Catawba Indian Pottery

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Burning the Catawba Pottery

This would be my least favorite step. I will explain later. The finished Catawba pottery is burned in a open pit out in the yard. Every Indian potter has a different method of burning. Some use hardwoods, some use softwood and a few just use what is picked up off the forest floor. The fire pits are all different also. Some use wind shields such as cinder blocks or pieces of tin. These are handy to have around is a rain shower should pop up. I was told that the pieces that turn out black were in the bottom and were deprived of oxygen thus causing the black color. Different clays, wood and burning time produce the different colors.
Now the bad part. You spend all those hours digging, molding, scraping and rubbing then when start the burn suddenly you hear a "crack" like a dead limb breaking and you realize all your hours of work has just broken into pieces. You see a tiny air bubble in the clay will cause it to explode. I talked to one potter who has lost as many as 15 pieces in one burn. I'm hoping at this point you can realize the amount of time and most of all the love each potter puts into each piece.