece of glazed pottery and treating it with acid, to make it dull, the Grueby potteries were the first in the history of ceramics to make a dull-finished pottery in their kilns. The surface thus obtained has a deep, velvety look, unlike any other finish made—such as that which was possessed by old Corean pottery. The ware was first exhibited in Paris, in 1900, where it made quite a sensation, and the French Government awarded the Grueby Potteries a gold medal for enamels and glazes, as well as a silver medal for design, and gave Mr. Grueby personally a gold medal for the work he had accomplished in dull-finished enamels. The forms are simple and good, and the decorations, which are incised or modelled in relief, are planned so that the glaze shall flow well over them. Common plant forms, such as the mullein leaf, blades of grass, plantain, and the enfolding leaves of the lily, are the motives for these designs. There is a delicacy—one might almost say a reserve—in their treatment that is rare and very interesting. The pottery is hard, and the glaze such as is applicable to a ware which fires at a great heat. The colours of Grueby pottery are beautiful and rich, ranging from an old ivory tint to golden yellows, russet browns, and velvety blues and a variety of green shades. The texture of the glaze is soft, like the bloom of a melon, and it has an unusual network of markings. No moulds are used in making this pottery; it is all thrown on the wheel, and, as in the old wares, no two pieces are exactly alike.
Besides its beauty and artistic value, the fact that the Grueby pottery is made in forms that are useful makes it doubly desirable. Among lamp-jars, particularly, there is the greatest variety. These are made both for oil and electricity. In the Grueby-Tiffany lamp, two charming products of applied arts are combined—the jar being Grueby ware, and the leaded or blown-glass shade of Tiffany design and workmanship.
The Dedham pottery is remarkable for many reasons, chief among them being the fact that it is, as already stated, almost the only place in this country where art tableware is made. Some of this ware, which is popularly known as the Bunny china, has lifelike little rabbits on the border, other pieces have designs of ducks, and others still have borders of fruit. The wonderful Oriental glazes that are used on pieces of Dedham ware were re-discovered by Mr. Hugh C. Robertson. The best-known glaze of this pottery, however, is the gray crackle-ware with designs of blue.
At the Merrimac pottery, in Newburyport, an excellent ware is made. A few of the pieces are moulded, but the majority are thrown on the potter’s wheel. Little decoration is used, the charm of the ware being its form and colour.
Among the most remarkable of the artist potters of this country is Mr. Charles Volkmar, of the Volkmar Kilns, in Metuchen, New Jersey. An artist to his finger-tips, he has a potter’s thumb which is the envy of all those who were less evidently born to the craft. Mr. Volkmar studied not only art, but his craft as well, in Paris, wearing the blouse of a workman in the potteries, where he learned so admirably how to work in clay that there are few in this country who approach him. The ware made by Mr. Volkmar and his son, Mr. Leon Volkmar, is remarkable for the simple beauty of its forms and for the quality of its glazes. The body of the ware is pale yellow, and it is exceedingly hard and durable. Years ago, Mr. Volkmar made a fine blue-and-white ware, which was decorated with historical scenes. His pieces now are for the most part finished with a mat-glaze, although some have a glossy transparent surface. All are beautiful in colour. Here is where the artist shows preeminently. The deep, rich texture of the mat-glaze softens, but does not hide, the simple incised or built-up designs. The pierced designs of Volkmar pottery are decorative and strong. This ware is as practical to use as it is charming to look at. The flower-jars are in tones that harmonise delightfully with the blossoms that fill them, and the jugs have flowing and graceful lines, and yet are substantial and of generous proportions. The plate shows a few pieces of this ware. The piece on the left is a pale yellowish-brown, with a glossy finish; this is suitable for a lamp-bowl or for flowers. Beside it is a sturdy little mug, with a deep green mat-glaze. The next jar is finished with a dull blue transparent glaze, and the taller vase-shaped piece on the right has a mat-glaze of pale gray-green. Not far from the Volkmar Kilns, at Woodbridge, New Jersey, is the Poillon pottery, where garden ware is made. Great tree- and plant-tubs, sun-dial stands, well-curbs, and window-ledge boxes are a few of the things that come from this pottery. The forms of these pieces are substantial and good. Some excellent indoor pottery is also moulded—candlesticks, toilet sets, jugs, and flower-bowls—a host of useful and attractive shapes, coated with a flowing glaze. The ware is finished in a variety of colours, yellow being one of the most successful. The Poillon potteries have designed special earthenware for country clubs—lamps, toilet sets, ashtrays, match-bowls; all uniform in colour and design, and each specially adapted in form to the use for which it is intended.
SOME PIECES OF VOLKMAR POTTERY
The work of the Brush Guild of New York is more like Indian pottery than any other of the American wares. The pieces all have a hand-moulded look, and the few designs are quite primitive in their simplicity. The glossy-black finish suggests Indian smother-firing. It is not unlike the black pottery which the Santa Clara Indians make, and the great generous pieces are also suggestive of this ware. Unlike any Indian pottery, however, the bowls and jars of the Brush Guild will hold water perfectly.
From the far South comes an exceedingly interesting ware: this is the Newcomb pottery, made by the students of Newcomb College, New Orleans. It may be seen at exhibitions of arts and crafts guilds here in the North. The ware originated in the art department of Newcomb College. Here, for years, teachers of drawing and painting had been educated, but it began to be manifest that, with the lack of other fields for art workers, this department could not be widely useful. The establishment of a pottery was the practical solution of this difficulty. Many young women have found, in the making of this pottery, an artistic vocation from which they reap profit and reputation. The aim of the originators from the first has been to make a ware that would be individual—one that should have a charm all its own. This has been accomplished by taking as motives for the designs the unusual and beautiful Southern flowers, plants, and trees, as well as the animal life of that part of the country. A charming pitcher has a design of snow-drops, painted in cream-white slip on a yellow-gray background. Another piece has a decoration of fishes, and on still another, a high, slender flower-jar, stalks of the sugar-cane form the design.
The methods of decoration are incising, painting, and modelling, used together or singly, according to the requirements of the design. Great freedom is allowed in the choice of colour as well as in the decoration, each worker feeling the responsibility attached to a signed piece of pottery. Some of the ware is undecorated save for the unexpected touches of the kiln, which give charming and unusual effects.
The mark shown in Fig. 68 distinguishes the Newcomb pottery, and only those pieces receive it which are approved by the art department.
Individual work of merit is being produced every year in this country, and it will not be long before the solitary potter of to-day, moulding his pieces and testing his glazes in some little workshop, like a brown chrysalis, will perfect his ware; so that the tiny workshop will expand into a great building, and another beautiful ware will be added to modern American pottery.