  Ceramic or Indian PotteryCeramic Pottery from a wheel is not the same as Indian Pottery made by hand by the Tarahumara Indians.
Everything - from drum-shaped garden seats and table bases to complete dinner sets - is made by hand using clay. This is the art of ceramic pottery.
First, local ball clay is prepared and formed into slabs for the potter. It is shaped into plates at a motorized potter's wheel, using a knife to control the shaping. In only 10 minutes, a simple design is then cut into a 10-inch plate freehand by a master engraver. More elaborate designs are made from a mold but hand-detailed, in about 20 minutes for a 14-inch plate.
Finished, unfired pottery takes about a week, depending on the humidity in drying out.
Before drying, those pieces that are to receive applied decorations like leaves and flowers go to a liquid-slip artist. Pieces that cannot be thrown, such as coffeepots and figurines, are cast in the jiggers shed. Here, clay is poured into a mold and allowed to set and dry. The clay for a half-inch-thick wall sets for one and a half hours before the excess is poured out. After two days of drying in the mold, it is ready for the low - or biscuit - firing at 1,472 degrees.
Next comes glazing. The piece is dipped into a mixture of wood ash and another local clay, different from the ball clay. The proportion of ash and clay determines the color of a piece, whether classic green, greenish-brown or the attractive blue. If the article has a design, the first coat is wiped with a sponge so that it fills in the design and makes it darker. A second dipping takes place when the first coat has dried, and then a third coat is brushed on to smooth over any imperfections before the high - or glaze - firing at 2,372 degrees.
Colors are used generously too, whether the palette is bold or as delicate as might be found in a watercolor painting. Wide strokes of blue intersecting with bluish reds are set off by circular splashes of pink that suggest petals, or big raindrops. In a number of pieces, bright, polished glazes contrast with sections that are sanded, rough-textured, sometimes ridged and unglazed. Disk-shaped vases have openings at the top for fresh or dried flowers, but they also have holes in the back that permit them to be hung on the wall. With their vibrant colors - as many as eight glazes may be used on a large piece -and abstract decoration, sometimes applied in low relief, these vases and platters, although they certainly fulfill their practical function, work decoratively, too. They look as good on the wall as on a table.
Tarahumara Indian pottery by contrast, is made by hand without a wheel and is an unglazed rustic pottery fired in an open pit fire. It’s easy to see the difference in the techniques used by Indian potters using age old methods.
About the author, Craig Chambers, is the President of Mission Del Rey, an Arizona non profit organization preserving and advancing the culture of the Tarahumara Indians through traditional skills. Rawhide lamp shades and other hand crafts are available through the mission store at http://store.missiondelrey.com/whse.html or on ebay at http://stores.ebay.com/Mission-Del-Rey For further information or questions please write to info@missiondelrey.com
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