The moulding of bowls less than four inches in diameter is a very simple matter compared with that of the larger ones, for there is no use of puki, rolls, or kajepe. After working the paste in the hands the resulting lump is formed into a flat spheroid. The forefinger of the right hand is inserted in the centre of this, the clay held horizontally and slowly revolved by a slight tossing rotary motion of the left hand. The forefinger of the right hand enlarges the hole and gradually shapes the mass into the desired form, thinning the sides at the same time. If the resulting bowl is too high, the rim is pinched off with the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand. When the proper shape and thickness have been attained, the little bowl is held upright in the left hand, while the fingers of the right smooth the sides and the rim. When completed it is set on a board to dry. Sometimes one of the larger of these bowls is placed in a small puki and reshaped with the kajepe. One woman used the kajepe on the interior of the vessel while it rested upon her left hand. The bowl, when treated in this way, and finished in the same manner as the larger bowls, was noticeably a better piece of moulding than the average small piece.

The time consumed in moulding bowls is variable, depending on the dexterity and speed of the potter and to a somewhat lesser degree upon the sort of vessel being moulded. Comparisons between potters are apt to be misleading, for no two make bowls of exactly the same size or exercise the same amount of care in finishing, which, from the point of view of time consumed, is the most variable phase of the moulding. One potter moulded a wide-mouthed bowl of four rolls in twenty minutes; another finished two spherical bowls of six rolls each in forty-eight minutes; a third potter, the swiftest of the three, finished a wide-mouthed bowl of two rolls after it had been under her hands just fourteen and one-half minutes. The first potter moulded six of the small bowls (less than four inches in diameter) in fifty-five minutes, averaging nine minutes to each, but to refinish one of them with a kajepe she took thirteen minutes. The third potter moulded one of the small type of bowls in four minutes.

In considering in detail the time consumed in moulding, the work of Maria Martinez was studied. She is the swiftest and most dexterous potter of San Ildefonso, and moulds in a quarter to a third less time than the slowest of the others. In three hours she turned out ten bowls, averaging about seven inches in diameter, of the constricted-mouthed and similar types; this is an average of one in eighteen minutes. She was working constantly, first on one, then on another. Subsequently she moulded six two-roll constricted-mouthed bowls in one hour and twenty-six minutes, an average of fourteen and a third minutes each. The various steps in the moulding of two bowls are recorded in Table I, which gives the actual time consumed in minutes and seconds from the beginning of the first of the pair until the two were finished and set aside. In Table II the growth and treatment of a single bowl are given in more detail, with the time in minutes and seconds that it was under the hands of the potter. This piece was one of five constricted-mouthed bowls of three rolls each which were moulded in sixty-four minutes, an average of twelve minutes, forty-eight seconds for each vessel.

TABLE I

Bowl A, constricted-mouthed bowl, diam. 8 in.; Bowl B, wide-mouthed bowl, diam. 7 in.

Min. Sec.
4.30 0.00 Bowl A— clay picked up from pile
2.00 “ “— pat in puki and pinched up
3.00 “ “— first roll on and pinched flat
4.00 “ “— second roll on and pinched flat
4.30 “ “— rim smoothed and bowl set aside
(no pause)
2.504.30Bowl B— clay picked up from pile
5.30 “ “— pat in puki and pinched up
6.20 “ “— first roll on and pinched flat
7.10 “ “— second roll on and pinched flat
7.20 “ “— rim smoothed and bowl set aside
(pause of 40 seconds)
8.00—8.00 Bowl A— picked up again
8.30 “ “— interior scraping stopped
9.15 “ “— exterior scraping stopped
9.45 “ “— first rim smoothing stopped
11.00 “ “— first interior smoothing stopped
11.30 “ “— first exterior smoothing stopped
12.45 “ “— second rim smoothing stopped
13.45 “ “— second interior smoothing stopped
14.30 “ “— second exterior smoothing stopped
15.15 “ “— third rim smoothing stopped
16.00 “ “— finishing touches stopped; bowl completed
(pause of 15 seconds)
5.05—16.15 Bowl B— picked up again
16.45 “ “— interior scraping stopped
17.00 “ “— exterior scraping stopped
18.00 “ “— first rim smoothing stopped
18.30 “ “— first interior smoothing stopped
19.00 “ “— second rim smoothing stopped
19.45 “ “— second interior smoothing stopped
20.45 “ “— touching up stopped
21.00 “ “— third rim smoothing stopped
21.15 “ “— third interior smoothing stopped
21.20 “ “— bowl completed
Total, Bowl A—12 minutes, 30 seconds
Total, Bowl B—7 minutes, 55 seconds

TABLE II

Small, constricted-mouthed bowl

Min. Sec.
00.00 — clay picked up from pile
00.15 — pat put in puki
01.00 — clay for first roll picked up
01.15 — one end of first roll pinched on pat
01.50 — first roll flattened, and clay for second roll picked up
02.10 — one end of second roll pinched on pat
02.40 — second roll flattened, and clay for third roll picked up
02.50 — one end of third roll pinched on pat
03.30 — third roll flattened, and rim smoothing begun
03.50 — bowl set aside
(14 minutes, 10 seconds, elapsed)
03.50 — interior kajepe-scraping begun
04.25 — exterior kajepe-scraping begun
04.55 — rim smoothing begun
05.20 — bowl set aside
(18 minutes, 30 seconds, elapsed)
05.20 — interior kajepe-smoothing begun
06.00 — small roll placed around edge of interior base and patted down
06.40 — interior kajepe-smoothing begun
06.55 — exterior kajepe-smoothing begun, lip turned in
07.45 — rim smoothing begun
08.50 — exterior kajepe-smoothing begun
09.25 — interior kajepe-smoothing begun
10.05 — rim smoothing begun
10.50 — bowl held at eye level, exterior kajepe-smoothing begun
11.17 — bowl placed on floor, interior kajepe-smoothing begun
11.45 — moulding completed, bowl set aside