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

by Carl E. Guthe

Up to this point all vessels are made in the same general manner. In the succeeding stages the treatment differs according to the type of decoration which is eventually to be applied. The making of the vessel has been completed, and the finishing is now begun. Just as the making is divided into three general processes—moulding, sun-drying, and scraping, so the finishing is similarly divided into slipping, painting, and firing.

Slipping is the application of a very thin layer of clay to the surface or surfaces of the vessel to produce a smooth texture, uniform in color, which gives the pottery a pleasing appearance; it also serves as a background upon which designs may be painted. The slip further acts as a sizing. San Ildefonso slip is a saturated solution of a colored clay in water; it is very little thicker than water, and is applied by means of a small piece of cloth, used in much the same way in which a painter would handle a brush an inch and a half or two inches wide. It is said that formerly a small piece of skin was used instead of a cloth mop. The treatment after application depends upon the slip used; some slips are merely wiped vigorously with a cloth, others must be polished with smooth, fine-grained stones.

At San Ildefonso the potters use slips of four different colors—white (of two varieties), orange-red, red, and dark-red. The red and dark-red slips and one variety of the white must be polished; the other white and the orange-red do not need it. The white slips are principally used as backgrounds in polychrome ware (see [pl. 6]), the red for undecorated red ware and polished black ware (see [pl. 8]), and the dark-red for decorated red ware (see [pl. 7], a, b). The orange-red slip is the only one of the four which is not used on the body of vessels, it being confined to the bases of ollas and of some bowls. The white and the orange-red are used also in the elements of designs.[39]

White Slip

The native white slip (see p. 23) is applied and polished in the same manner as the red slip (see p. 23). It has been very largely supplanted by the Santo Domingo white slip, which does not require polishing.

The Santo Domingo white slip (see p. 23) is a soapy clay which the San Ildefonso potters obtain from the Indians of Santo Domingo and Cochiti. It is mixed with water in enamelled pans and basins or in china dishes, although formerly pottery vessels were used to hold it. Although undissolved lumps of the clay remain in the bottom of the vessel containing the solution, the latter is not appreciably thicker than water. The mop with which it is applied is a folded cloth, about two inches wide and three, or three and a half, inches long. This is held at one end, between the thumb and the first two fingers of the right hand, the other end of the cloth acting as a two-inch wide paint-brush, which is manipulated with an easy, backward-forward stroking motion, parallel to the rim.[40]

Before the slip is applied, the hand is rubbed over the surface in order to remove any dust or powder which may remain after the scraping. Some vessels, while being slipped, are held with the mouth vertical and to the left, supported by the bent fingers of the left hand against the interior of the rim. Others are held upright, resting upon the palm of the left hand ([pl. 20], b). In both cases the vessels are revolved counterclockwise as the slip is applied. In the container the slip is creamy white, but when first laid on it turns a muddy yellowish-white, because the clay below darkens as it absorbs the moisture. Within two or three minutes the under clay dries, and the surface becomes dead white. Five or six coats are applied, the vessel being allowed to become completely dry after each one. One potter rubbed the surface vigorously with a dry cloth after each application and before the slip had thoroughly dried. Another rubbed the vessel with a cloth only after all the coats had been put on, but before the last had dried. Usually the work is done in the sun, at the place where the pieces have been drying, but occasionally it is carried on in the house, and between coatings the vessels are placed in an oven heated by a slow fire. The length of time, five or more minutes, during which the vessel remains in the oven is determined by testing the warmth of its surface. When the work has been completed, the very faint marks of the mop are visible.

Pieces of pottery of various shapes are slipped on different surfaces. Small ollas and constricted-mouthed bowls are coated with white only on the upper two-thirds or three-quarters of the exterior. No particular care is taken to keep the lower edge of the slip regular. Of smaller vessels the entire exterior, including the base, is usually covered. Open-mouthed bowls are coated with white both in the interior and the upper part of the exterior. Shallow open-mouthed bowls may be coated only on the interior. The exterior surfaces not treated with white slip are later coated with orange-red slip (see below).

The actual length of time that each vessel is in the hands of the potter while it is being slipped is very short. It requires one-quarter to one-half a minute to apply a coat of slip to a constricted-mouthed bowl six to eight inches in diameter. The six coats could be applied in less than three minutes. Another half minute is needed for the rubbing with the cloth at the end. Four minutes in all is a generous estimate. A coat of slip is applied to the entire group of vessels at one time ([pl. 20], b). Less than fifteen minutes are required to give a single coat of slip to a group of from twenty to thirty pieces. After this step has been completed, the vessels are placed in the sun for an hour or more before the painting of the design is begun, the length of time depending upon attendant circumstances.