Proper Glaze For West African Mud Pottery?

[dslarson]

I am not a ceramics hobbyist, just someone who lived in Mali, West Africa, for two years and brought back a few dishes made by a friend. They were created with mud from the Bani River and fired in a traditional oven (fairly safe to assume it was like a low temp kiln). There is no glaze or other waterproofing on these pieces. Would anyone here know what sort of glaze would be best to use for these? Further, what would it take to repair any chips on these pieces? The mud does not break off so much as crumbles off. I would really appreciate any information y'all may have to offer.

[Benzine]

Those do look VERY porous, as in very low fire.

 

It looks like the surface was burnished, to give the wares a smooth surface, due to the absence of glaze. Because they are low fire, and there is no glaze, liquids will seep into the ceramic. Have you been eating/ drinking out of these? While it probably won't be terribly harmful, using these for food/ drink isn't advisable, if they are indeed unglazed low fire ware. Liquids get into the clay, and can foster the growth of bacteria and mold, which could make you sick.

 

In regards to glazing them, I would avoid doing so for a couple reasons. One, the black looks to be smoke marks, caused by the initial firing. Those marks would burn off, when refired, unless you used a similar firing process. Secondly, I see cracks on some of the wares. Those cracks are just going to get worse, with repeated firings. So what is now one, could end up in a couple pieces.

 

I would just put them in a place of honor, around the house, for decoration.

 

If you want to repair them, anything malleable should work, wood putty, air dried clay, etc.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention, that if you repair them, as I mentioned above, you could just use India Ink, or a thinned paint, to darken the mended pieces. Just brush on, and dab off the excess.

[bciskepottery]

Over on the In the Studio forum is this discussion w/video of pottery being made in Africa . . . West Africa.

 

http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/5683-great-video-on-african-forming-and-firing-wow/

 

Benzine is right on potential problems with glazing your pieces; if you look in the video, you can see the firing temperatures are at the low end of low fire. Without knowing the clay composition, it would be difficult to formulate a glaze to put on the wares and then refire. Enjoy them as they are. I would not even bother trying to fix the chipped area; adding wood putty or other material would detract from the natural beauty of the wares.