Some potters exhibit much sureness of touch and confidence in their own ability; their designs are executed without hesitation, but at the same time slowly. Others make hard work of the painting, seem uncertain, and occasionally stop to rest and inspect the symmetry of the pattern.
There are two general points in the painting of vessels which should be emphasized. The first is the remarkable steadiness of the painter’s hand. It seems almost incredible that such straight, unwaving, even lines can be drawn by a hand which is supported only by a completely free arm, and guided merely by the end of the brush. The second is the fact that the men often assist in the painting of designs. They may either execute a complete design upon a vessel, or relieve the painter from time to time during the construction of large patterns. This is the only phase of the actual manufacture of pottery in which the men of the village take part.[48]
FIRING
The firing of the vessels is not only the last major step in the making of pottery, but it is also the most critical one. The supreme test of the potter’s work is to subject it to the fire, for many forms of accident occur during the process, some of them due to careless handling of the vessels or of the firing materials, others to defective workmanship or to hidden flaws in the paste. It is only natural that the potters should exhibit considerable excitement and nervousness during the firing. Some women proceed calmly and methodically, and take occasional accidents as part of the day’s work; others are exceedingly nervous, and show exasperation when things go wrong. The latter, as a rule, have more accidents than the former. One potter, in six burnings, lost two large ollas through breakage, and had innumerable smoke-clouds, several of them rather severe ones.
The firing falls naturally into four distinct phases: the preparation, the building of the oven, the burning, and the treatment after burning. Each of these phases will be considered separately.
Preparation
The oven is usually situated behind the potter’s house. All that is required is a level space free from vegetation; no attention is paid, as a rule, to the position of the sun or to the direction of the prevailing wind, and the same spot is used time after time. If on the evening before the firing there are any signs of rain, or if a heavy dew is expected, the area on which the oven is to be built in the morning is covered with a thick layer of dead ashes to protect it from moisture. It would be a fatal mistake to make the oven on ground which would give off steam during the burning.
About six o’clock the next morning a fire is started on the area over which the oven is to be built. While this preliminary fire is thoroughly drying the ground, the accessories are collected ([pl. 24], a). Slabs of dung are brought out from the storage places; some of them are placed against the house wall to dry in the sun, others remain in the washtubs in which they have been carried. The material for the grate, and other iron bars, are placed nearby. Pokers of wood and iron, shovels, and sometimes pitchforks, which are to be used later in handling the burning fuel and hot vessels, are placed within reach. When a collection of small tin cans, pail-tops, and small stones saved for this purpose has been added, the workers are ready to begin the burning. Usually a supply of cedar kindling has been split, but sometimes this is done as the wood is needed.
Building the Oven
When the preliminary fire has died down to a mass of coals, these are levelled to form an area of hot ashes about three feet in diameter. On this the oven is built. The surface upon which the vessels are placed must be raised a few inches