May 2008 / Leigh Woods / Bristol
Good red clay for making pottery could be found in the Leigh Woods. Dig it and clean from any leafs, stones, wood and other dirt.
(1) Mold it into homogeneous and consistent mass adding a bit of water, avoiding air bulbs to stay captured inside.
(2) When the mass is ready separate it into smaller parts and start modeling the desired object.
(3) When the pieces are ready live them on the dry place during one week at least.
- after one week you could treat the surface of the object with chesnut or hard wood so obtaining very smooth surface, ingraving decoration or painting with the mixture of empowdered white chalk and the same clay.
- after one week more - making big fire and fireing the pottery
May 2009 / Leigh Woods, Bristol
(1) Digg a hole in the ground and make a small wall for the fire - you will need lots of wood to mantain the 7 hours fire
(2) Start the fire placing the pots on a certain distance from it. Very slowly move the pots closer to the fire. This procedure has to be done in four to five hours. Finally put the pots inside the fire mantaining it for next 2 or 3 hours.
(3) At the end let the fire finish by itself and cover brass and pots with soil and stones
(4) After few hours or better next day you can take your ceramics out of the ground
* mudd from the river bank
08/05/2008