Cooking in Wild Clay Pottery - Part 3 - Firing Pots

This is part 3 of a series which I intend to conclude by cooking a meal in a pot made from clay I dug out of the ground. In this part, we'll fire the pots

[AtomicShrimp]

*The Die* seems to have been omitted in the edit. It fired OK. I'll show it in part 4.
*Observations & Analysis*
Firstly and foremostly, *this can't be impossible.* People did this for millennia, before electric and gas kilns, before commercially prepared clay. *This IS possible. I will press on until it works for me.*
My tentative conclusion is that the large pots were worked from clay that was too wet and soft - this made it seem more delicate than it should be, resulting in thick walls that were insufficiently compacted. Furthermore, I think the fire probably didn't stay hot enough, for long enough, for the larger pieces.
*The (tentative) plan:*
*Make more large pots from slightly dryer clay* - probably one sand tempered, two raw clay (I have loads of that) and one grogged with some of the reddest parts of the failed pots, ground up. Waiting until the clay is more firm before trying to work with it.
*Make the pots with thinner, more compacted walls, * - achieve this by smoothing and pressing and compacting with a smoothing tool made from the clam shell.
*Fire in a larger fire, in a deeper pit* - so it stays hotter for longer and so that the pots do not become uncovered and exposed to cooling crosswind until the fire has died down naturally (ie. leave them buried in the embers overnight to cool gradually)

[ComplexMotivations]

I'm shocked you spent all that time rubbing that lamp, and didn't make a single joke about a Genie!

[Lamo_o_o]

Goin through such a hard time in life right now, but your videos are so chill and able to cheer me up :) Even if it's just for a bit, thank you so much

[Totalinternalreflection]

I love that oil lamp, I'm also impressed that you knew olive oil would burn with a clean flame. I've really enjoyed this series, thank you.

[ashleyj]

Hey Shrimp, I am sorry i am a bit late! I went to school for two years for ceramics and i have to say you did amazing! I do have a few recommendations for you.

1. It is a good idea to let clay ferment. There is mold that is in stone clay that i would use in the studio, this mold helps with elasticity in the clay, the best way to get mold in the clay is to let it age. When i would recycle clay we would take the clay that was supper soft and let it sit on a concrete or plaster slabs to slowly dry out and age the clay. the clay could sit on the table for up to 2 weeks to get the mold in it and to dry it out. (the studio that i went to school and was a work study at mainly did wheel throwing so we went though a ton of clay)

2. another thing that could help you with mixing your clay up (when you added in the grogged shells/sand) is wedging. I highly recommend you look at videos for rams horn wedging it really helps work the clay, mixing it and getting any air bubbles out of the clay, there is also a type called conch shell wedging but rams horn tends to be easier.

3. My recommendation for your bigger pots is paddling; and it is exactly as is sounds, you place your hand on the inside and hold the pot steady and with a piece of wood lightly hit it. This compresses the clay, helps shape the pots, and helps with the surface texture. This helps a lot with coil pots/pinch pots.


5. With the larger pots something that could have caused the cracking is not letting the clay get to a bone dry stage. When you combine the clay that still has some moisture with the high heats you where getting to it can cause fractures with the moisture tying to vaporize.

6. Dont handle the pots too much when they are dry, when clay gets to its bone dry stage it is its most venerable stage so your dont want to move it around too much. if you do get cracks in the clay that you can see take a small amount of white vinegar and an even smaller amount of your clay mix them together and use that to fill the cracks.

I think its amazing that you broke your bigger pots more to see the inside walls. when ever a piece brakes it is always sad but also a very good way to evaluate your skills and what you need to work with. With what i am assuming is your first time in years working with clay, but your first time fully making clay you did an amazing job and have a knack for it!
I am more than happy to help answer any questions you may have as i am trying to become a ceramics teacher!

[farmerboy]

I believe what’s most important for the large pots is that they not be _exposed_ to air even if you have to cover them with ash and coals or burn a lot of smaller items over them, rather than the area simply being hot. Leaving them covered until the ashes cool down is only going to help.

In addition you should try to make sure the pots are hot enough by making sure they’re “glowing” in the fire; everything glows the same color at the same heat barring some weird chemical reactions (ie the charcoal itself glowing rather than the fire colors), what you have to be careful of is how that glow views in various levels of light can have a very extreme swing. On a bright day something that’s 2000f can look nearly cold, on a dark night any slight glow is visible. I believe you’re aiming for a general “orange” in a more medium light, ie hotter than red and cooler than yellow.

Between the two, you’ll probably find where the failure point was; not getting quite hot enough compared to the other pots, and then being exposed. I think if the thickness or drying was off, or the issue was a rock in the clay or material, you’d have seen spalling which there was no sign of, or if it was too soft even slumping or deformation. Similar with water content, presumably they’d have exploded or spalled in the fire.

[TalasDS]

7:10 about the uneven sizes.
My mother has a few cooking pots made of clay.
I remember them being very, VERY thin. Even the big ones that are bigger than what you show here. They feel almost like glass.

And I don't know if they're industrially made or what, but they're pretty even and decorated. They're also quite old I think.

I love those pots. Cooking anything on them instantly makes the house smell like clay.

[SilverDragonJay]

I can't believe I expected him to put the pieces in a modern kiln instead of building a fire in a field.

[Hatsworthful]

Man that little oil lamp looks absolutely lovely! Especially with the colors it took after firing

[bramblerose]

After many years of throwing pottery, it's taught me not to become attached to anything, because at any point in the process you can lose your piece. So I very much appreciate your apprehension at firing your dried pieces. I haven't finished the video yet, but I predict they will fire just fine. What makes pieces break is either using a runny glaze that winds up fusing the piece to the kiln floor (a non-issue for you), or an air bubble inside the clay, which I believe were mostly avoided in your hand building.

Keep up the great videos, I love the variety of your channel and all the different kinds of stuff you get in to!

[jawjuk]

This is the greatest journey I've seen on youtube for some time. Brilliant. Hope you're enjoying it as much as we are!

[emilyscott]

I've gotta say that this has been one of my favorite series. The broken pottery reminds me of the Japanese Kintsugi (which would be cool for you to try). Even in failure, there is still beauty in the pottery.

[erictabares]

That lamp is the best part so far!!!!....wasn't really interested in it at first, but now I want to give it a go myself!!!!....so cool!

[nogosnoqt]

I appreciate the time and effort you put into this. You, at least, have the lamp as a shining example of what could be.

[j]

Great stuff! The lamp is SO pleasing to look at! Beautiful object to hold and see.

[LadyBernkastel]

I love your attitude towards life in general. You're such a positive, good dude and even though you're obviously disappointed things didn't work out you don't let that deter you from trying again. You're a real insperation.

[TheMovieLoft]

@atomicshrimp my wife is a potter and she said the pots need to be even thickness, and the grog (crushed once fired ground up ceramic) is a great idea increases the strength. Also firing should be about 900 ish degreees for 6 hours plus, she has friends who wood fire and it’s a night process with lots of drink and banter round the kiln fire. Hope this helps

[darraghchapman]

You beat me to the suggested silver lining of using the broken pots as grog. I have a feeling your 'fireside curing' was far too short. I can't point to a specific video, but if you don't already follow Primitive Technology's channel, he's gone through a lot of the 'trial by fire' (pun intended) with similar resources to yours, with admirable attention to detail in notetaking à la prehistoric chemistry, inkeeping with his primitive MO. Note that captions are essential unless you want to simply appreciate his videos aesthetically. That's another reason I recommend his channel; I think his (very intentional) charm aligns with yours, especially Slow TV.

[jonathanrichards]

That little lamp is a thing of beauty. Sometimes the best things come from an unexpected direction.

[justherbirdy]

This is just wonderful to watch. In your excitement and uncertainty and hope and fear, I can see a glimpse of the first humans learning how to make pottery - trying raw clay and finding it doesn't work so well, trying to refine it, adding different things, testing out what happens when it goes in a fire...it's like a brief voyage into a past so distant we really have no way of properly understanding it, except by doing what they did: trying from scratch and slowly improving the methods and materials until at last there was a magical moment when a pot finally emerged sound and strong from the ashes. I can't wait to see that moment happen for you.

Edit to add: I know it's probably already happened in one of the later videos, but I'm not there yet and wanted to mention the wonder I was experiencing right now!