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Teacher note: A number of students contributed to these pages on Colonial times. Each contributed different information or a different perspective. You may find that each article adds to your understanding and research base.
| GO TO ARTICLE # 2 | GO TO ARTICLE # 3 | GO TO ARTICLE # 4 |
In the 1700’s, colonist didn’t have any Tupperware to save or store things. Instead they used barrels and pots. Pots were used as decoration as well as to save any food products.
Using large and small equipment made pots. One of the materials that were used while making a pot was a pottery wheel. A pottery wheel is a material that has a wheel. Attached to the wheel was a little connecting wire that attached to a pedal. When the pedal was pushed, the wheel spun around and when the clay was placed in the middle of the wheel, the potters’ hand went around and shaped the pot. Another item that was used during the process of making a pot was the clay. The clay was the main part of making the pot. The clay was the foundation of the pot, and clay is what the pot or vase was made from. The clay was usually made from mud, or some other sort of dirt. If it wasn’t dirt, England gave it to them.
After the clay, you designed it using twigs, knife, and rocks. Many of these things were used while making the pot. But the one thing that gave it a decorative look to it was the glaze. Glaze was a liquid type of paint that was used to spread on to give it a shiny look and it helped the clay stay together.
The kiln was used to make the clay hard. When the kiln was turned on, it turned on to a very hot temperature causing the glazes to stick to the clay. The glazes were all different designs and colors. Those were the materials used to make a pot.
The location of a pottery shop was in the middle of a town or a city. This is because everyone needed pots and it would be most convenient if it were built in the middle of a town or a city. Usually it was in the middle of the country along a main road.
In order to become a potter you needed 10 years of experience being an apprentice. An apprentice is someone who follows a master around learning about a certain craft or project. You learned how to clean up properly, you learned how to use a kiln, glaze, and the pottery wheel, you get ideas for making pots. After the ten years, you left and went to get a job somewhere to show what you have learned about pottery. If they liked what you learned and the designs that you used, most likely you would stay for a while. If they didn’t think you learned muck and if you were sloppy, they wouldn’t like you and you would be unemployed and poor.
The process of pottery making isn’t an easy task if you are a beginner. First thing that you have to do is prepare the clay. You might have to use water to loosen it up a little. Once it is loose enough, you place it on the wheel and you press the pedal at your own speed. The harder you push the pedal the faster it would go the lighter you push it, the slower it would go. As it spins around, the potter would use their hands to shape the clay into a pot. After it is shaped you design it using little tools that you can find outside. Then you add the glaze using a paintbrush, and you put it in the kiln and turn it on. Then you let it dry out so you won’t burn yourself and you are then ready to sell it.
Today pottery is still a craft that many people of many cultures enjoy doing. Pottery shops are located further apart then they were in the 1700’s. Pottery isn’t as popular as it was, but it is still made. Some of the artifacts have been found that were made hundreds of years ago. They are put up for auctions and sold into very expensive stores.
Pottery
Pottery has to do with the molding and shaping of clay. The potter's shop would most likely be found in the town and would be in the form of a shop or exhibit, it would also be found in a house as a hobby. The potter is the person who made the pottery. He made jugs, vases, bowl, bottles, jars, pots, pans, trays, and mugs.
He used four basic steps to make the pottery. The first step is to prepare the clay. He would prepare the clay by working the clay with your hands to make it smooth and easier to work with. The second step is shaping the clay. He would take the clay and place it on the pottery wheel and spin it to make it even. Than he would take an edge or blade to make a round or flat surface. The third step is to decorate or glaze it. You would glaze it with a glossy paint which when fired it makes a glossy coat. The last step is to fire it up. They would fire it up in a kiln, which was fed with lots of logs so it could reach 2000 degrees Celsius.
The potter used many tools to make pottery. He used a kiln, which was a really hot oven to fire the pottery. Slip, which is the clay when it is mixed with water, which then, is used as cement. Water to make the slip. The pottery wheel was used to spin the clay to make he pottery even. Hands where used for all of the job they where used to shape and mold the clay, prepare the clay, decorate and glaze, and also for firing it. He also used a variety of tools and materials rolling pin; he used it for preparing the clay. Sand was used to give it a rough texture. Clay of course, was needed to make the pottery. Molds were used to make exact replicas. An edge or blade also known as a knife made designs and grooves. Paints, paintbrushes, and glaze where used to decorate it.
The potter needed to know how to operate most of the tools. The potter needed to know how to operate the kiln and what temperature and how to feed it and where to place the pottery. He also had to know how to spin the wheel so the pottery would be balanced. The skills required are you having to be very creative and have a good eye to determine if the pot on the wheel is balanced or not. It would be a trade you would learn by apprenticing for a long time. The whole community depended on pottery for mugs, bowls, plates, trays, pots, pans, vases, bottle, and jugs so they could prepare, serve and store food. It was a more necessary craft for survival.
Simple bowls, plates, and cups were used to prepare foods. They could be washed and kept clean which was healthy. If the clay was very fine it made porcelain pottery, which was a luxury, because it was fancier. Pottery was useful for all of the classes of people. Porcelain though was only for rich or middle class people. Only a few couldn't afford it. The craft was important because it was better than wooden mugs and plates because wood would get worms in it and get lots of people sick. Pottery is hard so worms can't get in it so it is safer.
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| Blue and White Stoneware | Pennsylvania Dutch Stoneware |
The craft had lots of rewards because you made people feel safer and you created something that was good enough to buy. It was relaxing and made good money. People did this craft because it was relaxing. Now the flowers pot factory, plate company, and pottery shops use the craft of pottery. It is still useful but we are heading toward plastic because it cheaper.
The only natural resource this trade uses is clay, lots of clay. Pottery became more popular in certain time periods it also changed in the way it looks because people figured out how to change the color of glaze and figured out different methods of firing it. This craft was not meant for only men, women could do this craft to. I hope you have learned a lot about pottery in reading this report.
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| Redware (early design) | Salt glazed redware | pottery mug | Royal Daulton porcelain figures | Porcelain China |
1/17/03
The craft I researched for my “Colonial Craftsmen” project was pottery. Pottery was being used for storing, processing, and handling food and drink in the kitchen. In colonial times pottery was used to showoff how wealthy you were. There are so many kinds of pottery including salt-glazed, stone-glaze and porcelain. Things like porcelain were for showing off. Porcelain was very expensive so the rich people could afford it.
Townspeople could only afford salt or stone-glazed pottery. This was because the porcelain was very expensive. The reason the salt and stone-glazed pottery was less expensive was because of the design and the thickness of the clay. Porcelain is sometimes so thin that light can shine through it. Salt and stone-glazed pottery is thick and heavy. In those pieces of pottery there would only be one or two lines as the over all design. The porcelain however was easy to carry and has lots of designs and very beautiful.
Pottery is made with clay, glaze, small stone pieces (only for stone-glazed), and salt. For making pottery you also need an oven, and a pottery wheel. You must have a pottery wheel to mold and shape the clay. You should also have a filled jug of water when molding and shaping the clay at all times. You should have water because the clay likes to dry out when you're molding it. Make sure not to add so much water though. When molding and shaping the clay, you want to get into the right form that fits you.
Some potters in colonial America also used salt to make a pot or maybe a breadbasket have a rough texture.
To become a potter, you had to go through school. But it isn't a typical school. You would have to become an apprentice for ten years. An apprentice is a person that follows a person around watching and listening to the master. They cleaned up and dirt or clay that was left over and they helped the master with the kiln.
After you had the ten years that you needed, you were working in a pottery shop. The ten years was worth doing. With out it, you wouldn't know how to prepare the clay, shape it, add the glaze, and use the kiln safely, or even design the pottery. You probably wouldn't know how to clean up correctly. When I say clean up, I mean put things back where they belong. This was important because if someone was working after you left and something wasn't in the proper position, the potter might not be able to complete his piece because they couldn't find something. This is how you get your experience.
The process of pottery making isn't an easy task if you are a beginner. Fist thing that you do is prepare the clay. You might have to use water to loosen it up. Once it is loose and easy to work with, you place it on the spinning wheel and you press down on the pedal and it will spin around as you shape it with your hands. The potter adjusted the speed using the pedal. After you get the pot the shape and size that you want it, you dry it out. Usually the potter would place the on a shelf or outside. Once the pot was dry, they would add the glaze. The glaze gave it a decorative look and made it look fancier. Then once the pot was covered in glaze. You put it in the kiln. The kiln turns on to a really hot temperature that makes the pot hard and it makes the glaze melt into the clay if there was too much and it would make the glaze harder also. After this is done you have a new pot that is ready to be sold.
The location of a pottery shop is usually in the center of two different cities. If the cities are very far apart, The pottery shop was in the middle of the city. The pottery shop needed to be convenient to everyone in the city. That is why it was placed in the middle of a town or a city. If it wasn't placed in the middle, it wouldn't be as easy for someone to get to it and they would buy barrels instead. That is why it was located in the middle of the town.
Pottery is a type of decorative or useful ware made of baked
clay. A piece may be massed produced or it may be the only one of its kind.
A potter, in the colonial times, needed to do four basic steps when making
pottery. The first step was to prepare the clay, then shape the clay, decorate
and glaze, then fire their piece. To prepare the clay they needed to squeeze
and press the clay with their hands. This treatment made the clay soft and
smooth, and eliminated air bubbles. To shape the clay they used a pottery
wheel. The colonials would place the clay in the center of the wheel and as
it turned they'd use their hands to shape it to the design of their choice.
After the piece needs to be fired. To do this they would put it into a kiln.
When it was done they would take it out and let it cool off. Then their piece
would be ready to be painted or glazed.
then a journeymen for about
five years. In that time the person would need to learn the craft. They would
need to follow the teachings of the master craftsmen. The skills they needed
to learn were how to get the clay, then how to store it, and prepare it for
shaping. They would need to learn how to use a potters wheel, how to use their
hands to shape the clay, and how to make handles, lids, and spouts. To be
successful they would need to know how to use a kiln and how to be responsible
when using it. This site is created and maintained by Holly
Geddes.
Last updated on
April 4, 2003
