Historical Coil Project

For this project, I had to choose a historical pot at least 1,000 years old a try to replicate its structure and style as closely as I could, with a personal and modern spin on it. I chose an ancient Mexican pottery style called barro negro— translating to black mud. Originating from Oaxaca, Mexico, each piece is hand carved from black clay unique to the San Bartolo De Coyotepec area. I decided to create a simple cylindrical vase for this project. With white clay being the material I had available, I went with a black satin matte glaze (SM-1) to get the same deep black color the Oaxacan pots are. I used about four 20" coils to form the body of the vase, with a circle cut from a slab for the base. I used a toothed tool to smooth out the inside and outside of the vase to solidify the walls, then smoothed it over. On a piece of paper I cut out a small triangle and a leaf shape to use as stencils for the carvings. I used the bottom of a needle tool for the indented circles around the top. For the three leaf pattern I made sure there was an even amount of space between each one, then used a needle tool to trace the stencil, and then carve out the shape using an exacto knife. I used a large, rounded carving tool for the pillar-like design along the bottom. After a bisque firing, I used three layers of SM-1 to glaze the vase. Something I struggled with while creating this vase was being careful to not break the connecting pieces of clay in between the triangle and leaf cutouts. I overcame this by being patient and cautious while carving and giving myself more room between the blade and the next leaf than what I thought I would need. I am happy with how this piece came out because of the solid black color and the design I chose. An area I could improve upon with this project was the carving. If I were to do it again I would choose a more intricate design or maybe something with a hidden message or meaning.