POTTERY

POTTERY
Pottery is the process of forming vessels
and other objects with clay and
other ceramic materials, which are fired at
high temperatures to give them a hard,
durable form. Major types
include earthenware, stoneware and porcel
ain. The place where such wares are made
by a potter is also called a pottery (plural
"potteries").
Pottery is made by forming a ceramic
(often clay) body into objects of a
desired shape and heating them to high
temperatures (600-1600 °C) in a
bonfire, pit or kiln and induces reactions
that lead to permanent changes including
increasing the strength and rigidity of the
object. Much pottery is purely utilitarian,
but much can also be regarded as
ceramic art. A clay body can be
decorated before or after firing.
POTTERY
Clay-based pottery can be
divided into three main
groups: earthenware, stoneware
and porcelain. These require
increasingly more specific clay
material, and increasingly
higher firing temperatures. All
three are made in glazed and
unglazed varieties, for different
purposes.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 MAIN TYPES:
EARTHENWARE

All the earliest forms of pottery were made

from clays that were fired at low
temperatures, initially in pit-fires or in open
bonfires. They were hand formed and
undecorated.
 STONEWARE
Stoneware is pottery that has been fired in a
kiln at a relatively high temperature, from
about 1,100 °C to 1,200 °C. Is Also a term for
dense pottery, fired at high temperature to
make it resistant to liquids. It is made of clay,
but is more durable than other kinds of pottery
and earthenware. Stoneware get its name
from stone like quantities.
 PORCELEIN
Porcelain is made by heating materials, generally
including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between
1,200 and 1,400 °C (2,200 and 2,600 °F). This is
higher than used for the other types. The toughness,
strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other
types of pottery, arises mainly from vitrification and
the formation of the mineral mullite within the body at
these high temperatures.
Although porcelain was first made in China, the Chinese
traditionally do not recognize it as a distinct category,
grouping it with stoneware as "high-fired" ware,
opposed to "low-fired" earthenware. This confuses the
issue of when it was first made. Porcelain was also
made in Korea and in Japan from the end of the 16th
century, after suitable kaolin was located in those
countries. It was not made effectively outside East Asia
until the 18th century.
 HISTORY OF POTTERY
IN THE PHILIPPINES
Traditional pot-making in certain areas of
the Philippines would use clay found near
the sibalom river. Molding the clay required
the use of wooden paddles, and the clay
had to be kept away from sunlight.
Native Filipinos created pottery since 3500
years ago. They used these ceramic jars to
hold the deceased. Other pottery used to
hold remains of the deceased were
decorated with anthropomorphic designs.
Filipino pottery had other uses as well.
During the Neolithic period of the
Philippines, pottery was made for water
vessels, plates, cups, and for many other
uses.
 KALINGA POTTERY
Ceramic vessels of Kalinga are divided into
three types: rice cooking (ittoyom),
vegetable/meat cooking (oppaya), and water
storage (immosso) pots. According to Skibo, the
rice cooking pots are usually larger, thinner
and have a smaller opening than
vegetable/meat pots. On the other hand,
water storage pots have an average and
uniform size and a smaller neck size.
Except for water storage pots, which have a
uniform size, the other two kinds can come in
three different sizes, large, medium and small.
Although this is true in some cases, another
larger type of vegetable/meat pot and
smaller water storage pot exists.
 MANUFACTURE OF
KALINGA POTTERIES
The first step in the manufacture of pots is the
acquisition of the starting material, clay. The clay is
then pounded, added with enough amount of
water, to reach the wanted flexibility, and placed in
a rotating plate. Using the hand-modeling and coil-
and-scrape techniques, the height, thickness and
shape of the pot is established. After this, the rim is
designed by placing a wet rag on top of it and
then rotating it in the other direction. Furthermore,
scraping of the walls can also be done if the walls
produced are too thick.
The pot, after the modeling stage, is then dried for
a short period of time before the base is shaped.
Also, after additional heating, small amounts of
clay are added inside and outside the clay to
maintain the evenness of the surface. A polishing
step can also be done through the use of a
polishing stone. In some cases, pots are also painted
with red hematite paint for some stylized design.
 PALAYOK
A palayok is a clay pot used as the traditional
food preparation container in the Philippines.
Palayok is a Tagalog word; in other parts of
the country, especially in the Visayas, it is
called a kulon; smaller-sized pots are referred
to as anglit.
Cooking in a palayok
The palayok is made of earthenware, a porous
ceramic material. This allows steam from
cooking to evaporate out of the pores in the
earthenware. Juices from the cooking food
would not begin to burn until all the water has
evaporated, after which the food is thoroughly
cooked. Since ceramic does not transfer heat
as much as metal, cooking in a palayok entails
a longer time and a higher temperature that
would normally be using metal cookware.