Making
Pots

1 aos

By Andrea Maitland

Ceramics is an art, a craft and
a way of life. A group from North
America and Britain found all three
while studying pottery in a small Lao
village last spring.

‘The pottery village of Ban Chan sits
on the west side of the Mekong River.
Intense communal effort produces
large single-fired red pots for lanterns
and food storage for Luang Prabang,
a small city a short boat ride away.

None of us spoke Lao, and the
people of Ban Chan don’t speak
English, but potters will always find
ways to communicate and we were
accompanied by a brilliant translator
and guide, Phonsavan Bilavarn, who
magically appeared whenever hand
gestures failed us.

Lao potters sit on or close to the
ground and work on a hardwood
wheel used as a banding wheel to
build coil pots. Momentum comes
from the toes of the potter or a second
potter pushing the wheel around.
In either case, the posture is next to
impossible for an aging westerner.

Crouched on a small bench, I
found it hard to work with my right
ear in close proximity to my right
knee. It didn’t bother the Lao though.
‘They have made pots this way from
early childhood.

‘The gritty red clay is mined by
village women from a nearby pit and
minimally processed before being
used for roof tiles, bricks or pots.
‘The people of Ban Chan also make
ingenious little stoves used roadside
everywhere in Luang Prabang. ‘They
combine small clay pots and recycled
metal with ashes for insulation
between the two.

We were in Ban Chan to learn how
to make large pots, Lao style.

The potter lays down a circular
bottom, and then adds coils, pushing
down with his thumb as he goes.
When the pot is about six inches tall,
he begins to compress the clay, using
two hardwood ribs. Coil after coil, he
works, gradually tapering the sides

of the vessel in and out to a graceful
shape. After about 45 minutes of
two potters working together on
this process, a large functional pot
emerges, usually three or four feet
high. It’s lifted off the wheel to wait
in the sand for firing. No trimming
and no hair driers are involved.

The clay has no plasticity what-
soever. | couldn't throw a pot the way
I do at home. In my clumsy hands, it
was like trying to throw sand. Better
potters in our group had more
respectable results, but all of us were
impressed with how well Lao methods
matched the difficult materials at
hand. None of us was able to build
anything like their pots.

Ban Chan kilns are built deep into
the clay foundation of this Mekong
River village. Villagers dig a triangular
pit, and then tunnel in a few feet
before opening up a cavern to hold

Continued on Page 5/ Laos

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - March 2008