This is basically what I wrote my college thesis on. I feel like tradition is is an ever evolving thing and grows with the culture. Trying to keep something trapped in a bottle is helpful but it by definition isn’t tradition, it becomes historical preservation. You never have to worry about shortcuts. If ancient peoples had access to our conveniences, they 100% would’ve used them.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Yeah I agree related to making art. But I am specifically talking about making replicas, so there is some expectation from the buyer that it was made using the ancient techniques.

@Palauan_foodie

11 ай бұрын

👍

I would never have even been able to begin without the modern convenience of the internet so that I could learn from Andy Ward! 😊

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Yes I think many people are in that boat

The most authentic thing about replicating ancient pottery is the friends we make along the way! 😊

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Definitely the the good part. Thanks

I subscribed to this channel because I wanted to learn how to make pottery in a survival situation. So while I make my pottery on sheets of leather and fire in a fire pit with no thermometer, I use commercial clay because it's more accessible to me. Similarly, I practice flint knapping, but I have several high quality knives, because while it's good to know how to make a knife if needed, ancient humans would give their first born for one of our modern knives.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Flint knapping has it's own flavors of cheating and people who do that also can be very rigid in their ideas about what is and isn't acceptable.

@michami135

11 ай бұрын

Yes, copper vs antler is the big one. Also glass vs flint. I use copper, but I want to try antler to get the experience.

Really cool video Andy! Oh man, I'd be so lost without my corn grinder! And plastic bags to store my ground up clay. You know it always amazes me at the sheer amount of time the ancient potters spent producing a single pot. The ancient potters didn't have the US mail. You had me at that one! Haha!!! That one was to funny.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Will. Those ancient people spent so much more time at everything. Cooking dinner, making clothes, making and repairing homes, making pottery... Everything they did they had to collect the raw materials, process those into a usable form and then make the thing. We have things so easy that we can't even really appreciate how easy we have it. That's why primitive pottery around the world is usually quite plain. The people of the Southwest were amazing in that they took the time to make beautiful pottery in those conditions.

@willorocks

11 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery It really becomes a whole new level for appreciation and admiration.

A healthy attitude Andy. We can find a balance and maintain the joy of creating too while staying fairly close to ancient methods.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Yes, thanks.

Just finished making my first pot and I used clay I found near my house. Thank you for all of these videos. Wouldnt have even attempted to make one if it werent for your videos. Didnt have to spend a penny to make it since I had an old pasta strainer for the clay. Havent fired it yet but I will later this week. Thanks a ton!

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

You are so welcome!

I’ve had disastrous attempts at drying gourds on two successive years and in the latest the seeds actually sprouted within the gourd and we now have a thriving gourd patch. So it’s still good old credit cards.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

You might try coconut shells.

@clerydesigns729

11 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery. Thanks so much for the tip

I don't understand why y'all go through so much to keep as authentic as y'all do, I respect the adherence to the principles but I know I couldn't. I'm planning on doing some tribute work to the Choctaw of Mississippi and I hope they don't want me to go that far.😊

This is such an important video. I sometimes get really hung up and scold myself even for using a plastic scraper. As for authentic fire building, it's important to remember that the ancient Potters did not let the fire go out. They always had some Cinders burning so that it would be easy to start the next fire. In fact, I think I remember learning that when ancient peoples travelled they would carry a coal from the fire in a special pouch full of wet grass, I think, so that they would have fire when they got to the next location.

@AncientPottery

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Granny, good thoughts to keep in mind.

There is nothing worse than the purest. It's in every field. The truth is, is they really aren't purists, either. Somewhere, somehow, it just doesn't exist.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That's true.

@markgibsons_SWpottery

11 ай бұрын

Even the purest purists, huh! I never thought of it that way before...

@VTSifuSteve

3 ай бұрын

Ancient craftsmen worked very efficiently and were expedient in choosing their tools. They used what was at hand to get the job done. Philosophically speaking, they weren't purists either. They used the best and quickest methods available to them. For example, when they found ways to trade and get a steal knife or axe, they got them. Same goes for pottery in my book. I like the look of traditional designs on a burnished surface of a rich, hand-dug clay, but good pottery is already hard enough to make without going to silly extremes!

@condeerogers5858

3 ай бұрын

@@VTSifuSteve I didn't mean the Ancient craftsmen. I mean some of the ones coping them. That's all.

Great conversation. As primitive potters we are experimenting and trying to figure out the "ancient" way because prehistoric people adapted to things that made their lives easier. Metal pots and steel tools must have been amazing. Its nice to romanticize about getting back to nature but we are programmed to solve problems and make things easier. But sometimes to our detriment.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Well said!

Getting as close as possible with the clay, the coiling technique, and the firing temperature is what mattered most in making my fermentation pot. The other stuff would be nice, but sometimes life gets in the way and you don’t have time.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Doing your best is respectable.

This is great. I have a bunch of clay in my yard and I was looking to process it and try to make some pots…and I came across your channel (which is infinitely helpful). Thank you for making these wonderful videos!

@AncientPottery

9 ай бұрын

You're welcome

I can't stop watching this stuff. This is amazing content, thank you for sharing your knowledge!

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoy it!

Hey Andy made my best pot couple weeks ago. Local clay from Savannah Ga. region with decomposed granite i pounded. I fired it with 90 percent pine combs with a outer layer of small oak limbs. Thanks your videos made a big difference in my success. It was a simple bowl but i am proud of it.

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

That’s awesome. Did you make a video?

@BeckumOutdoors

10 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery No I have been lazy with the heat and humidity. I will on my next pot.

Thank you. This video is exactly what I needed at this time in my ancient pottery adventures.

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

Good video! We are cheaters!!! In order to make a piece I will sacrifice time, and space.. and no tool is off the table... I prefer using only my fingers, but have added the gourd scraper and puki to my growing list of formidable tools! The ancient ones would not have stopped using their tools if they had ours,.. but they would have used our tools as well! No tool or art belongs to any time or people. They belong to those who know how to use them!! Thanks for showing how to use these tools Andy! Your lessons are greatly valued!

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Mark.

Your still one of the best. A beacon on a hill in the world of pottery.

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot

Kelly starts her fires with a hand drill too. I thought I was pretty darn primitive but I do have the option of driving to the best clay sources within 100 miles of here, and I do use buckets to wet Process my clay, although I do pack it out with a pack basket. Honestly there isn’t a modern alternative that works as good as a pack basket. I don’t use metal cover sherds because they crumble to little flakes after one use. Otherwise I would totally use them.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

The point is do what makes you happy. I don't know about metal crumbling after one use, I wonder if you were using aluminum or something. I and many other potters have metal that has been fired many many times and has not crumbled.

Back here in Alabama, especially in the southern part, in the Blackbelt, the ground is always damp and requires the fire to burn for a long time to dry the soil out. So, the two cheats are a piece of roofing tin with builder's sand on it. Build your fire there to dry the sand and then fire your pottery. The other way is to use fire bricks to set your pottery on, they don't wick up moisture and don't require you to keep a fire burning for hours tto dry the soil. BTW, I use an electric kiln when I fire students pos, after drying them in the oven. Way less breakage and happier students.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That sounds reasonable for a damp climate.

Another great video. I really appreciate the tone and tenor toward the new potter/replicator. It has taken me many months to finally go on a trip (in a car) to find wild clay in the SW region to make ancient pottery with the clay they might have used. For me it has enriched the pottery making experience to go look and harvest my own clay. Sadly, my property is filled with clay that is darn poor for making pottery but at least now I am learning the differences in clay. It’s a great big journey and a ton of fun!!! You are a great teacher. I am pleased as punch to get to know you in the Ancient potters club. I’m pretty sure the ancients didn’t have internet 800 years ago but if they did they dang sure would have used it to learn and share just like us!!!

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Jeff. You will have better success with the stuff you got in the Southwest I'm sure. Also Justin in Columbus has some relatively decent clay, you should ask him about it.

When I wanted to learn something about pottery and clay it just made sense to start at the beginning or at least a long time ago :) I can empathize with the people who want to try authentic methods and also those that just want to make things using what works for them. This video was loaded with tools and methods. Something my ancestors did not have available. 111k subs now? Nice! I wonder what they equals in pottery created? I bet ALOT! I know my shelves are full. Best wishes.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

I need to start selling pottery faster, my shelves are definitely overflowing. Thanks, glad to see the channel is still growing fast even though I am on an every other week schedule.

Your channel is so awesome

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Thanks

Happy Sunday Andy, I bet you had a great 4th of July...

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Pap, I am still recovering and catching up after my Montana trip.

@papmaster8874

11 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery Well, Enjoy your Sunday,yeah it has been a action pack month already,I'm glad you got to see your family,and I as well got to see my family.❤️

Wow, a whole lot of examples complete with any differences if there are any, even wait time to make tools vs time available then and now. 👍👍👍👍👍

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I have family in Mexico and am very familiar with the filed down and sharpened hacksaw blades.

@VTSifuSteve

3 ай бұрын

Further down, in Oaxaca, Indian potters use little dried olotes, or corncobs, for ribs. You use what you have. Any starving artist can relate! Been there, done that. I'm fat now. I use a segueta like in Mata Ortiz.

I have a small collection of Dona Rosa black earth pottery. I got to watch her work when i was 16 when we visited Oaxaca. She used various non modern methods. No potters wheel, just a couple of flat pieces of wood on the ground( idont know if there was anything between them or under them.) She would sit on the ground forming the pot on the wood pieces while loose chickens pecked the ground around her. She polished the pottery with a polished piece of quartz. I didnt see how she got the clay and treated it, not how it was fired when she completed a piece. I did not realize she was famous for her pottery until i was in my thirties and saw a huge piece in a museum in Charleston SC. That piece eas do big you could have put Dona Rosa in the pot and there eould have been plenty of room left over (she was a tiny little old lady when i saw her). I really wonder how she managed to smooth out the inside of that pot. So, are you familiar with her work? I was wondering what you would think of it. Thank you. I am going to look around youtube to see if there sre any videos about her because i would like to know more sbout her.

Excellent! Here in Brazil replicating isn't much of a big thing, our native cultures are not that into pottery after all. But there is some replicating the Marajoara pottery, from the northern amazon island of Marajó. I like replicas, models, and other references to preexisting techniques. Or else we loose them. I heard there are some ultra high tech creations, like old space-race tech, or early spy planes, that were so shrouded in secrecy that we can no longer make them again! Some of the technology is dead with the last person who knew about it and swore to secrecy! Love your channel. Now, I'm really curious about another very unrelated thing: How often do you get people to call you Major? I mean, it must be something to do with the choice of your glasses frame!😉 Thanks for your excellent work!

Thank you for the channel, Andy. I'm a high school teacher in Michigan, and I'm planning to do one of your ancient pottery challenges with my advanced ceramics students this coming year. I haven't chosen which challenge. I may choose one or let students choose. I'm wondering if you could recommend any resources for making ancient pottery from the Great Lakes region, perhaps Anishinaabe - Ojibwa or Chippewa ware. I enjoy your work and journeys in the American Southwest. I don't know of anyone doing work like yours in my region. God bless. -Paul

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Indeed there are not many doing pottery replication in that part of the world. I have been in communication with a Native guy in Detroit who wants to start a KZread channel similar to mine but as yet had not found the time. Have you seen this video? kzread.info/dash/bejne/fYiqsqeto7S_qM4.html

Isn't this about enjoying oneself? So you do you and enjoy yourself.

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Definitely but some people get all hung up on "rules"

I like your style anyway you do it! Forget about a camera and the internet. I intend to make traditional pottery the way I would do in 2024. The simplest way to get a usable pot is to go to a store and buy it! I like your style!

Decidedly, we have advantages that primitive potters did not. However, we also have challenges that they didn’t-land ownership limits a lot of places that we can gather clay, paint plants, etc. We have to make cover sherds, rather than having an entire midden full of sherds we can raid whenever we need to. We have to make trips to collect yucca, mesquite sap, etc., rather than just picking it up when we saw it as we went about our days. We don’t have the accumulation of pottery wisdom that would be learned almost osmotically in ancient cultures (though the Kiln Conference is a good start). And we usually can’t start a pot and proceed at the pot’s pace-we have to go to work or drop everything and pick up the kids from soccer, or whatever. And when we are trying new paints or clays saggars or electric kilns can help control for other variables. I totally agree with @EliotChildress’s comment below. I remember watching a wonderful Blackfoot Fancy Dancer, a young man in the complete regalia-beading, feathers, etc. When he turned around I was a little shocked to see that at the middle of his top bustle was a convex truck mirror! As an archaeologist my first reaction was disappointment-it seemed to destroy the “authenticity” of the costume. Then I thought, “Who am I to try and freeze a culture in time and say what is or is not authentic? Is a bustle with a convex mirror more “authentic” than a beaded one? Glass beads weren’t available until European traders brought them in. So is the porcupine quillwork they replaced “authentic,” but not the beads? What about quillwork dyed using traded European dyes, rather than natural ones? The only constant in culture is change.

Hi Andy Have you every tried Gum Arabic with your mineral pigments ? I made my own water colors a few months ago, the binder being Gum Arabic, taking a red ochre, I painted this on to a small test pot and fired it in my dads wood burning stove and the colour remained after firing. I have no idea what I'm doing as this was my first go, just thought id share my findings with you.

Kinda battling with this concept now. I'm working on a traditional pot in the potomac creek style of this area and want to do cordage stamping on the outside, I'm just not sure that i wanna go out and gather the materials and make enough cordage to do the stamping. I may just use some commercial stuff i have lying around

@AncientPottery

9 ай бұрын

I understand that

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire"

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

I like that, thanks.

Thanks, your content is always thought provoking. (From a "I used to make clay pots/figures as a child because there was a clay bank close to our house:) now a senior citizen remembering how much fun that was!

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching, glad you are enjoying my videos.

What I find hardest, in my area, is access to natural resources. Of course that was a problem for the natives of my area, too. They had almost no pottery or hunting tradition, instead did weaving and trapping/fishing. This is likely due to a shortage of suitable clay, or knappable material.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Yes, that could be true. Those people couldn't jump in the car and drive the the next county looking for clay, what they had was what they had.

@markgibsons_SWpottery

11 ай бұрын

Where is your area Mr.Springbloom? Ms.?

You are right: there shouldn't be any limitations for creativity inspired by the ancients! If you want everything authentic it is perhaps that you would like to compare the amount of time used using different techniques (hand-building/paddle and anvil/turntable/wheel) or to have a perfect ceramic material that you can compare to the originals with the actual clay and tool marks on it. It is often what I try to do, but in European Prehistory we sometimes did have rasps and saws and copper, bronze or iron tools, depending on the period - I often go for the Iron Age. Some people may just not be comfortable with using modern equipment to replicate ancient pots or just hate modern technology which I can understand very well. If you don't want to use a steel rasp you can have some large flat stones at home which work just as well for different purposes, sometimes even better (they are often harder than steel). In Sweden there are plenty of these flat stones lying around.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Good thoughts.

@Lovelybudgieswithme

11 ай бұрын

this is so detailed

One point that I think we all cheat is knowledge. Air conditioning is nice too.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That's a good point too, we can't escape the knowledge in our heads. Also AC is definitely a must, it's pretty hot out there right now.

@coopart1

11 ай бұрын

Right! And internet research too !

I'm fairly new to pottery. Your videos are so helpful, thank you! I'm wondering if I can make a frying pan? Someone suggested that it might crack when using it on the stove top. Do you have a videos about that or any information that can help?

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

No I don't have a video about that but yes you could make a frying pan from ceramics. You would need to be careful about heating or cooling too quickly as that could cause it to break. Look at the advice given for using a Mexican comal and the same suggestions would apply to your frying pan www.walmart.com/ip/Ancient-Cookware-Mexican-Clay-Comal-Extra-Large/969621285?&intsrc=CATF_12237&irgwc=1&sourceid=imp_XaaXKy2ulxyPRcU0lo1gD27pUkFwyO1Rz03LQI0&veh=aff&wmlspartner=imp_27795&clickid=XaaXKy2ulxyPRcU0lo1gD27pUkFwyO1Rz03LQI0&sharedid=6080654&affiliates_ad_id=612734&campaign_id=9383

@suzysuzannesuzy

10 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery Thank you!

My approach is trying to problem solve the most challenging aspects first so I can speed up the learning curve and in the end, be able to replicate Ancient pottery with confidence. What I mean by this is I test fire local wild clays, slips and mineral paints as often as four or five times a week in a propane outdoor kiln. I often add bits of different woods to burn near my test pots or other organic materials in the kiln. I simulate a hearth fire in a controlled environment as best as I can. This allows me to test even in dry or windy outdoor conditions. But like most of you my goal is to make pots with the same materials the ancients may have. In a fire with the right wood. I also look at my test pieces under a microscope comparing them to ancient sherds. I break them to look at cross section, I compare fired slip thickness, I guess over all, I do not consider myself an ancient pottery replicator yet but one who is trying to discover the how and with what. I do make Mimbres pots from time to time but I know they are still not quite there yet, This was a good video Andy, I think we all strive to do this, appreciate the work and technology of these ancient people. But if you can learn how to coil and scrape first with modern tools and then graduate to ancient ones, so be it, you shorten the learning curve . Sorry for the rant !

I can confirm everything you are saying. I recently made some arrow heads out of chert found in my local area. Harder than you'd think. I have not been able to make a flake big enough to make a spear point let alone a knife. would I have to weave the bag I wet process the clay in ? I think use what works for you, add whatever limitations you need to make it exciting for you. Me? I don't like the idea store bought clay. I haven't bothered to make a kiln yet but I figure what's the point in having tools if you don't use them ? Most pottery tools are wood so I built them but seeing as I needed the internet to learn any of this stuff who am I to talk ? Don't worry about buddy bothering you about your methods. It's like arguing over what constitutes organic food. As long as it tastes good, eat.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

All good points. Why judge others for what they are making or what makes them happy?

I think everyone should try being authentic at least once. Just to apreciate what they did with what they had. I restore antique clocks and cutting gears by hand is just beyond what I can do, but with a lath and mill no big deal.

I don't think the clay is going to fire differently if you start the fire with a lighter, so that doesn't matter to the authenticity of the pottery. A mechanical grinder may give more consistent results to manual grinding but if the size of the particles is the same then who can say.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That has been my attitude all along, if it doesn't effect the outcome but it saves you time then do it!

There is exactly this same argument in the Historical Costuming community. The thing to remember is that if the people who we're trying to emulate had some of the technology we have, they'd use it too. They didn't start fire the hard way because of any kind of tradition, they did it because they didn't have a choice. Opting to use more effective technologies may not be historically accurate in method, but it absolutely is historically accurate in mindset. So unless you're trying to do some kind of experimental archaeology to figure out how things were done historically, it's perfectly fine to replicate the parts of the historical pieces that matter to you and use the more modern things that are less important.

Hi Andy. Out of curiosity, what clay source would you recommend if one wanted to purchase clay to mKe primitive fired pottery?

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

I wish I had a good answer but I don't. New Mexico Clay "Super Sculpture" worked pretty well for me. Check out this video where I tried out several commercial clays kzread.info/dash/bejne/oGWu2baqnNiad6w.html

I went and stopped by New Mexico clay yesterday because im around the area and bought some red and white potters clay and some red and white slip. Now could I have just made slip with the clay I got? The slip I bought is liquid already I still have a lot to learn. I also wanted to feel the commercial clay and what the differences are from those and the wild clay because I have sourced wild clay and made a couple bowls I still need to fire them though.

@ChartAction

4 ай бұрын

I think for me the line I am going for is more as free as possible even though I just bought clay and slip and a poki. Those are going to be all learning tools though that will show me the differences in clay and consistencies. But I want to make things for free as much as possible rather than authentic recreations. What I am curious is what do people use pottery for after its done or is it just decoration and art

We should also keep in mind that the "authentic " ancient potters back in the day had to live with authentic injuries and dangers resulting from their primitive techniques. I respect the old ways, but not so much that I'm going to shorten my productive life span over it!

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Good point that I didn't make in the video, there are some things we might skip because they are dangerous. Here is a link to a livestream I did recently about pottery safety where I highlight some of the more dangerous aspects kzread.infom6G72gbCE8A?feature=share

Why on hell would someone feel shitty for not doing something three thousand years ago the same way? Thats like feeling guilty for taking anti-biotics when you have a serious infection because you feel bad for the guy who didn't have anti-biotics a hundred years ago.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Replicators are a funny crowd, they get really into doing everything right. And because the product is a replica, there is also some desire from the purchaser that it is made in the old way.

I often think about, if I could make pottery out in the woods behind my house. Like a pot to boil water in. (naked and afraid style, but with clothes. lol) I think it would be fun to try. Maybe for my next staycation. IDK.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That would be a fun project

Even back then they would take shortcuts if they could.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

For sure

I just ask myself one question. If my ancestors were given access to it, would they use it? I think that the goal for nearly all of them was to make their lives easier, which is what these tools and techniques do. Sure, they may have had a different way of doing things but if they had known of easier ways, would they shun them?

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That's for sure but also if they had a Walmart available they might not even have made pottery.

@jensenchavez265

11 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery Very true lol

@jensenchavez265

11 ай бұрын

@@AncientPottery Do you happen to sell non smectite white clay by chance? I still haven't found a source up here and haven't had a chance to make it out to Eastern AZ either. I just need enough to make slip.

I am a historcal costumer and I feel the need to deep-dive into authenticity. However, one very wise costumer said that total accuracy isnt possible to achieve because, for example, I as a woman have the right to vote now when historically speaking, I would not have. How would that have impacted me? Mentally, this sort of thing may not show itself obviously in my work but it does inform a lot about me, even though I don't think about it. A friend of mine pointed out that ancient people would use our modern conveniences if they had access to them. They would probably also think we are silly not to use them when we have the option - they had to work so hard just to get by, it makes sense to use what we have to make what we want to make. Making things the way ancient people did is fun and educational, but we don't always have to do things that way. Art is worthwhile no matter how we make it.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Good points, do your best and call it good.

I think some people use their feet to help make their pottery. I prefer coils for making ceramic sculpture. I love my pottery wheel too. I guess it depends also on how primitive you want to be like the Greeks who may have used some kind of wheels to turn the pottery or people who turn it with their feet or a board or sand. I just love creating, making some glazes, etc. What other people think isn't part of my creating something. I love making things too because it is also where I don't have to listen to judgemental people's opinions. Throwing pottery I let go of perfection. I realized if I wanted perfect pottery I wouldn't create it. I would just use a mold. This thinking has carried me on my art journey. Perfection is not reality.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Thank you, yes perfection should not be the goal unless that really makes you happy. Not my thing.

I didn't even know this was a thing. I thought it was about creating something beautiful, that looks authentic and you enjoy along the way. Artists experiment with different methods, means, tools all the time. This gate keeping behavior is so lame. The more layers you add to a process, the less likely you are to go through with it and if you do you're less likely do it again. We're trying art here, not Archeology.

I like to think that if it’s made by your own hands, then it’s authentic enough.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Sure for art there are no rules, but for a replica there are some expectations of authenticity.

Doesn’t really matter what tools you use. I think a good many indigenous cultures use tools that are available to them. I feel authenticity is more about who made the item. I could be wrong. Anyway, love the way you support and promote indigenous culture by sharing your knowledge.

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

It depends on what the buyer is after. If the buyer is looking for Native American pottery then WHO made it is very important. But if the buyer is looking for an authentic REPLICA then the tools and technology used to make it is more important than who made it. Unfortunately I don't know of any Native potters who make replicas, so a person shopping for a replica can't be too choosy about WHO made it.

I recently harvested PURPLE CLAY IN SAINT JOHNS Arizona can you explain these different clays

@user-jv9cs7hz1j

10 ай бұрын

I found a purple clay in arkansas

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Clay comes in many different colors, there are some amazing colored clays around St Johns

The ancients got to where they got to by building upon the experiences of previous potters. So even they took advantage of what worked and what didn’t. So, they were essentially “cheating” just as much! It really cannot be denied. Think about making a cake. Does any baker grow their own wheat and then dry and grind it to get flour? Do they raise cows to get milk? Make the oven that they bake in? Make every aspect of the fuel used to generate the heat needed to do the baking? You see where I am going. Your great great grandmother cooked in a pot that she bought.

Just think, in a few hundred years, people will try to "authentically" recreate the tools and methods of today.

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Sure

Woah! Seems like splitting hairs to me but I guess the best practice would be to be honest about how you do things unless you have a secret technique you don’t want to share and the second thing is is to be non-judgmental and worry more about how you do your pottery and what is acceptable to you or not but if you’re going in the competition, be honest about following their guidelines. If you do this, I think it sounds like a very sweet stroll.

have you always made ancient pottery or have you ever made "modern" pottery ?

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

That's a hard question to answer. I have made pottery that wasn't a replica of an ancient pot. But I have never used a pottery wheel or glaze or that kind of thing.

I dang well am not about to hike 20+ miles to access a clay source. Uh-uh. Not happening 😑

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

We are fortunate to have cars to help us

Great..my sin is having the internet to follow your skills....would not be where i am now without it...try by my means to be as authentic as possible with the tools and materials that are available to me and in my budget to buy..

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

Well here we all are on the internet right? In the old days knowledge spread slowly from person to person, imagine how long it took for the bow and arrow to spread around the world that way. Then we got books and that made it easier but still a lot of things like pottery was still better taught directly as much of the subtlety could not be taught with a book. Now we can share videos around the world in no time, we are sharing knowledge and skills quickly, the ancients would be blown away by that.

Future archeologists will wonder why some spent their lives imitating the work of others.

the ancient folks cared first and foremost for getting the job done. "traditional" is only of value in understanding and preserving history. unless your selling the pottery and making false claims, i see no legitimate value as long as you seek the knowledge and develop the abilities from the ancient world.

👍

does the guy that blame you using a bucket came to the conference by foot or in a car????

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

He drove.

it is true that you can't always be 100℅ right it's not possible I can't

@AncientPottery

11 ай бұрын

True

If you want ultimate pottery cheating go to bao ting pottery machine manufacture in the gongwan province

Work smarter, not harder.

@AncientPottery

9 ай бұрын

For sure

imho These definitions of "authentic" are masochistic AF. The people you emulate used anything they could get their hands on, so you have more options...that makes it somehow invalid? F that.

I guess Chad is the only one qualified to cast stones 😂

@AncientPottery

10 ай бұрын

Truly