Pueblo pottery making: a study at the village of San Ildefonso

by Carl E. Guthe

Horizontal handles are attached to the sides of vessels in an entirely different manner, being keyed or riveted in, rather than merely welded on. Handles of this type are usually put on in pairs. The position of one handle is chosen and the rim of the finished pot is marked to show its location; by sighting across the top of the vessel a point exactly opposite is also marked to give the location of the other. For each handle two holes, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter and fairly close together, are cut through the side of the vessel from the exterior with a small stick. One end of the roll which is to form the handle is inserted in one of the two holes. Then the other end is similarly inserted. The left hand holds the first end in place on the interior, while the other end is being put in ([pl. 17], b). Next the junctions between the ends of the roll and the interior surface of the vessel are smoothed over and obliterated with the fingers of the right hand. The handle itself is flattened a little, and small pellets of paste are added at the junctions between it and the exterior of the vessel. These are smoothed over with the fingers, so that superficially the handle looks as if it had been pressed upon the surface in the same manner as a vertical handle. A smoothing of curves, and touching up of the handles to make them symmetrical, form the last stage of the construction. It took one potter just an hour to place a pair of handles of this type on a globular bowl.[36]

SUN-DRYING

The purpose of sun-drying is to allow the vessels to harden, and to remove all moisture before the work on them is completed. During sun-drying, which immediately follows moulding, the ability of the vessels to withstand some heat is also tested. Pieces made of improperly mixed clay are eliminated at this stage of the work, because of the cracks which develop (see under Temper, p. 21). The length of time allowed for sun-drying depends upon the weather and also upon the place where the vessels are exposed.

During the dry months of the year, notably in May and June, vessels placed in the sun will dry completely in less than a day, often in half a day ([pl. 18], a). In the fall it requires an entire day under the same conditions. When the sky is cloudy or showers threaten, the drying is done in the house. If time is not pressing, the pots are placed on a table, or in the corner of the room, and allowed to remain there three or more days. At the end of that time they are usually sufficiently dry. Vessels moulded one afternoon and placed on the table for the night are dry enough the following morning to permit lifting them from the pukis, which can then be used again. If, during cloudy weather, the potter desires to dry the vessels quickly, they are placed in the oven of the small wood-stove with which most San Ildefonso houses are nowadays equipped. Sometimes a piece of corrugated cardboard from a carton is placed on the floor of the oven, the door of which is left open to allow the evaporating moisture to escape. Only a low fire is built in the stove, for a hot one would cause the vessels to dry too quickly. Under such treatment a batch of pottery can be dried in two days, more or less. The length of time depends very largely upon the number of pieces to be dried, for the potter tries to keep all the vessels at about the same stage of drying; this of course requires frequent relays in the oven. The most common, and most natural, method, however, is to place the vessels in the sun and, when showers threaten, to carry them hurriedly into the house. In this way pottery is dried in a day or a day and a half. The loss of moisture in the paste changes its color from a dark reddish or greyish brown to a light reddish or whitish grey, and in the early stages the variations in the color of the paste serve as indications of the dryness of the vessel. Later the color-change is very difficult to detect. Various parts of the vessel dry at different rates; the rim always first, then the body, and last the base, both because it is thicker and because it is usually in the shadow of the vessel itself; in spite of this the vessels are never inverted while they are drying.

The occurrence of cracks in the paste is the only form of accident which takes place during drying. There are three sorts of cracks: those in the bottom of the vessel, which usually pass through or very near the centre of the base; rim-cracks; and vertical cracks in the body. All are caused by the contraction of the paste in drying. The part of the vessel which receives the greatest strain is the base, which,

PLATE 18

a. Vessels on their base-moulds drying in the sun; the pottery is always thoroughly sun-dried after it is moulded and before it is decorated.

b. Summer house of Antonita Roybal, a woman who specializes in the manufacture of large red ollas: a row of these may be seen drying before the house.