Mary White

Have you ever noticed how, when it rains, one road will dry at once, and on another your footprints will hold the water like a cup for hours? Do you know the reason for it? The first road is sandy, and so the water filters through the coarse particles and soon disappears. The other is mostly of clay, which is close and fine, and after your foot made that little hollow it was doubtless half baked by the sun so that it became like natural pottery. You probably know all this, and have felt with your own fingers the difference between the sand, in which you have built forts and dug with your shovel in the summer and played with on the kindergarten sand table in winter, and the soft, smooth clay that you have formed into bird's nests, eggs and other things in kindergarten.

Years and years ago, before our great-great-great-grandfathers were even thought of, some man noticed the same thing that you do—that one part of the earth held water for hours, while it disappeared so quickly from other parts—and it set him thinking. Why not make a bowl in which he could carry water when he was travelling or hunting in dry places? This is the way, some wise men think, the making of pottery began. Cups and small vessels could easily be moulded from small lumps of clay, but large pieces—great bowls and jars—it was soon found would have to be formed in a mould. Shallow baskets, pieces of gourd or fruit rind, were the moulds in which these large pots were started.

Fig. 57

In beginning the bottom, either a small piece of clay was patted flat into a form like a cookie and fitted into the bottom of the mould, or else a strip of clay was coiled round and round into a mat shape, working the coils together with the fingers. The sides were almost always built up with coils of clay, then, with the fingers and some rude tools—smooth stones, bits of shell or pieces of gourd—they were smoothed and polished. Soon the potters began to decorate their vessels with patterns cut or pressed into the damp clay and even painted them with coloured clay, ground fine and mixed with a liquid. The clay objects you enjoyed making in kindergarten were not very strong. A bowl or cup that is moulded from such clay will not hold water for very long either. It will soon soften and fall to pieces. That is what happened to the first clay bowls and cups.

If clay is baked in the sun it becomes a little harder and more useful—but not much—so the first clay workers found that they must bake their clay pots more thoroughly if they were to be really strong. Some of the old potters—like the Catawba Indians—baked their vessels before the fire, and as the clay they used was very good they found it made them hard enough. In other tribes the potters made a bed of bark, set fire to it and baked the pot until when it came out it was red hot. At first the clay workers used the clay just as they found it, but when they began to make large pots and cauldrons to cook in they found that powdered shell or sand mixed with the clay made them stronger and less liable to crack in baking.

The cooking vessels had almost always rounded bottoms, because in those days the floors of houses were of sand or soft earth into which the rounded bottoms would set and hold the pots upright. These pots were set directly over the fire and kept in position by stones or sticks of wood. Some that had handles or flaring rims could be hung over the fire by cords or vines.

Fig. 58

The Indians moulded all sorts of things out of clay besides these utensils. Drums were made by stretching buckskin over the tops of earthen pots. Then there were whistles and rattles, trowels, modelling tools, figures of men and animals, and many toys like those shown in Figs. 57, 58 and 59. Beads were also made of clay, and so were tobacco pipes in many shapes. One would have the face of a man on the bowl, another a goat with open mouth, or a bird with its neck outstretched and bill parted, and on another the bowl would be formed by a natural-looking snake coiled up for a spring.

Fig. 59

In time men learned more about clays and how to mix and form and bake them, until now, as you know, pottery that is beautiful and serviceable is made all over the world, and in great factories china and porcelain made of the finest clays are moulded, decorated and fired for our use. It will be interesting to you sometime to see one of the factories where such ware is made, but although it is so fine and smooth and perfect and so useful to us, I doubt if the workmen who make it have half the pleasure in their task that the first potters had in moulding their rough cooking utensils and clay pipes. So I am glad to think that although you may never be able to make china, you can work in clay as the Indians used to do, for that you will enjoy far more.

Of course you would like to make something that you can use, something that will not crumble and break like the things you modelled in kindergarten. To do this you will need to get a clay which can be baked—or fired, as potters express it—and you must have a clay that is so mixed or arranged as to bake well in the kiln (or pottery oven) to which you are going to send it. If you live near a pottery where flower pots or gray stoneware are made you can probably arrange to buy your clay there, and after your pottery is finished have it baked at the same place. The clay that is used at a stoneware pottery is arranged so as to fire at a much greater heat than the flower-pot clay, and so the ware is stronger, but the flower-pot ware will be strong enough for the things you will make. Although this clay is gray before it is baked, it comes from the kiln a beautiful Indian red.

You will not need many tools beside your own fingers and thumbs. One boxwood modelling tool the shape shown in Fig. 60, and another with more flattened and rounded ends (see Fig. 61) will be enough to begin with. These you can buy at a kindergarten-supply store. Later you may need the sheet-steel tools shown in Figs. 62 and 63. Dealers in hardware sell the sheet steel, and these tools can easily be cut from it—doubtless the dealer will do it for you.

Buy fifteen or twenty pounds of clay at a time, ready mixed if possible. If it comes to you in the dry state—in rock-like pieces—you must first pound it to a powder. This you can do out of doors by spreading the lumps of clay on a paper laid on flat stone and pounding them with a smaller stone, or, if it must be done in the house, spread the clay on a strong bench or table and pound it with an old flatiron. It is now ready for soaking. Put a little water in an earthen crock and add the powdered clay to it, mixing it with your hand and adding clay until it is the right consistency to mould. If you find you have too much water, pour off some after the clay is well mixed, and if it is still too moist, spread it on a board in the air until it has dried out sufficiently.

Keep the clay in an earthen crock with a cover. Pour a little water into it first, just enough to moisten the bottom of the crock, and then put in the clay. When it is to be left over night or a longer time, make deep holes in the clay with your thumb and pour water into them. Lay a damp cloth over it and cover with the earthen top. If at any time it dries out so that it cannot be easily moulded, let it dry entirely, pound it to powder again and mix as already described.

If you live in the country the place to work with clay will be in an outbuilding, a woodshed, barn or workshop where there is a good strong table or bench. The best place for a city child to work is a playroom where there is a wooden floor, an old table and nothing valuable to be harmed with clay or water; or a light, dry cellar. A girl should wear a long-sleeved apron and a boy a pair of overalls. In such a workshop and costume you need not give a thought to clothes or carpets.

Have a pitcher of water and a small bowl for the "slip"—or clay thinned with water until it is about as thick as cream—which is almost as important as the clay itself.

When you are ready to begin work, take a lump of clay about as large as a grape fruit; pound and knead it on the table. Next draw a strong wire through it, dividing it into halves. Press the two outer surfaces together and knead out the air-holes which you will see on the inner surfaces. Repeat this process several times, and all these air bubbles will finally be expelled. Suppose you begin with something simple—some tiny red building bricks which will delight your small brother—perhaps even you may not feel to old to enjoy playing with such a "real" toy.

Building Bricks

The clay of which these bricks are made should be well kneaded, and it should also have a great deal of what potters call "grog" mixed through it. "Grog" is baked clay pounded into small pieces—an old flower pot will do if you are using flower-pot clay. Mixed with the unbaked clay it tempers it, that is, it makes it less likely to shrink and crack in baking.

Cover a level board with a piece of wet white cheesecloth and tack it securely upon it. Mould the lump of clay into a square, by hand, lay it on the board and pound it with the thick part of your hand into an irregular square cake, then roll it with a rolling pin till it is about three-eighths of an inch thick. Have ready another board the same size and covered with wet cheesecloth, lay it on top of the clay sheet and reverse it so that the clay shall be transferred to this second board. Roll it again till quite smooth and set it away overnight. The next day take a foot rule and a sharp pencil and mark the clay sheet into bricks, two inches long by an inch wide. Cut them out with a strong, sharp knife, but do not lift them until they are thoroughly dry, which will be in three or four days. They should then be carefully packed and sent to the pottery to be fired.

A Clay Whistle

The Mexicans mould tiny whistles of clay, which are as simple as possible to make and very fascinating to own. If you would like to make some for yourself and your friends this is the way to do it: Mould a small piece of clay into a cup shape about an inch across and three-eighths of an inch high. Put it in the air to dry for ten minutes. Now roll a piece of clay, about the same size, on the table with the palms of both hands (near the base of the thumb), lightly, yet so as to make the clay roll entirely around with each push. If the roll flattens from too hard pressure, pat it till it is round again and roll it until it is of even thickness—about quarter of an inch in diameter. It is then flattened evenly by patting it with the fingers, one end is cut into a long point and the coil is started on edge with the narrow side up on the top of the cup of clay, whose rim must first be wet with slip. Bend the upper edge of the roll of clay in quite a little, to follow the shape shown in Fig. 64. Hold the long end of the clay strip with the left hand, while, with the thumb and middle finger of the right hand held on each side of the coil to support it, the forefinger presses it down firmly on the top of the little cup. When the coil has gone all the way around cut the end into a flat point, which will fit evenly in with the one at the beginning, and press the edges together with the flat part of the nail of your forefinger. Do this where the edges of the coil come against the rim of the cup. Make quick and firm yet short strokes of the nail up and down, inside the cup and out. Then let it dry for a short time, about ten or fifteen minutes. Roll another coil in the same way and attach it, after brushing the top edge of the clay cup with slip, bending the top edge of the coil in very decidedly so as to leave only a small opening at the top. The third coil is made in the same way, but put on so as to make the sides go straight up like the neck of a bottle or vase. One more straight coil completes the neck, and a piece of clay is then put across the top, closing it. After the whistle has dried for an hour or more a triangular hole is cut with a knife in the lower part (see Fig. 65), and a slit in the top. A hole is also made in the bottom. It should then be thoroughly dried for several days before sending it to be fired. Not every one of these whistles makes a good clear sound, but they are so easy to mould that you will not mind one or two unsuccessful attempts when you finally make one that blows clear and shrill.

Clay Rattle

The Indians used to make clay rattles like the one shown in Fig. 66. It is formed like the whistle except that the cup-shaped piece which is made in starting should be an inch and three-quarters across and three-eighths of an inch high.

Roll the strips of clay as already described and brush the edge of the cup-shaped piece with slip before attaching each coil. The handle should be about three inches long. Before closing the end of it drop in four or five clay pellets, about the size of small peas, which have been well dried in the sun. Then seal it with a piece of clay, let it dry for several days and send it to the pottery to be fired.

Birds' Drinking Dish

One of the best ways to attract the birds is to have a drinking dish, wide and generous, always ready for them on the lawn. This is of course taking for granted that you live at least a part of the year in the country. Isn't it delightful to think that you can make such a dish with your own hands? It is a little more difficult than the other things you have made, but what of that—it will be worth the trouble if you can give a lawn party to the birds every day! As this is to be quite a large dish, you will need to have a mould to form it in, or at least to support the sides in starting. Choose some low, wide bowl or dish, one about two inches high and ten inches across the top. Have ready some powdered flint tied up in a piece of cotton cloth—you can buy it of dealers in potters' supplies or possibly at the pottery where your clay work is fired. This is to dust over the inside of the mould to prevent the clay from sticking to it. Take a lump of clay, about two and a half pounds, knead and pound it until all the air bubbles are worked out. A small piece of the clay is then patted out with the hands on a table or board and rolled smooth with a rolling pin until it is three-eighths of an inch thick and about two inches wider than the bottom of the bowl you have chosen. Lay it in the bottom of the mould, which has first been dusted with ground flint. Press the clay lightly but carefully against the bottom and sides, making sure that it fits close against them. Then cut the top edge even with one of the wooden modelling tools. With the same tool cut crisscross strokes in this upper edge and wet it with slip, to prepare it for the first coil of clay, which is made and attached like those used in forming the whistle. These coils should, however, be larger—about an inch wide and long enough to go all around the bowl once. Join every coil in the same way, taking care to press each one against the sides of the mould as well as upon the coil beneath, and to smooth the inside of the bowl with your fingers and the modelling tools. After attaching a coil, let the bowl dry for ten or fifteen minutes—in the air, unless it is a cold day. Be careful never to let your clay work freeze or it will be spoiled. When the bowl is about two inches and a half high set it away overnight to dry. In the morning it will have shrunk so that it will slip easily out of the mould. Turn it bottom up on a table and wet the cracks between the coils with slip, then fill them in carefully with clay of the same stiffness as that of which the bowl is made. Never put water or wet clay on a piece of clay work that is almost dry, or it will crack. After it has been set away for a few hours to harden, make it smooth and even as follows: First take the oval tool of sheet steel with rough edges, hold it in your right hand, not straight but bent to fit the curves of the outside of the bowl; with it scrape the large humps away from the sides of the bowl, making quick, light and short strokes in every direction—up, down, across and diagonally. When the largest humps have been removed, go over the bowl in the same way with the smooth-edged oval tool. Then take a damp sponge, one from which the water has all been squeezed, and pass it lightly over the bowl, smoothing it with the fingers. Make it as even and perfect as you can.

Next the bottom is to be finished. Draw with a pencil a circle on the bottom of the bowl, about an inch in from the edge all around, and scrape, with the sharpest wooden tool, a layer of clay out of the bottom within the circle, so that the outside ring shall form a ridge about one-sixteenth of an inch above it. Now cut the top edge of the bowl as even as you can by eye, using a knife. Then make it perfectly even in this way: Pour a little water on the ground-glass slab, hold the bowl bottom up and move it firmly yet quickly round and round on the wet surface and then quickly slide it off at the edge of the slab, before it has a chance to cling to the glass. If the bowl seems too heavy for you to hold securely in moving it about so quickly, it will be wise to let an older person do this for you. Then there will be nothing more to do but let it dry for a few days and send it to the pottery to be fired.