Mary White

“ It is to be regretted that, among the Indians, this art, like that of basketry, is passing. The coming of civilisation has brought iron and tin cooking-vessels and ordinary tableware to take the place of the bowls, platters, and cups, the jars and bottles of clay, so full of individual charm. Not only to the collector and the student of ethnology is Indian pottery of value; the potter of to-day finds much that is helpful and suggestive162 in primitive processes, as well as in the forms and decoration. ”

“ Individual work of merit is being produced every year in this country, and it will not be long before the solitary potter of to-day, moulding his pieces and testing his glazes in some little workshop, like a brown chrysalis, will perfect his ware; so that the tiny workshop will expand into a great building, and another beautiful ware will be added to modern American pottery. ”

“ Now, however, it is different; a rainy day in autumn is so cold and disagreeable. It settles down to work in a business-like way—not like a summer shower, which has, all through, a hint of the sun behind the clouds. No, an autumn rain is chilly and gray and lasting, and the best way to forget it is to find something interesting to do indoors. ”

“ This the potter set and kept in motion with his foot, leaving his hands28 free at all times to mould the clay, while the wheel was kept at a regular speed.
What is technically known as “throwing” or moulding pottery on the wheel is a process that is not learned in a moment, or even in a day. It takes time and patience, but it is certainly one of the most fascinating parts of the craft. One would have lost half of the charm of pottery-making who had not felt the plastic clay, on the potter’s wheel, rise and fall between his hands, almost as if endowed with life! ”

“ One of the best presents a child can give to his father, or a man friend, is a leather case full of tags. Things made of leather are so handsome and durable that you cannot do better, in buying material for your gift box, than to invest in a skin of heavy leather in the natural colour, red or green. Another useful thing for your gift work will be a punch with which to make round holes in leather or cardboard. You will then only need a pair of scissors, a pencil and a few beads in order to be equipped not only to make this tag case but several other charming gifts. ”

“ When one thinks of the limitless possibilities of pottery in household decoration—the great dishes for flowers and fruit, the lamp-bowls, candlesticks, and tiles—one may make, one can hardly wait to begin. Now is the chance to work out a long-treasured idea for a match-bowl, or a plant-jar to hang against the wall or window frame. ”

“ There is such a fascination about cutting and pasting that a game like this is one of the best you [204] can choose for a dull day. Each child has an old magazine, a piece of cardboard and a pair of scissors, while tubes of paste lie conveniently near. When the children are seated around a table the game begins. It is played in this way: Each player cuts from his magazine a picture (which must be smaller than his card) , pastes it upon his piece of cardboard, and when it is dry and firm cuts it in pieces with six straight cuts of the scissors, so as to make a puzzle. ”

“ A study of the range of shapes and designs in Indian pottery is a revelation to many who have thought of the Indian as an ignorant savage. Aside from its beauty and decorative value, the uses to which Indian pottery can be put in our homes are many. The great bowl shown in the plate suggests one delightful way of utilising this ware. Foliage plants of any size, from a tiny cactus, which seems to find a bowl with a rounded base the most comfortable of abiding places, to a great spreading fern, harmonise with the Indian colours. ”

“ Nowadays there are of course many more kinds of beads—beads of glass, china, gold and silver, [76] and even of semi-precious stones. After all, though, the child who lives in the country or by the sea can gather the most interesting kind of all—such as were strung by those children who lived so long ago—seeds, berries, shells and seaweed. Gather them on a sunshiny day and store them away for use in the dull hours when you are obliged to be indoors.
The seeds of muskmelons are soft enough to pierce; watermelon seeds will take more effort and a stronger needle. ”

“ The rapidity with which pieces can be formed on the wheel is an advantage over other processes, while the regularity of shape, refinement and perfection of finish give wheel-made pottery a beauty all its own. Until lately, few women potters have worked on the wheel, because the ordinary form of potter’s wheel, which was turned with one foot, the potter standing on the other, made the work too difficult and laborious for a woman to attempt. ”

“ Any little girl who is looking for a home for a family of paper dolls will find a book the very best kind of a house for them. And then such fun as it will be to furnish it! First comes the house hunting. A large new blank book with unruled pages would be best of all, and that is what we want if we can get it, but of course all doll families cannot live in such luxury. An old account book with most of its pages unused will make an excellent house. ”

“ THE KILN
Pottery, until it is fired, has little or no practical value. One who owns a piece of Gay Head ware, made in Martha’s Vineyard, and called by the name of the bluffs of whose clay it is made, will appreciate this. Though charming in colour, a terra-cotta background with swirling lines of pale yellow, black and white, it can only be put in one spot—on the highest shelf, out of reach of children and others who like to “look with their hands.” If it were baked, the colour which is its chief charm would be lost, and it is therefore so fragile that a rude touch will break or deface it. ”

“ All summer long the out-of-door gardens kept us busy, planting, weeding and watering. When we had had a week or two of sunshiny weather we began to wish a cloud would sail over the blue sky and bring the rain our thirsty flowers needed. ”

“ The more simple and strong pottery designs are, the better. Those that are intricate, no matter how beautiful, are out of place on the big, substantial forms; while delicate traceries are lost under the glaze. Here, as in basketry, we can learn much from the work of primitive peoples.
In applying such designs, simple methods, too, are best—incising, building up the outline so that the design shall be raised above the background, cutting away the background to leave the design in low relief, and piercing. ”

“ Hooked rugs such as our grandmothers used to make are great fun to do. Why should not a little girl make one of finer materials for the floor of her doll's house? Either an empty slate frame or a wooden frame such as is sold by dealers in kindergarten supplies for chair caning will do very well to hold the canvas of which the rug is made. Instead of strips of woolen we shall use worsted of various colours, and a strong steel crochet needle will be needed for "hooking." ”

“ We hear it wherever children are kept indoors—from whatever cause. All of us are concerned with the answer—mothers, fathers, teachers, big brothers and sisters—even maiden aunts. We all know what is coming when Jack turns from the rain-splashed window with a listless face and Dorothy, none too gently, thrusts her favourite doll into the corner with its face to the wall. ”

“ Mr. Volkmar studied not only art, but his craft as well, in Paris, wearing the blouse of a workman in the potteries, where he learned so admirably how to work in clay that there are few in this country who approach him. The ware made by Mr. Volkmar and his son, Mr. Leon Volkmar, is remarkable for the simple beauty of its forms and for the quality of its glazes. The body of the ware is pale yellow, and it is exceedingly hard and durable. Years ago, Mr. Volkmar made a fine blue-and-white ware, which was decorated with historical scenes. ”

“ When you are ready to play the game hang the cardboard sheet where all can see it; give each player a pencil and a piece of paper, on the left side of which numbers from 1 to 18 have been marked. Each child tries in the time allowed—about twenty minutes—to guess the names of the flowers and plants on the sheet or cardboard, and write each opposite its number on his piece of paper. The correct names are then read from the key and the players check off their guesses. The one who has guessed the greatest number correctly is of course the winner. ”

“ They are Indian red and creamy yellow in colour, with designs of black, and rarely are two of them alike.
Fashions change in pottery as well as in other things, and freakish forms which please us to-day may be ridiculed to-morrow; but primitive wares have an enduring value. Pieces that were moulded for service, by potters whose love for nature and its beauties must needs express itself even on the decoration of a cooking-pot, will last long after the ware that is made only for money has gone back to the ground from whence it came. ”

“ You can have all the fun of making a costume yourself, you can learn how to do it in the Indian way, and after it is finished it will be far more like the dress worn by Western Indians than those that are sold ready made. ”

“ Many young women have found, in the making of this pottery, an artistic vocation from which they reap profit and reputation. The aim of the originators from the first has been to make a ware that would be individual—one that should have a charm all its own. This has been accomplished by taking as motives for the designs the unusual and beautiful Southern flowers, plants, and trees, as well as the animal life of that part of the country. A charming pitcher has a design of snow-drops, painted in cream-white slip on a yellow-gray background. ”