Making Primitive Pottery in the City With Store Bought Materials
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- Not everyone who watches my videos has access to open, wild country where they can collect clay and fire pots. This video is for those of you who live in a city and can't get out in the country so easily. This shows how anyone can make primitive pottery without any expensive equipment like pottery wheels and electric kilns, using just things you can easily buy at the craft or hardware store. Primitive pottery in the city using store bought materials, now what is stopping you from getting out there and making pottery?
0:00 Store bought materials to use for primitive pottery
7:00 Making a coil pot with store bought materials
12:01 Firing the pot in your yard without a kiln
16:45 The cost of buying materials to make primitive pottery
🛍 Materials List:
Potters clay - www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hob...
Pottery tool set - amzn.to/2Wkt6kF
Charcoal Briquettes - amzn.to/3DbEGzq
Galvanized steel tub - amzn.to/3DfflEW
Spray glaze - amzn.to/3sEbg8i
Tony Soares "urban Anasazi" pottery firing video - • Urban Anasazi Pottery ...
❤️ Please help support my channel
Channel membership / ancientpottery
Ancient Potters Club ancientpottery.how/ancient-po...
👕 T shirts and other merch - andy-wards-ancient-pottery.cr...
🛍 Shop for pottery related goodies
Classes, tools and pottery are available at my online store: ancientpottery.how/shop/
📚 Improve your pottery skills
Check out my in-person pottery workshops and online masterclasses to improve your pottery making skills. ancientpottery.how/classes/
⭐️ Social media
Facebook - / andywardpottery
Instagram - / ancientpottery
📬 Send me mail
Andy Ward PO Box 43601 Tucson, AZ 85733
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. - Jak na to + styl
I bought wheel and made a few things and dried it out but what really discouraged me from going forward was the firing part. I can't justify buying a kiln, this channel is the answer to my prayers, thank you.
Glad to help.
I feel like this man used to be the kinda kid who got into some serious shenanigans.
I respect that.
My hubby is from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. As we watch your videos, he explains how his late Mom used to do. She sold many an olla! She passed before I could learn. She used to weave palm mats to sell, too.
She used dry wood to fire her pottery.
One thing for folks watching this. Here he used briquette charcoal which is charcoal compressed into a uniform shape with lime added to lower the burn temp and slow the burn. If you use lump charcoal, royal oak is the most common brand, you will achieve a higher temperature because it doesn't have that lime mixed in.
I have used both and yes, I get better heat from lump charcoal.
@@AncientPottery just to clarify, you “stole the screen” from your own window 🪟 😂.
Coal absolutely makes a difference. I use blacksmith lump coal in pit-firing and have been able to get well above 2000f. I start the combustable layout with about 4" of coal in the bottom and build up from there with pretty much whatever I can find to burn. Coal really kicks up the temp.
@@diversitylove5460 I have expected someone to yell "Andy what are you doing with my screen!?" off camera lol!
You’ll go though much more lump charcoal though too. It’s less dense and burns at a faster rate so it’s like 3x more.
An overnight camp ground would be a good place to fire
True
I managed to get to a cone 3 - cone 4 temp with a weed burner from home-depot and some fire bricks. I got even hotter than that by by digging a pit and wiring up a fan to a air-feed tunnel, similar to a forge setup using coal. I got it so hot that it actrually melted the clay, but wasn't even or controlled enough to properly glaze a pot. That's the goal, to glaze in a DIY fire without a kiln. I made a wheel using the wheels and ball bearings from an old discarded wheel chair and a power drill. I no longer have a yard, so the the project is on hold, but when I had a nice yard and garage to work out of, I even managed to create some glazes with borax, crushed glass and shavings from various metals that would melt at temperatures just over low-fire temps. I miss being able to work on my macguyver style pottery, but I still use some of the smoking pipes, bowls and coffee mugs that I made during that time. Yes, I was able to make functional ware in this manner. It wasn't easy or 'conventional,' but it works.
That's cool, you are obviously handy.
@@AncientPottery More like too broke to afford proper equipment, lol, but 'handy' is a nice way to put it.
Now that I had to move and live in a little town-house kind of situation, I managed to do some light firing on some pieces using a charcoal grill, but it's far from ideal.
I want to try the method you did in the video with the bricks and stacking the metal bucket over the piece. I think I'll try it using my fire bricks, and maybe use something like a blowdryer to feed oxygen for more heat.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Also, I have some of the exact same clay that you got from hobby lobby. I find it difficult to work with because I *always* seem to get blowouts. Maybe I need to temper it and preheat it more? I dunno...
Anyway, thanks for the video. It reignited the pottery bug for me.
My grand daughter and I spent an afternoon making pots with your method, and will be firing them soon. It's so much fun!
That's great, good times. Thanks!
Andy, your passion for teaching and ancient pottery is loud and clear. Well done Sir.
Thank you kindly
So stoked to find this channel. I've wanted to do pottery my whole life but the cost of kiln firing and falderal was a barrier. Thanks for my newest endeavor.
You're welcome
SAME!!
I just found this channel today!!! I echo your comment!
This sort of video is why I love CZcams ❤
Thrift stores have great tools for super cheap. Galvanized pails always there for $1.
This is such good info. As an engineer and diemaker, almost nothing like this is simple. Every ingredient is a special item. When you mentioned tempering with sand in another video, I thought "He probably doesn't mean just any old sand." But you did!
Communication with the "show-me tell-me" and such a skill as to pre think your students questions.......! WOW!
This is so exciting. I can't wait to try this. Thanks for showing us that we can do this at home without a kiln!
You are so welcome!
You are so Awesome! I have learned so much. Thank you! Keep up the great videos!!!
Thank you! Will do!
I love this approach. Sharing with my girlfriend who is thinking of getting back into pottery but doesn't have kiln access. I came here looking for ideas to patch my homemade tandoor oven, and this video was super helpful. Perhaps we'll try firing her stuff in that, it's insulated and has room for small pots. Thanks!
Thanks, I have a friend who uses a tandoor for firing pottery, you can see it on this video czcams.com/video/o4fCJfejiiQ/video.html
@@AncientPottery Thanks! Another great video, and also a much better looking tandoor than mine, which is built around clay flue liners, surrounded by vermiculite insulation, inside a steel garbage can! But it is awesome for cooking.
Hi Andy, I wanted you to know that I really appreciate your channel. I wish there were more content on CZcams for historical pottery.
I wish there was too. I try to encourage other potters to make videos but it's a big job and not everybody is up to it. You might find this video interesting czcams.com/video/pdyueAl4SVg/video.html
hey just wanted to say thank you
You're welcome
I appreciated the cost breakdown at the end, which helps put the whole hobby into perspective.
By farming your own clay or making your own tools or finding your own source of wood or remote firing spot where you don't have to build a burn pit, these are your potential cost savings.
And yet, if this is your hobby then doing those parts may be an important part of the overall fun.
I have searched years for exactly what you’re sharing on this channel. Why I only just discovered you is beyond me. But, I’m so happy that I did!
Welcome and thanks!
God bless you for making such beautiful content
Thanks
Thank you Andy-outstanding video and proof of concept. Our Neolithic ancestors would be proud.
Wow, thank you
Thank You 🙏 this just proved so much to me!
So glad!
This would be a great project to do with the grandkids during the summer or school breaks. Since I can get native clay, I'll use that instead and home made tools. The bricks, steel pail and charcoal briquettes will keep the neighbors and HOA off my back. Thanks for sharing.
I’m not in a position to make potter at the moment, but this was fascinating. You give very clear instructions, and the product is impressive.
Thanks glad you enjoyed the video.
I’m inspired.
Hi Andy. It took me a year to find your channel. Better late than never! So glad I found you. I have taken up Bonsai, not good at it - yet, maybe never, but trying. I can now make unusual bonsai pots, I hope, with your skilled instructions. Thank you so much!
Glad you found me!
I love learning from you! Thank you for your wonderful help!
You are so welcome!
Andy, you are the best. Thank you for this!!
My pleasure! Thanks
I really appreciate this. I was at the craft store looking at a box of clay. And I didn’t have any idea what to choose, how to use. This answers both of those questions.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, expertise and experience so generously!
Vous m'avez motivée à le faire merci beaucoup pour votre partage 💞
Hi Andy! I just made my first pot using your technique. It was quite despairing in the beginning to add the first ring to the body just above the puki, I had to take the first ring down and make it smaller. But I didn't want to give up and it turned out to be quite satisfying actually: it's a kind of a cooking pot with an inward rim which turned out quite well. I burnished it with a pebble and it looks quite like what I can find in Iron Age northern Greece. But I used three clays with different colours (grey, red and whitish) changing clay at every ring, so that I could see on the end product where does a ring begin and where does the other end. If it breaks it will be even better: I will see in the break the different rings from their colour. I guess I'll wait 2 weeks or more and then fire the pot out in an open fire. Thank you for teaching me the technique, I'd never believe I could get to such a result with my first pot - I guess it's because I watch carefully your videos!
That's great, I'm glad you are enjoying and learning from my videos. Be careful with using different clays in the same pot, if the clays have even slightly different shrinkage rates, they will crack when the pot dries.
I have sawed the pot in two halves to follow my first idea that this is a pot to show where the coils are and how they meet. Luckily it dried very well. But the white clay is behaving quite different from the others so I don't know if it will survive the firing. My second pot is a cut away neck jug, typical from the Greek late Bronze and Iron Age and it turned out even better - I'm not going to saw this one and made it only from one type of red clay. I'm planning to fetch my own clay but have to wait a lot until the snow melts in May as I live in northern Sweden; same problem here with finding burnishing pebbles under the ice...
You are a fountain of knowledge. I love how u offer solutions to do things in old ways and save as well. Your hands are blessed .thank you so much
That is exactly what I got two from Hobby Lobby you have answered so many questions for me!!! Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
I think I might try this as a way to stop being intimidated by my need for perfection. If I can make a few pots that look good with store-bought clay, I think it would encourage me to branch out into using wild clay.
That's a good way to approach it. Get comfortable with the process before you start experimenting with wild materials.
@renewedrewilder830 yup! Perfections' hangups have me also! I AM working on stretching my WHAT IFs?
This is great! Thank you so much for this video.
Thank you Andy you just answer my question about the sand. I really enjoy your videos and I'm learning alot my kids wanna get involved in the primitive pottery too so I'm happy about it thanks.
That's awesome. It's a great activity to do with kids.
Perfect video for me. I was just at Hobby Lobby and got some of this very same stuff.
Can't say thanks enough for this, man:)
Glad I could help!
I can’t believe it took me this long to find your channel! Thank you for inspiring me soooo much! I can’t wait to start.
Welcome!!
Yippee! That's exactly what I bought to mix with my GA home processed clay. Annoyingly, it has rained like nearly every day this summer and finishing the brick kiln/rocket stove hasn't been do able , I keep covering it to keep the rain off it. Oh well, I just have to wait for dryer weather and finish all the other projects Ive got going on.
Great, you will have some firing to do once the weather clears up. I just did a big firing day last weekend to get caught up myself.
czcams.com/video/oLsDeUZFR2s/video.html some of my pottery makes from creek clay I work with Red clay to I'm from south Carolina
That’s great. I was wondering about using store bought clay for an outdoor fire. Thanks.
That is beautiful, I LOVE it! Wow! 😃👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Thank you! 😊
Wow !! Thanks! I so motivated after ur video so patiently and well explained love ur art work ❤
Perfect! Just what I needed. Thank you🤗❤️🐝
You are so welcome!
@@AncientPottery 🤗
great video for a lazy Friday night
So much inspiration this channel shares! ty
I live in the city and finding clay would not be that easy, but i just decided to buy the cheapest powder 100% clay and natural sand and started making stuff! i really like the idea of one day amaking really nice ocarinas, tomorrow ill fire my first pieces! lets see what happens
Awesome!!!
Thanks!!
You've given me the confidence to do this in my backyard!
Awesome, have fun
thanks so much for sharing
You are so welcome
Love the video, so much potential with inexpensive materials easily accessible. I suppose for those that live close to the coast can collect beach sand for the temper
material. Heck a protractor can probably be used to help shape your clay pot lol
I live far from the coast but we have plenty of sand around here. Also hardware stores sell sand.
Nice job!! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Guitar pick and guitar string. Only tools you'll ever need.
LOL, there's a video right there.
@@AncientPottery
I just cut up a soft brick, with my string.
Oh wow! I will remember that one🤗❤️🐝
Thanks!
Thank you for your generosity.
Excellent tutorial! You make this appear so effortless.
Thank you very much!
Dude you are awesome!!!! 😮
Nifty set up. I tried the "Soares" kiln with a setup about twice the size of your example and about twice the charcoal, managed to top out at 815C and sustained in the 800-815C neighborhood for about 30 minutes.
Thats great. A friend of mine just did a charcoal firing and got into the 800s too so not sure what the limiting factor was, perhaps just cheap charcoal.
@@AncientPottery this is a very old comment, so maybe you have your answer by now, but otherwise: the limiting factor is oxygen. enough forced air in my blacksmiths forge makes me able to fully liquefy steel with charcoal. I.e. approx 1400c. thank you for a great channel and a new hobby! :)
Cool video I used some of that clay it was braking in the fire and I put sand in it it helped a lot
Great, temper helps a lot to avoid breakage.
İm watching your videos from Turkey, and thank you very much for these videos and lessons
You are welcome!
2 thumbs up. Excellent.
Thanks a lot Wes.
You are giving me good ideas. I live in a little property in rural area in south Brazil and love work with clay. Muito obrigado amigo
Hi, Andy.I just bought some of that HL clay and wondered if it needed tempering. Now I know! I'm also having great success with clay from my property. It has quite a bit of microscopic reflective gold flakes of what appears to be Pyrite. It makes my samples quite sparkely. My test samples, fired in my wood stove, have not exploded. Very happy with it, so far. Michael
Great! This flecks might be mica too.
OMG I was just wondering about this!!!!
Glad to help.
Awesome 🤩
Glad you liked it.
Wow! Impressive
Thanks
Preeeeeetty!
I have cut tools and stencils from ice cream and margarine tub lids and I wonder if that would have made a stiffer rib for you to use. I recently had a CZcams video pop up on my feed for using an old weber grill to fire in. Might have to go back and watch that, especially since you can often find those free on the curbside through craigslist. Thanks Andy, for all the possibilities!
You are welcome. Yes, I am sure some homemade tools like that could work fine for this. I was just trying to make a point of using store bought tools for this video. After this I am back to my old homemade gourd rib tool.
Brilliant, thank you Andy. I’m a beginner, I’ve a log burner that we use for heating, I’m very tempted to put a pot in there.
That might be worth a try. Not sure what kinds of temperatures you can reach in there.
I bet that would work pretty good. I know with the right damper setting it'll get hotter than the charcoal way.
I used to have a Timberline wood stove, that thing got hot enough on top to fry stuff and boil water in no time. Couldn't stand in front of it with the doors open
I bought that exact same packet of tools when I first started. Went back the next day to buy a rubber rib, because I had the same complaint you had. I do use that wooden "thumb" for the inside of my pots, when the rib gets too big. That does work. (With some sanding of the uneven edges, tsk). Great video again!
Thanks, yes, that is one fault with this tool pack. But it is easily fixable
This was great! I'm going to try the home firing maybe in the fall (when it drops below the 90s.) I've been using claystore clay so far so I would have to temper the clay to fire at home. Up to now, I have taken projects to a ceramics store to fire them for me.
The temper just protects against thermal shock because this kind of firing heats up and cools down much more quickly than an electric kiln.
I brought a small bear figurine I made from wild clay to the community college to fire. The instructor was quite hesitant, fearing the "foreign" clay might explode or something with student work in the same kiln. He did allow it though, and it was fine. I fire at a much lower temp at home now...no big kiln required. 😉
What are your thoughts on sealing with oil (olive oil?) and firing to where the oil polymerizes?
I've done it and it works. But you can't hold oil in a pot sealed like that or the oil it is sealed with will soften and eventually start to leak again. I have several videos about sealing earthenware with different means.
I made clay stuff by covering the sculpted, air-dried clay with a thick layer of plain white glue.
I love this so much!! The husband and I are both going to make a pot and fire it right in the backyard! I was going to sign up for pottery classes (and may still) but this is the cheap way to dip a toe in and see if I want to go on. I can always use the bricks for something else and give away the remaining clay if it is not my thing, but I think it just might be. 😊
I've watched a few of your videos now and will be subbing. 👍🏻
Awesome, thanks for the sub.Let me know if you get stuck, I am always willing to help.
Andy thank you so much for this. Im a new potter and would really like to fire my work without using a gas kiln (that i don't have). Thank you thank you 😃
You are welcome. I have many other videos on that subject
I actually enjoy working with those flexible metal ribs.... You just need to bend them slightly to make them stiff... They also work great for smoothing stuff to a near polish surface
Yes they are great
Nice.
Thanks!
Sir, i would guess the mineral paints ,like you use in your videos, should work just fine on the store bought clay. i am going to try it.
i had my homemade wood fired barrel kiln up to 1050c today, the pots were glowing. i had a big failure rate as far as cracks but a big success on black and red home made mineral paints. you have to take the little victories.
thank you very much for this video
tom
Yes, my mineral paint would work fine on a pot like this. This article might be helpful in figuring out what minerals are used to make what colors. ancientpottery.how/pottery-paint-colors/
If your pots are breaking in the fire there are three possible culprits. Over firing, getting too hot, which is a possibility if you are using wild clay and firing to 1050 C. Thermal shock caused by to rapid an increase or decrease in temperature, more temper can help with this. Or moisture in your clay, try preheating your pots in your kitchen oven before firing to drive off all moisture.
@@AncientPottery i just made some pots from store bought medium fire clay and plan to fire them in a week or so. i painted with red iron oxide paint. we will see what happens and i will post back here on what sort of results.
funny thing my daughter picked it up and got into an argument with the store, they said it won't work. so now it has to work so we can prove them wrong.
tom
the wood firing worked just fine. no breakage. the clay fired hard and passed the water test. but the paint did not bond very good and will rub off. i think that is because i used my slip from the hand dug clay to mix with the red iron oxide where i should have used some slip from the store bought clay to mix with the iron oxide. just a guess.
all in all the store bought clay with some store bought sand mixed in worked just fine in the campfire.
Nice. Read the thread, answered a couple questions I had. Thanks!
Folks can use a spoon back instead of petrified wood ! :) Great video by the way. I learned a lot! Thanks!
This was two years ago. I wonder if you have thought about this further, and you might be able to make recommendations about ...
-how to maybe get the temperature up to 800 C using the same method?
-how to finish with a more traditional method than spray on with readily available things (waxes ? fats?)
-how things might be different or better with a low fire clay?
Thanks again!
That’s the kind of stuff I do all the time. This video was specifically about using store bought materials. Watch some of my other videos.
This is a good video
Thanks
I'd like to see you do a Mexican Clay water bottle. It allows the water to slowly seep through the clay which allows the water inside to be cooled through the evaporation process.
Good idea czcams.com/video/TBos0j0FszU/video.html
You got it. Dumb it done for us!
You are alway on step ahead of me. I used store bought clay for my Face pot(but did not tempor) and as expected it blow up in the klin. So I remade it, this time with tempor. I plan on firing this weekend. However, I also applied a milk glaze, just to see what would happen. Heres hopping.
Milk glazes are typically added after firing. I hope this works out for you.
@@AncientPottery I did a slow fire to try to bring it up to bisque temp. It rang when I tapped it, so I think I might be OK.
I just wanted to add another comment, and let you know how thankful I am for this channel and content! With all the uncertainty in the world I have been praying and just asking the Lord Jesus to help to have understanding of different things that may help if we have a breakdown in our society or even in natural disasters etc. I don't even know how I got ahold of your channel, I have never done pottery a day of my life and never even considered it. Lo and behold I have come across your channel and I just can't seem to get enough of it! Your teaching is excellent, you make it easy for everyone, and I never would have thought that these things would even be possible to accomplish in my own backyard but you have shown otherwise. Thank you very much for all the time you put into these videos and I pray that Jesus Will greatly bless you and your family and all that you're doing with the channel!
Thank you. I hope you are able to benefit from this content.
Just the video I was hoping for! I have a groggy cone 5 commercial clay already. Do you suggest I add more temper? I have a feeling you're going to tell me trying it out is the only way to find out. This is going to be such a fun experiment! Next, using commercial glazes for primitive pottery.
You are correct. Try a little test pot or a tile and see how it does.
This a great video
Glad you enjoyed it
You rock! Or maybe "clay"....
This is a really cool and enabling video.
Thank you, glad to hear it.
I bought edible clay from the drugstore to make 2 clay graphite crucibles 😂.( even the graphite i recovered from old battery rods).
Crucibles brought me on your channel and now im seriously thinking to start pottery.
"Edible clay"? I've never heard of edible clay before.
@@AncientPottery Its verry common here at herbal shops and drugstores.
The one i bought was the most beautifull clay chunks ive ever seen.White but with manny colors and off course natural.
If il find same brand il buy a box and send it to Arizona for review ,if your interested.
New Mexico clay ships! Try micaceous clay . Fires low temp can give some interesting fire clouds too. And I bet you could fire it in a charcoal grill if your pot is not too large .
Yes this is a great option and I often recommend NM Clay to my students.
Can a charcoal barbecue bowl be use Iverson bricks instead of sand to protect the driveway and keep everything clean as well?
Watching this and the issues with the shaping tools you bought, I'm thinking that grabbing a tablespoon might have helped and everyone has some of those around.
Yep, definitely. Actually the gourd rib tool is perfect.
yay
800th like. :)
You can use maybe a siv or a screen strainer from your kitchen for that too.
Can clay get "too old" to use?
How do you know what clay can be fired? I have clay from years ago and idk what it is to know if it can even be fired.
No, clay never gets too old. The only way to know is just to try it so give it a shot
Enjoyed the video! I was a ceramics instructor and pottery studio manager for several years, and I miss getting my hands into clay...this was inspirational, so thank you for posting. How many hours did it take to bisque fire your bowl, and to glaze fire (or raku fire?) in this same way, how long would the piece stay in the heat?
The pit was in the fire for about three hours. This kind of fire does not get hot enough to melt glaze so it is only for making earthenware.
Hi, Andy. Came across your channel, totally by accident, but I'm sure glad I did. Now I know what type of pottery clay and tools I will need and where to get it. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I love Native American pottery, but it can be so expensive. Now I can make my own. I am NA myself so it will be authentic pottery. I have many designs I can use.
In this video, you did not paint the piece. Do you have a video that does show how to paint a piece and the best type of paints to use??
Thank you. Yes, I have many videos about paint, brushes, painting, etc. Here is a whole playlist about natural pottery paints czcams.com/video/FGj-hyKZ8eM/video.html
So you can not firing air dry clay, which one did you used?. Thanks for the informative video.
This is so inspiring! I can't wait to get started on this with my family! One question - I have watched a few of your vidoes but didn't see it mentioned... what temperature do you preheat the clay in in your home oven before you fire it? Thank you!
Low temp, like 250 or 200 F for at least a half hour
Hi ! Thank you so much for sharing! I have learned so much from you😊 Could you please tell me how long you waited until you burnished? Also how long did you wait until you fired? Thank you
I burnish while the pot is still leather hard and I fired something like 2 days after I formed it. The amount of time will depend on your climate and your clay, if the air is humid and your clay is dense, it can take a long time to dry, but if your clay is open and your air is dry a pot could dry out in one day.
Thank you for this very useful video. Sorry for my primitive English and also the fact I did not follow your previous videos. Please explain for what purpose do you add sand to the clay?
Non-plastic material added to clay is called "temper" it helps the clay to dry evenly without cracking and protects against thermal shock. All clay needs some temper, but when you are firing outdoors like this you need more as there is a greater risk of thermal shock. See this video to learn more about temper czcams.com/video/uZZdLLCO8Iw/video.html
city folk, you can find little areas of sand in the gutters on the street. a $1 strainer from the thrift shop, and just sift into your bucket. the coarse material and leaves you can just leave where they were.
Excellent tip, thanks.