Slide 6: Convex Mold Technique I - Preparing Clay

One of the most widely used pottery-forming techniques in West Africa is the convex mold method, in which pots are molded on the rounded surface of an overturned water jar.

After clay has been prepared by crushing and drying, and by adding temper (thickener such as finely chopped straw, the chaff left when rice or millet is winnowed to prepare it for cooking, or shards of old pottery that have been reduced to a fine powder by pounding in a wooden mortar) and water, the potter sweeps clean a small space in her work area and dusts it liberally with wood ash. She then places a large lump of kneaded clay on the layer of ashes and flattens it into a thick pancake with her heel or with a wooden pestle. Next she chooses a mold of the right size and dusts it with ashes.

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