Pottery refers to a kind of ceramic ware created by the potters. In its day-to-day usage, the word “pottery” also takes into account earthenware, porcelain as well as stoneware. and porcelain. The techniques that are used to make pottery vary from country to country. The African Pottery Techniques are, of course, different from the Indian pottery techniques. There are as many as five African Pottery Techniques.
Some of the techniques used by the African people to make pottery have to be mentioned here. Each technique is characterized with a special name. These African Pottery Techniques include convex mold, coiling, hammer and anvil, concave mold, and direct pull methods.
At first the mining of clay is done. Then the coiling technique is performed. After coiling is done, pull technique is used. The pull techniques are followed by direct pull and then again coiling, covex mold technique and technique of concave mold is done. After that hammer and anvil is used. Then prefiring is done. Then the pottery items are taken to a kiln and the firing in a proper manner.
While coiling, some amount of clay is coiled around the base with flat surface. The coiling of clay is done in order to make the walls and sides of a pot.
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| The African potters press the clay together, then the outside as well as the inside part are smoothened. Smoothening is done so that no lines are formed in between the coils. The pottery may break in case the lines develop in between the coils. Then a lump of clay is pressed in the form of a convex mold. Afterwards, the clay acquires the desired form, the walls of the pottery is smoothened. After that the concave mold is also followed. In the pull technique, the African potters starts pulling a pottery item by putting a thick mass of malleable and kneaded clay in a place that is properly swept and bereft of stones. A ring is created with the equal diameter that the pot will finally acquire. The potter presses the lump of clay upwards and makes it thin, and go on increasing the walls' height. Along with the increase in the height of the wall, the ring's thickness is witnessed to decrease. The potter goes on trying to give a curved shape to the upper part of the wall of the pottery. At the end, in the kiln the pottery are heated and burnt at a particular temperature.
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