The test of the condition of the olla after this short drying is to pat the side gently with the balls of the fingers. The clay is now very much like soft leather. The degree of resistance offered by the side indicates the condition of the paste. Of course the value of such a test depends entirely upon the knowledge and sense of touch possessed by the potter, two qualities which can be gained only through long experience.
When the paste in the olla, which now has the shape of an open-mouthed bowl, has reached the proper degree of firmness, the vessel is brought in and the shaping continued. By using the kajepe first on the interior and then on the exterior, the sides are flared still more until the desired shape for the lower part of the olla has been obtained. Then, after a hasty smoothing of the rim, the vessel, now in the third stage ([pl. 15], c), is again set aside to dry. When it has become firm enough to support the weight of the new rolls to be added, the building is continued. The temporary rim has been kept soft by the application of water from time to time. The method of preparing this rim for the application of the rings varies slightly with different potters. The rim may be pinched into scallops between the thumb and forefinger of either hand, usually the right, or it may be roughened by vertical strokes of the kajepe on the exterior. In the former case the scallops may touch one another ([pl. 16], a), or they may be separated by a quarter to a half inch of unpinched rim. When the kajepe is used, it also destroys the original smoothness of the rim, producing an irregular, broken surface to which the new roll can easily be welded.
The potter must now build that part of the olla which has the greatest diameter. Each new ring of clay must therefore be of greater diameter than those which preceded and those which will follow. Three or four rather slender rolls are used to make such a ring. After two complete rings have been placed on the vessel and flattened, the shaping is begun. Gradually the new rim is drawn in until the shoulder of the olla has been formed. Again the rim is smoothed before the vessel is set aside. The moulding of the olla has now reached the fourth stage ([pl. 15], d).
The olla is once more allowed to dry for about the same length of time as before. During these successive dryings the presence or absence of wind plays a considerable part in the length of time the vessel is allowed to remain in the sun; for a stiff breeze will dry the paste almost as quickly as the sun itself. The potters do not like to mould ollas when there is much wind because the paste dries so quickly that the vessel is ready to be taken up again before the second vessel, upon which the potter is working, is ready to set aside. Occasionally, but by no means always, the drying olla is turned so as to present a fresh section of the side to the sun.
After testing with the hand the newly built part of the olla, to determine its firmness, the vessel, if sufficiently dried, is taken to the work-board and the building continued. The pinching of the rim is done as before, two more rings are added, and their shaping is begun. The rolls decrease very slowly in diameter. In shaping with the kajepe only the newly added section of the vessel is treated. At this stage the work becomes more difficult, for the two rings just added form the lower part of the neck of the olla, and therefore constrict the mouth of the partly finished vessel. If the paste is a little too soft, the newly built section will sag when the shaping is begun. The vessel must then be set aside at once until it reaches the proper degree of stiffness. While using the kajepe on the exterior, during this stage of the construction, the left hand is held inside the vessel not only as a brace or stop, but also as a support for the incurving side. When the scraping and smoothing have been finished, and the side has been given the proper curve, the rim is smoothed a little before the vessel, now in the fifth stage ([pl. 15], e), is again set aside.
Half an hour or so later the building of the olla is completed by the addition of one more ring. The rolls composing this ring are distinctly more slender than the first rolls used in the vessel. When this ring has been applied the rim is cursorily smoothed and the last shaping begun. The final delicate contour of the vessel depends to a large extent upon this final shaping near the rim. The kajepe is used with painstaking care, and the work progresses slowly. A slight outward flare is given to the lip by careful manipulation of the kajepe on the interior. When this is completed, the olla has reached the sixth stage ([pl. 15], f).
The finishing touches consist largely in going over the rim carefully and adding pellets of paste when necessary, thus making its curve as nearly uniform as possible. This process consumes a considerable amount of time, for the work is done very painstakingly and slowly ([pl. 17], a). The vessel has now attained its final shape ([pl. 15], g and h), and for the last time is set out in the sun to dry.
The time taken to mould an olla is far greater than that necessary for a bowl. The type of olla shown in the illustrations is about fourteen inches in diameter at the shoulder. The potter who made these counted on moulding two such ollas each day. On some days a little time was left in the afternoon in which to make some smaller vessels, but no olla was ever begun in the afternoon. Ollas were usually started between ten and eleven o’clock in the morning and finished between half-past-three and half-past-four in the afternoon. During the early morning the household tasks had to be attended to; at noon about an hour was used in preparing and eating lunch; and at various times during the day the children, especially the baby, made it necessary for the potter to leave her work. Table III, columns A and B, gives in detail the various steps in the construction of two ollas, together with the time each vessel was actually under the hands of the potter and the length of the intervals in which the vessel was drying; columns C and D record two other ollas on which the observations were less complete. As a rule it requires one and a half
PLATE 16