How Casas Grandes Pottery is Made

     Clay is brought down from the mountains in the area.  The various colors are red, gray, orange, and pure white.  The clay is dried, ground by hand on a stone metate, and mixed with grit.   Then it is sifted and ground to a fine powder.  After the powder is mixed with water, it is spread out on a gypsum slab to cure for two to three weeks.  More water is added, and the clay is kneaded to a proper consistency for pottery making.

     To form the pot, a clay "tortilla" is patted out and then pressed into a shallow bowl mold.   This gives many of the pots their characteristic, rounded bottoms, and traditionally, would make the pot a good shape doe evenly heating foods over a fire.   A thick "donut" of clay is placed on top of this base.  The pot is shaped up into a very thin wall, usually by pinching, sometimes by coiling and smoothing the clay.  Finally, a small "donut" of clay is added at the top so that the rim can be shaped.

     After being smoothed with a piece of hacksaw blade, the pot is dried, finished with sandpaper, and polished with a stone to a high shine.  The matte design is added by making a "slip" or paint of water and clay.  Often using only a single hair from the head of the potter, the fine lines and incredible designs are painted on using hand-eye coordination and the artist's artistic imagination.

     The pot is fired to harden the clay.  First the pot is warmed in the sun.  Outside, the pot is heated in an efficient, hot fire which can reach a temperature of about 1220 degrees Fahrenheit.  The fuel is cattle dung and cottonwood.  Manure from range-fed cattle is preferred  to that from grain-fed cattle because it burns more cleanly.

     If a black pot is desired, then the firing conditions are altered.  Pulverized dung is placed beneath the pot after which the pot is covered with a metal box.  A clean, hot fire burns on the outside of the metal box, and the pulverized dung burns as an oxygen-poor, smoky fire inside the metal box.  This process both hardens and blackens the pot.

Silver Sun     656 Canyon Road      Santa Fe, New Mexico  87501       800/562-2036

Email: info@silversun-sf.com