HOW TO MAKE POTTERY
Pottery making involves digging the clay at water side or stream, carrying it home, pounding it, soaking it, shifting or separating it from foreign matters, kneading it, shaping it, decorating it, and firing the pot etc. The making of pottery includes the following basic methods namely: shaping (modelling), moulding, decorating and firing. The clay must first of all undergo some sort of purification before the pottery making commences. This is because raw clay contains a lot of impurities like sand, rocks and vegetable matter which need to be removed. After purification, the pure clay is then mixed with water to make it malleable, and then kneaded to remove all air bubbles. Shaping can be accomplished by use of hand. The hand process requires simple pinching a depression in a ball of clay into a desired shape. In moulding method, a rigid mould like old pots or baskets are used. The soft clay is pressed into the mould and allowed to dry or a liquid clay, called slip may be poured into a mould that absorbs moisture as the clay slowly dries.
For decorating method, the object formed can then be decorated by merely scratching designs of the potter’s choice into the surface of the pot. Decoration may entail cutting into the surface of the pot geometrical patterns with a sharp knife. A potter can also accomplish decoration by rubbing patterns of his or her choice on to the surface of the clay pot with smooth pebble. Decoration varies from one ethnic group to another or from one area to another or from one potter to the other, to show case the culture of the area or tribe. Thus, the patterns of decoration of pottery at Afikpo in Ebonyi state are different from the patterns of pottery at Ilorin in Kwara State or Gwari in Niger State. Sometimes design can consist of circles or loops. A potter may draw a pattern of leaves or animals or insects like lizards, scorpions and birds. Decoration is not only limited to the surface body of pottery. The inside of the lid may be decorated also. The decoration of pot serves dual purposes.
