alabama

Hey Rebekah, I trim everything right side up. For things like pitchers I trim the top and incise the lip before I pull the spout. I used to trim like everyone else but over the years, have morphed into this method.

If you're interested in Black on black pottery...you need the book "The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez ". Last month I got mine off Amazon for about 10 bucks including postage...used! It's a huge coffee table type book! Check out the Facebook "the wild clay club"... they deal with natural clays and are based out Australia. Primitive Pottery by Hal Riegger is a good book you might should ought to read! Firing greenware will give the best results for Black on black pottery.... The reducing material used for the black should be DRY, not "it looks dry", or "it should be dry"....even a smidgen of moisture will cause a mottled exterior. What less videos and read more, if you're serious about learning about southwest USA black pottery . and make lots of notes.

You may need to read and research more, and avoid modern books that require bisque firing. Primitive Pottery is a good book, articles or books about traditional pottery of the potters on the Ivory Coast, the book Traditional pottery of Papua New guinea is good, Sun Circles and Human Hands has examples of pottery. Most of the unglazed ancient pottery were used for dry storage, like beans, corn, smoked jerky, etc. The large ceramic cauldron used for cooking stayed hot pretty much 24/7 like a crock pot so food was safe to eat from it. Pit fired is a term that is a misnomer, kind of like "home cooked meals in a tv diner" , Pits for the purpose of firing pottery are a modern invention that you'll see and understand after reading those books. Good luck!

Is there an example of what you're trying to accomplish, on this cuerda seca du jour? Alabama

If you didn't know about crushing shells for pottery, you should burn the shells first...then you should be able to crumble them in your hands. As for the percentage, figure 35%-50% or by the look! . But expect the opportunity to watch it disintegrate after a while.

The way I use shells the most in the associated with hand built pottery are ribs. If you can find one that is smooth and somewhat oval and the right size, it can be used as a rib. If you flip the same shell over, its a scraper. The shell tool is unlikely to wear out in your lifetime! . If you find a shell with a wavy edge it can used as a rocker stamp for texture and designs. See ya Alabama

Shells are made from layers with a type of adhesive or bonding agent between the layers. The adhesive burns out above 451 degrees and the layers change to calcium hydroxide over 951 degrees. Calcium hydroxide is a powder that absorbs moisture from humidity, expands, and if there is enough crushed shells in the clay... The vessel will disintegrate with in a year! I know this is true about mussel shell... And assume sea shells are the same/similar! But then it doesn't hurt to experiment.

When I was teaching pottery at a community college the dept teacher wanted to change the canvas on the existing tables. Mind you when they re-canavassed the time years before, they put new canvas over old worn out canvas...so they pulled off the newer canvas black mold had grown between the two layers! Solid black mold! Not sure if there is a good black mold and bad mold...we assumed it was bad! Speaking of tables and dust in the studio, does CAD recommend an air purification unit? I looked at different modules on Amazon and the price ranges from $30.00 to $500.00! Any thoughts? Alabama