This guy just exuded calm

For my artist friends: this potter in a village near Jodhpur makes water bowls for the rural ladies' use to haul water from the wells in their village to their homes. He was so nice, seemed very mellow, had the best laugh, and got a real kick out my knowing about pottery.


His clay is dug from a lake bed when the lake dries up in the summer. He stashes the dry clay in a corner of his yard, and then slakes it down and sieves it for use on the wheel. Result was a nice smooth clay body that he'd fire in a big wood-fired pit fire that looked like a culvert turned on end with a hole in the side to stoke the fire. He did have a rack in the kiln so he wasn't really firing his pieces in the cinders. He wedged about 10 pounds like it was nothing.


Being pit fired, the finished ware is porous, which is beneficial in keeping water cool. The water that's absorbed in the pot takes the heat from the hot winds (it's 95+ in October, to give you an idea of how hot the winds must get) so that the water inside the pot stays cool.

His wheel was a very simple mechanism--big wheel balanced on a pin, he uses a big stick to get it spinning fast enough to throw a pot. It makes a kick wheel look high tech. This guy has obviously grown up making these pots because his ability to throw a lid to fit the pot *PERFECTLY* without measuring was unlike anything I've ever seen.