The Dana Pottery Community, Auroville, Part 3 (Oil Burners)
The instant I saw this potter making oil burners, I was interested. Unusually so, because of a terrible mistake I'd made earlier in our trip around India. It began in Mysore, at a lovely indoor market where two brothers beckoned us into their shop...
We didn't really want to go in but they insisted, giving us a demonstration on how to make incense sticks. Reasonably interesting stuff. "Chai?" they asked. "Sure," we said. The shop was founded by the brothers' grandfather (greasy pictures on the wall attested this) and it specialises in oils of all sorts. They let us smell the selection: jasmine, lotus, lemongrass, rose, sandalwood... you name the flower and he had the oil. Decanters lined the walls. You can easily make your own perfume by adding five or so drops to 100ml of high % alcohol. This idea intrigued me, and I thought about the possibility of doing this in the future, and blowing some more perfume bottles to put them in. (I have blown a few and it's great fun). They told us you can post the oils home, no problem. We were charmed good and proper, and left with eight little glass bottles bearing 40ml of fine-smelling oil. They were wrapped up decently with string, and came with a free wad of incense.
I kept them in the middle of my roll of clothes and carried my back pack tentatively all the way to Kochi. In Kochi we try to post them home with a whole load of spices, knives and other things we'd picked up. "No oils," the postmaster said. Oh dear. So I've been carrying this fragile package around for the last two months, trying not to damage it. My backpack now smells like the inside of Chanel's bathroom, and I'm pretty sure one or more of the bottles has exploded. I put them in a cardboard box inside a plastic bag and by now the cardboard is soaked and disintegrating, the bag all sloppy inside.
But I still have hope some of the glass vials are intact. The way that most people use these oils in India is by putting a drop or two in the top of a burner, with a candle underneath, so the smell slowly fills the house. If I have any bottles intact by the time I get home, I want to make a few of these and try it out.
So. When I arrived, the potter was throwing the tops of the burners, the bottoms already completed. He was throwing them off the hump at great speed, putting in the final swish with a practiced hand.
Le video:
Next up, trimming:
And then joining. Here are the bodies ready for their tops:
A joined one, up close:
Gorgeous workshop. The afternoon light was spectacular through these windows. The little holes cut into the sides of these oil burners will create a similar effect when a candle is lit inside.
Post-handling:
Here they are lined up to dry, ready for firing.
In the kiln they go.
We didn't really want to go in but they insisted, giving us a demonstration on how to make incense sticks. Reasonably interesting stuff. "Chai?" they asked. "Sure," we said. The shop was founded by the brothers' grandfather (greasy pictures on the wall attested this) and it specialises in oils of all sorts. They let us smell the selection: jasmine, lotus, lemongrass, rose, sandalwood... you name the flower and he had the oil. Decanters lined the walls. You can easily make your own perfume by adding five or so drops to 100ml of high % alcohol. This idea intrigued me, and I thought about the possibility of doing this in the future, and blowing some more perfume bottles to put them in. (I have blown a few and it's great fun). They told us you can post the oils home, no problem. We were charmed good and proper, and left with eight little glass bottles bearing 40ml of fine-smelling oil. They were wrapped up decently with string, and came with a free wad of incense.
I kept them in the middle of my roll of clothes and carried my back pack tentatively all the way to Kochi. In Kochi we try to post them home with a whole load of spices, knives and other things we'd picked up. "No oils," the postmaster said. Oh dear. So I've been carrying this fragile package around for the last two months, trying not to damage it. My backpack now smells like the inside of Chanel's bathroom, and I'm pretty sure one or more of the bottles has exploded. I put them in a cardboard box inside a plastic bag and by now the cardboard is soaked and disintegrating, the bag all sloppy inside.
But I still have hope some of the glass vials are intact. The way that most people use these oils in India is by putting a drop or two in the top of a burner, with a candle underneath, so the smell slowly fills the house. If I have any bottles intact by the time I get home, I want to make a few of these and try it out.
So. When I arrived, the potter was throwing the tops of the burners, the bottoms already completed. He was throwing them off the hump at great speed, putting in the final swish with a practiced hand.
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| Oil burner tops. |
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| Le hump |
Next up, trimming:
And then joining. Here are the bodies ready for their tops:
A joined one, up close:
Post-handling:
In the kiln they go.
The Dana Pottery Community, Auroville, Part 2 (Candle Holders)
It has been a little while since I last posted; I've been working nonstop with Lauren on our book, 100 Days of India. We just finished designing it in Adobe InDesign and have sent it off to the printers. It's been a hectic week! Here is one of my black & white snaps that didn't make the final cut for the book. It was taken on a hot afternoon at the beach in Auroville, Tamil Nadu.
But now I'm on to writing the second installment of my visits to the Dana Community of potters. This one is about candle holders. These are big sellers in India as many people use them everyday in their shrines at home. I took three videos of the process. The first is the throwing, then trimming and finally altering (cutting the hole in the side).
He had finished his quota of these for the day, but had a couple of balls left and was kind enough to show me how he throws them. I was impressed by his easy throwing style and the slow speed of the kick wheel.
After a couple of hours, the pots are lightly trimmed on a chuck:
Soon after trimming, perhaps half an hour later, they are marked out with calipers and a compass and the holes are cut.
With a hole each side (the size of the opening in the top), they look kind of alien. But I was assured they looked nice when glazed and lit up with a candle.
Soon I will be posting on how they make oil burners--another top-selling item in their repertoire.
But now I'm on to writing the second installment of my visits to the Dana Community of potters. This one is about candle holders. These are big sellers in India as many people use them everyday in their shrines at home. I took three videos of the process. The first is the throwing, then trimming and finally altering (cutting the hole in the side).
He had finished his quota of these for the day, but had a couple of balls left and was kind enough to show me how he throws them. I was impressed by his easy throwing style and the slow speed of the kick wheel.
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| Still spinning. |
After a couple of hours, the pots are lightly trimmed on a chuck:
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With a hole each side (the size of the opening in the top), they look kind of alien. But I was assured they looked nice when glazed and lit up with a candle.
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| Freshly cut. |
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| A couple of hours later. Halfway to dry. |
Soon I will be posting on how they make oil burners--another top-selling item in their repertoire.
The Dana Pottery Community, Auroville, Part 1 (Incense Holders)
I had been told by numerous people that the Dana Community was the hub of ceramic activity in Auroville, so I made it my mission to visit. It took me a while to find, tucked away in a dusty corner of the labyrinthine town, but when I got there I wasn't disappointed. All hands were on deck, with a bisque kiln being fired and a huge order being packed up for shipment to Germany.
The two main set ups are Flame Pottery and Mandala Pottery but both work together and share clay/firings etc. I saw many different forms being produced on the wheel as well as some slab work. I took lots of pics and a few videos, so it will take a few posts to show them all.
Firstly, some pics of the place itself. There were pots everywhere!
A couple of walls had these amazing traditional tribal paintings on them. So exuberant:
Now on to the first product in detail. It's a simple incense holder, made and sold in the thousands. All this process involves is: rolling out a slab, cutting the shape from a template, cleaning up the edges with a sponge, punching a hole in the thinner end and propping it up to dry. Ready for firing. So quick and elegant.
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| I would have bought one of these if they weren't so impractical to carry around for the next 2 months in my rucksack. |
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| Bisque |
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| They fire primarily with wood, using some gas too. |
The two main set ups are Flame Pottery and Mandala Pottery but both work together and share clay/firings etc. I saw many different forms being produced on the wheel as well as some slab work. I took lots of pics and a few videos, so it will take a few posts to show them all.
Firstly, some pics of the place itself. There were pots everywhere!
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| Some of Anamika's work: incredible surface effects from pit firing. |
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| Nice swish. |
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| Frogs! |
A couple of walls had these amazing traditional tribal paintings on them. So exuberant:
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| One of the clay drying pans. |
Now on to the first product in detail. It's a simple incense holder, made and sold in the thousands. All this process involves is: rolling out a slab, cutting the shape from a template, cleaning up the edges with a sponge, punching a hole in the thinner end and propping it up to dry. Ready for firing. So quick and elegant.
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| Next to a finished one. |
Here's a little video of the incense holder production:
Nagaraj Darani Wedging and Throwing Mugs at the Shakhti Pottery, Auroville
Auroville! What a crazy, unusual place this is. Founded in 1968, it aims to be an International City welcoming all nations. It was set up by Mirra Alfassa whom everyone calls "The Mother" and an enlightened fellow named "Sri Aurobindo." When it was founded, the patch of land was heavily eroded, dusty, desert land, but it's now prosperous and covered with trees. At the centre is a monumental golf ball called "Matrimandir" (sounds kind of Lord of the Rings to me, but it's pretty dazzling when you see it)...
It was great fun, razzing around trying to find places. When I did manage to come across Shakhti, I walked in to find Nagaraj vigorously preparing his clay.
His wedging technique is much the same as the one John Colbeck showed me, just with a lot more clay involved:
After the prep, he centered a good lump on his kick wheel and got kicking, adding a bit of water to help his foot grip the concrete. The wheel has a very substantial base, so keeps a good momentum going: Nagaraj kicks it before every pot, but not whilst the pot is being worked on. The aim was 50 before lunch, and at the rate he was going, it could have been an early one.
Today he was making the bodies of some mugs. The weather is so hot here that they will be ready for handles in two hours! I have never seen someone so accurate throwing off the hump. He managed to get the amount of clay just right each time: 250g ish.
Oh and here are a couple of pics of their kiln:
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| "MATRIMANDIR" |
Auroville is a very productive place, and has several pottery studios within it. My first visit was to one called Shakhti Pottery, where they make a variety of wood-fired stoneware pots. Everything in Auroville is spread out and usually down a dirt track, so Lauren and I hired a motorbike to get around: a Hero Honda no less!
It was great fun, razzing around trying to find places. When I did manage to come across Shakhti, I walked in to find Nagaraj vigorously preparing his clay.
His wedging technique is much the same as the one John Colbeck showed me, just with a lot more clay involved:
After the prep, he centered a good lump on his kick wheel and got kicking, adding a bit of water to help his foot grip the concrete. The wheel has a very substantial base, so keeps a good momentum going: Nagaraj kicks it before every pot, but not whilst the pot is being worked on. The aim was 50 before lunch, and at the rate he was going, it could have been an early one.
Today he was making the bodies of some mugs. The weather is so hot here that they will be ready for handles in two hours! I have never seen someone so accurate throwing off the hump. He managed to get the amount of clay just right each time: 250g ish.
To measure them Nagaraj has an ingenious device: two cocktail sticks,
stuck together. One measures the height, one the width. He uses a piece
of soft leather for the rims.
Oh and here are a couple of pics of their kiln:
Pottery at RASTA, Wayanad, Kerala
Mrs Omana, the director of RASTA, showed us many of their activities. They focus on empowering women,
especially widows, and farmers through specific training. Mrs Omana
has fingers in many pies. The pies range from: a tailoring workshop
on campus for widows, several acres of farm land, a shitake mushroom
growing space, programs for children, and a pottery operation.
Amal is in charge of the pottery. He
also teaches us yoga every morning, which is an unusual experience as
he is deaf and mute, so the classes are conducted in silence. I have
never seen anyone so bendy... some of the postures he gets us to try
are just ridiculous. I have helped him out a few days in the pottery
workshop. The workshop space is a large, open hexagonal room.
Construction on it was begun years ago, intended as a new teaching
wing, but the government cut RASTA's funding, so it has remained
unfinished. The roof is open in one spot, vegetation reclaiming the
space underneath, with bats nesting in concrete crevices. No problems
with the smokey firings though.
Amal makes a range of clay products,
from tiles to wall hangings, to necklaces and bracelets. Jewellery is
the focus of most of his activities. They get sold mostly to the
volunteers who come stay here and some to visitors: there is a little
shop on the site.
First order of business: preparing the
clay. Amal's clay sits in a giant heap and
looks a lot like bedrock.
First he bashes these large pieces up, then
sieves the small pieces with a sieve to end up with a fine dust.
Lauren helped with this too.
Then he adds water to make a slip and pours it into plaster molds.
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| Ghandi? |
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| Definitely not Ghandi. |
Squish it up, kneed it up!
Ready to work. The clay was plastic enough for hand building/making small beads and jewellery but would have been too short to throw with. It was a lot of effort to get this much clay too.
Once the clay was prepped, Amal taught me his prayer bead making technique. Firstly you have to make some balls. Tiny balls of the same size.
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| One, two, three... one hundred and eight. |
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| Easier said than done. |
For a prayer bead necklace you need 108 of these balls, but if you make too many at once then they dry out, so you have to make 10/15 and move on to the next step: poking a hole in your balls.
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| Gently does it. |
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| He made it look so easy. |
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| As you can see, my mind turned swirly. |
I left before seeing them finished, but Amal indicated that he fires these small pieces in the centre of the room, in a covered pan, over a fire... pretty low tech but it does the trick.
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| The kiln. |
Amal also makes incredible wood and stone carved sculptures. He showed me some pictures, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go over and see any of them in the flesh. Next time!
Muddu Play-School Pottery Lesson
Last week, Lauren and I were staying at Shankar Prasad, a "Yoga Meditation Organic Farm." Swarmiji, the saddhu who leads all the yoga and meditation (the lady in orange), asked the community what they wanted above all else, and they voted for an English speaking school. So with the help of volunteers, they built one, found teachers and set up the school. At the moment they have 14 students, but have the space to accommodate a few more.
The children were allowed to play around 11.30am, after the serious business of schooling, so one day I went over with a bucket of clay. The clay was procured from a potter neighbour for 50 rupees (50p). I had wanted to take some pictures of the potter at work, but a festival was on so he'd stopped production for the week. This is not uncommon in India, especially in the state of Karnataka, where there's least one festival every month. The clay was not ideal; completely dried-out and full of rocks, so I had to put in some elbow grease to get it workable.
I had to come up with an easy activity to do with them, so thought we could make little bowls. Shankar Prasad has many palm trees which are harvested every year, so there are coconut husks lying around in piles. Mostly they are used as fuel for cooking on chulha (stoves). Gas is expensive here, so most people in the villages cook using these primitive (wood) stoves. This can be very smokey, depending on the fuel, but helps make excellent chapatis.
Anyway, I gathered up a bundle of husks and took them over, showing the children how to press a ball of clay into them to make a bowl. I had them repeating the word "PRESS" and "PRESSING" as we worked. Some of them were into it and got the idea straight away, one girl hid behind a palm tree for a long time, another burst into tears, and a couple of them just wanted to play with toy cars. But, in the end and with the encouragement of Swarmiji, they did all manage to make a bowl, and we put them out to dry on the roof of the school.
After bowl production, we switched to making snakes!
The playground is fantastic--built with entirely recycled materials by Mark, a volunteer who worked as a civil engineer. I had fun there, even when the kids had gone home.
After clay time, it was lunch... rice and a little sambar, with a glass of milk.
This little girl was my favourite, she was the most excited about clay and helped me carry them up to the roof.
The children were allowed to play around 11.30am, after the serious business of schooling, so one day I went over with a bucket of clay. The clay was procured from a potter neighbour for 50 rupees (50p). I had wanted to take some pictures of the potter at work, but a festival was on so he'd stopped production for the week. This is not uncommon in India, especially in the state of Karnataka, where there's least one festival every month. The clay was not ideal; completely dried-out and full of rocks, so I had to put in some elbow grease to get it workable.
I had to come up with an easy activity to do with them, so thought we could make little bowls. Shankar Prasad has many palm trees which are harvested every year, so there are coconut husks lying around in piles. Mostly they are used as fuel for cooking on chulha (stoves). Gas is expensive here, so most people in the villages cook using these primitive (wood) stoves. This can be very smokey, depending on the fuel, but helps make excellent chapatis.
Anyway, I gathered up a bundle of husks and took them over, showing the children how to press a ball of clay into them to make a bowl. I had them repeating the word "PRESS" and "PRESSING" as we worked. Some of them were into it and got the idea straight away, one girl hid behind a palm tree for a long time, another burst into tears, and a couple of them just wanted to play with toy cars. But, in the end and with the encouragement of Swarmiji, they did all manage to make a bowl, and we put them out to dry on the roof of the school.
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| What a lovely bowl! Just beautiful. |
After bowl production, we switched to making snakes!
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| Scary snake |
The playground is fantastic--built with entirely recycled materials by Mark, a volunteer who worked as a civil engineer. I had fun there, even when the kids had gone home.
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| The run up to the slide. |
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| Lauren asked this girl to hold her bowl so she could snap a photo. A moment later, the girl flung it to the grass. I don't see pottery in her future. |
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| Me left to clean up the discarded dibs of clay. |
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| Pretty exciting red racing car. How can clay compete with that? |
After clay time, it was lunch... rice and a little sambar, with a glass of milk.
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| Some nuts drying on the roof. |
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| Little people's bowls. |