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

by Carl E. Guthe

PLATE 20

a

Cutting the top from an olla which had cracked slightly at the rim during the final sun-drying. The raw edge was afterwards worked down to form a new rim, and the vessel was successfully fired.

b

Applying white slip with a cloth mop. The enamelled pan containing the prepared slip is on the bench at the potter’s side. A number of vessels are slipped at one time.

Orange-Red Slip

This slip is applied only to the bases of vessels (ollas and certain bowls) and to the interior of the lips of ollas. Before burning it is mustard-yellow in color, but after firing it becomes orange-red. A cloth mop is used for application in the same manner as with the white slip; one coat only is applied to each surface.

As a rule the vessel being slipped is held in the lap, the mouth vertical and turned to the left ([pl. 21], a). The left hand is placed in the interior to support it and keep it turning counterclockwise, that is, the upper part is turned away from the body, as the strokes are taken towards the body. The formation of the junction-line between this base-slip and the body-slip is very carefully handled. No attention is paid to the lower edge of the body-slip, except to notice its general location, for the base-slip covers it and itself produces the edge. This upper line, made by long, careful, slow, trailing strokes of the mop, is drawn entirely free-hand, yet the potters succeed surprisingly well in keeping it always the same distance from the centre of the base. Three or four strokes are more than sufficient to encircle the vessel ([pl. 21], a). It is often possible in the finished piece to trace the lower edge of the body-slip, under the orange-red coating. After the junction line has been drawn, the rest of the base is covered with shorter forward-backward strokes. The application of the orange-red slip to the interior of the lips of ollas is done with the same careful, slow technique used in forming the junction-line near the base of the body; during the process the vessel is held on the palm of the hand right-side up. The exterior of shallow bowls which receive no white slip is completely coated with the orange-red, the bowl being inverted over the left hand during the application.

The orange-red slip may be put on either before or after the painting of the design; if before, the painting may be begun at once; if after, the application may be delayed until within an hour or two of burning. If the vessels are set aside for a while at this stage, they are covered with a cloth to keep the dust and flies away. The time element is practically the same as in the case of the white slip.