The Importance of Sloppiness - Making the Double Jar

[@bjrnmagnusson5351]

This channel is one of my favorite finds on the internet.

[@Lovelybudgieswithme]

me too! very informative

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@jensenchavez265]

Great job Andy! I appreciate that your focus is approximation and not perfection.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks!

[@scoobydog411]

Great job ANDY. Every one who watches your videos can see A LOT of planning goes into making a piece. I’m thinking the early peoples were not making pottery in this heat. I work in Tucson and live in PHX. Have great day chow.

[@AncientPottery]

That's for sure, but they weren't slaving for the KZbin algorithm either. Stay cool out there.

[@valsalas666]

kudos to andy for being aware of fire risk, and acting responsibly!! it’s so important to be aware of these things and protecting our environment. beautiful pot and a great replica

[@angeladazlich7145]

That pot looks so authentic, I really like it

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@pottersjournal]

I've always had a fondness for double jars, the ones with lids too. They are special pots with special challenges in their making. So glad to see you take it on and the detective work in demoing the form and the history.

[@AncientPottery]

Lidded double jars? I'm not sure I have ever seen those. Thanks

[@pottersjournal]

@@AncientPottery Cardew. I made one once years ago. And I just collected one from a Slovenian potter - Franc Kremzar. But yes, I've known them mostly like yours and of the Southwest.

[@karenbearden6198]

Beautiful work and I love the title of this video! Oh my yes it is hot here too. (Alabama) Your videos are wonderful and unique, just as you are and the art you create. Thanks for sharing.:)

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you so much!

[@Thegorillafromflyinggorilla]

Your videos have helped me learn how to make my own pottery thank you

[@AncientPottery]

Glad I could help!

[@DeeSixHomestead]

This is the first recommendation of one of you videos I have seen in a long time. Watching now! ❤ Hoping to get another new video today too.

[@AncientPottery]

The KZbin algorithm is a fickle mistress.

[@DeeSixHomestead]

@AncientPottery it sure is!!! It is hard to get momentum as a really small channel!

[@papmasterOST]

I absolutely love the etching you did on this Masterpiece Andy, maybe we will get a second one that's darker in color,Much ❤️ Andy you made my Sunday morning💯

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I will definitely try again later.

[@the17thvoyager89]

If I were you I really wouldn’t worry about having a “professional youtuber” mindset. Your carefree attitude is the best! Besides, videos come and go but pottery is forever 😁

[@AncientPottery]

I appreciate that!

[@marthastrogen9001]

I have a double jar we use for pistachios and shells. I like yours a lot Andy. I hope firing it again works. 😊

[@AncientPottery]

Now there's a good use for it, nuts in one side and shells on the other, brilliant!

[@coopart1]

Great way to spend my Sunday morning! I think it came out amazing . Your replication skills inspire us to do more, except fails as gained knowledge, and most of all, enjoy the process!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Jeff.

[@RavenMeer]

I like your attitude to the work, the pull of acceptance and goal seeking is very harmonious feeling to me.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks!

[@kiimmig2293]

What an amazing journey! ❤

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you!!

[@wreshiwelsh7805]

Great job. Very enlightening.... Learning much from you... Thank you so much for recording your work.❤❤❤ much love from the Caribbean.

[@dianespears6057]

I started watching and now I can’t stop! Lovely end results. Thank you!

[@MRC11221]

I went to the U of A and know how hot it can get. Totally understand your construction area. I might try the design.

[@orellinvvardengra6775]

Today I found out that Andy and me used to be welders lol! Good on you! That's tough stuff. Stainless is super nasty.

[@AncientPottery]

I grew up around my dad's welding shop so it's in my blood.

[@chrisinkansas8507]

Cool video. Interesting galvanized outcome. An advantage of pinch/bond and scrape is it's a cleaner method. One thing us paddle/anvil people learn quickly: splatter travels ... FAR. I've found clay splatter from one end of my "studio" to the other. But it's all good.

[@AncientPottery]

Oh, I never thought about that but it makes sense that paddling would splatter clay. Thanks

[@chrisinkansas8507]

​@@AncientPotteryTechnically I add a little water to the paddle to keep it from sticking. That turns into a thin slip on the pot surface which can splatter. 😏

[@witchlive5579]

Sehr schön und ehrlich erzählt 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@jessegreywolf]

Thanks for another great video

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

An excellent video and I totally agree with the value of sloppiness. Most of the original stuff was less than perfect. There is a lot of integrity in showing the challenges and flaws. It really is a beautiful piece and I like the orange clay. What was the purpose of putting sherds on top of the charcoal?

[@AncientPottery]

For one the sherds will hold in a little more of the hot air. But the main reason is that this is my front yard and I don't want to sit out there for hours while it burns down. By covering the top it appears to be more contained and less of a concern to passersby.

[@amospena2046]

Ive been bin watching your videos thanks so much for teaching me! Also I am from grants New Mexico (cibola) so all the places like zuni, gallup, acoma are 20 mins-40 away!

[@Peyton1218]

Looks amazing, cracks aside!

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you

[@Lovelybudgieswithme]

i love it

[@willorocks]

What a neat and unique replica Andy! I was wondering what you had cooking in that firing post you made. I think it turned out nice! That summer heat isn't fooling around lately.

[@AncientPottery]

Man I am so done with this heat. Thanks

[@IsaiahSpottedEagle]

I’ve been watching for your channel for awhile an I’ve seen a multitude of clays on your channel but yet to see Micaceous pottery. I’m sure it’s because it’s not in your area. But if you could do a series about micaceous pottery that would be great!

[@AncientPottery]

I primarily focus on reproductions of ancient pottery in my area. So it's not just that we don't have micaceous clay in southern Arizona but I have never once even seen a sherd of micaceous pottery in the wild. So with my lack of experience it would probably be something better handled as an interview with some experienced micaceous pottery master. Any suggestions?

[@SethMorse-g7x]

I love these videos they’re the most informative on primitive pottery that I have found to help me learn the art

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, I'm glad they are useful, that is my goal.

[@Iamnosey]

Love this😊

[@kscvb]

I want you to move to a higher elevation where it's cooler, Andy! I used to live in Buckhorn, New Mexico, at around 5100 feet. Maybe even a little higher would be better! I'd find pottery shards on my property and lots of ancient stone tools, a couple of burial mounds and the spirits of the beautiful people who made them lived there. I miss it!

[@1a1u0g9t4s2u]

This video partially answered a question I have about firing pottery. Been binge watching your videos as I mentioned on an earlier video. Question is, will firing a pottery inside a dutch oven work similar to the galvanized pail you used? Now and then I see a really rusty dutch oven at a garage sale but until I became interested in native clay pottery there was no need for a rusty dutch oven, that is if it will work. Thanks for sharing.

[@AncientPottery]

Notice that the buckets I use have holes drilled in them. The pottery will need air and the Dutch oven may keep air out.

[@1a1u0g9t4s2u]

Thank you for the guidance. @@AncientPottery

[@ab_ab_c]

Just use a bit of clear epoxy in the cracks & your pot will be strengthened soon enough. Maybe you can use some water or some cleaner to get off that firing oddity... Good luck with it! Thanks for sharing!

[@AncientPottery]

Not a bad idea. Can you paint over epoxy?

[@gauchegreyhound]

I imagine it would hold the paint different, since it's not porous. Though, with epoxy resin, I've done "cold casting" where you mix bronze powder into the epoxy. After polishing, it looks like real bronze & has the weight. Definitely not "authentic" but I wonder if you could mix ground sherds into epoxy to replicate the look & texture of the pot? 🤔

[@ZoonCrypticon]

Great work you have done there ! Thank you ! These types of pottery, what were they used for, why a double-connected vessel? It is interesting, that the crack is on the opposite side of this whitish oxide layer. Perhaps due to an earlier hotter region on the cracked side and a cooler-condensing area on the opposite side ? Some wind channeling effect underneath the tub ?

[@AncientPottery]

Definitely not wind related, the air was quite still. No idea what these were used for, some kind of ceremony maybe? Thanks!

[@gauchegreyhound]

This is a completely pulled out of the air assumption, but having 2 pots connected by a handle would make them easier to carry by hand, or maybe attach through a stick, bindle-style?

[@smarterthanawaffle]

I am in Ecuador. There is a family here that continues the Valdivia traditions. Some of these pots look familiar

[@billskinner623]

Could the crack on the rim and on the arc be due to the various clays being incompatible? I have some local clay that is very fine grained but it will crack like crazy when it dries. So, it has to be mixed with another local clay to prevent cracking while drying. And once, I used a different clay and it dried well but cracked in several places when I fired it. And I fired that in an electric kiln because I wanted to see how well they would mix. And the answer was, "Not too good!"

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the idea. I don't think it is because of the different clays because they were all ground up and mixed thoroughly while dry. But if the different clays had not been mixed well then that could definitely be the outcome.

[@sierraecho884]

Hey I have previously asked you a stupid question about "Delft Clay" which you answered very quick and polite, so I though I might ask an other one =) I want to try to cast metal into burned clay. The clay is supposed to form a thin outer layer on a wax master model which will be burned out. My idea is to use a wax or polymer master part, thinly smear clay over the part, maybe dilutet with water and brush, place the whole contraption in casting sand for better hold and then melt out the wax and burn the clay OR burn the clay without the sand. Can this be done with some sort of clay in a kitchen oven or in a BBQ or something like that or does it need about 1000°C to burn clay ?

[@AncientPottery]

I don't know anything about metal casting but you will need temperatures of around 700 C to turn mud into ceramics. This is hotter then what is common in kitchen ovens or BBQs

[@sierraecho884]

@@AncientPottery Thank you for the quick reply! I have read about "air drying clays" ?Apparently they can be simply "baked" at around 200°C. They will never become really strong like real sintered ceramics does, instead they get somewhat hard for decoration around the house and such, do know anything about that ? I don´t quiet get what the material composition of this "air drying clay" is.

[@efethecaptain6]

Wow it's beautiful. I wonder what's the meaning or the use of it. Could it be used in wedding ceremonies ? About that crack, I'm no expert by any means but it looks like some of the cracks from thermal shock I have seen. This light orange looks beautiful tho 😅

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, it could have been used in a wedding ceremony.

[@joanhuffman2166]

I wonder what this form was used for. It seems like something that would be more difficult to clean, and easier to break before and after firing.

[@AncientPottery]

It's a mystery

[@mojavebohemian814]

Thank you, so beautiful anywat

[@sidthemyth]

but what is the purpose of this double jar?

[@AncientPottery]

Nobody knows but it's fun to speculate. Any ideas?

[@sidthemyth]

@@AncientPottery they communicate close to the base but not as low as possible. maybe a settling and filter system?

[@rhondaweaver4486]

This is new to me. I'm in Arkansas. Where can I find this clay?

[@AncientPottery]

The clay was dug here and Arizona, near Tucson and near Safford and was tempered with about 20% grog.

[@stephenwalford774]

Nice Andy..you still got a good result..oh being an old welder,we used to call it Galvi flu and the boss would get milkman ( UK) to leave a pint of full cream milk for the welders each morning to line their guts befire welding...ha ha!! Oh how times have changed..

[@AncientPottery]

We used to have milkmen when I was a little kid, funny how that went away here but hung around in Britain. I've never had so much that it made me sick to my stomach but I have had a bad headache from those fumes.

[@stephenwalford774]

@@AncientPottery Maybe 20 years ago now... Back in the day of no health and safety..

[@601salsa]

What is the purpose of a double jug?

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

Very nice double vessel, sorry for the crack, it shouldn't have happened the way you fired it. Are you sure these type of vessels were coiled and not made by paddle and anvil? I always think that these mysterious multiple attached vessels are not mysterious at all: they were used for lighting - there are all over the world and in the Roman period some were expressely used for that purpose, so you can have more light if you put a dozen together and they can be moved around with those handles if you're searching for the toilet in the middle of the night, provided that you don't burn your hand with it.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks. The Casas Grandes Culture did not practice paddle pottery making. These people did not have oil lamps or candles, they had no source for the volume of oil it would have required.

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

@@AncientPottery If they hunted they might have used animal fat? Oil was not available in most European cultures either.

[@AncientPottery]

@@petrapetrakoliou8979 most large animals in the American west like deer, pronghorns and elk are extremely lean. We didn’t have Buffalo this far west.

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

@@AncientPottery Perhaps sea mammal fat was bartered from the Californian coast and may be accessed just by a few, not necessarily used in everyday life to get to the toilet. In Prehistoric periods in Sweden seal fat was produced in a systematic way to be exchanged far away even to the Roman empire against stuff like cereals or metals.

[@Jormungandr633]

I’ve been wondering how long and to how hot I should pre heat my pottery

[@Jormungandr633]

And can humidity be a problem

[@ساريسرىلليل-ك8ن]

🙋‍♂️كيف الحال صديق اثمن جهودك العمليه بالثمينه شي رايع واكثر من رايع انا مبتدا اطلب منك المساعده واتوضيح حول المواد الاضافيه لطين الفخار انا عملت على تنقية طين الفخار وقمت بتشكيل كوب من الطين وقمت بتجفيف الكواب وبعد تجفيف الكوب قمت بحرق الكواب على بتجاز عادي في البيت وبعد الحرق طلع الكوب ممتاز جيد له رنين وضعة الما في داخل الكوب وبعد ساعه كان الكوب يرشح الما من الداخل الي الخارج هل المشكله في حرق الطين او نقص عدام اضافة مواد اخر للطين قبل التشكيل او بعد التشكيل اتمنا المساعده ان امكن المساعده وشكرآ

[@AncientPottery]

A stove for cooking food will not get hot enough to turn mud into ceramics. So perhaps you didn't get hot enough. Clay must have temper added, that is non-plastic materials like sand, this will help it to dry without cracking and fire without breaking.

[@ساريسرىلليل-ك8ن]

@@AncientPottery لم اتمكن من قرات التعليق مافي ترجمه ممكن تعمل ترجمه الي العربي اذاامكن

[@JustineWiniker]

Conflicting clay?

[@maybecriminal]

what was the double jar used for ,why is it designed in such a manner ?

[@AncientPottery]

Because this type of pottery stopped being made in 1450, nobody knows. They certainly didn't leave behind any notes about its use.

[@maybecriminal]

@@AncientPotteryCan you hazard a guess? I'm thinking it would not be used to pour from, extremely interesting, Thank you.

[@Peyton1218]

@@maybecriminal I am quite confident it's made like this for ease of transport/storage- put a stick between the two pots and put the stick over your shoulder.

[@AncientPottery]

@@maybecriminal maybe something ceremonial. A wedding perhaps?

[@maybecriminal]

@@Peyton1218 thanks, that sounds logical. I wonder if the archeologists found any residue to determine what these vases contained ?

[@bje2920]

Nice work my brown clay turns bright Red

[@AncientPottery]

Funny how that works

[@redrackham6812]

What would have been the function of a double-pot like this?

[@AncientPottery]

Your guess is as good as mine.

[@redrackham6812]

@@AncientPottery My first thought is that it might have been a mixing vessel of some kind, although I am not sure exactly how it would have been used in that role. I have also considered the possibility that it might have just been ornamental, but what you said about the sloppiness of its decoration makes me question that. Do you know how common this sort of double-jar is in the archaeological record? Have many of these been found? Few? Is it unique? That might be a clue.

[@TuttleScott]

@@redrackham6812 mixing was my first guess too but I suspect most likely someone made it cause they thought it was a neat idea.

[@lindawisner3525]

Sloppy! I'm gonna be great at this 😂

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@liammiller8112]

if it's messy, and it seems as if the painting was done too soon, almost as if someone was excited to do it, i'd say maybe a child did the decoration, after, maybe, the mother had made the pot. so, based on my personal experience with being an impatient little brat, i'd say that it might look that way because a child wanted to paint it, and the reason i say the child didn't make it, is because if it was an impatient child chances are they're maybe, 6-12, and their mother probably made the pot, so not them. maybe the two pots were made as some sort of, symbol of their bond. 2 pots, bonded, a mother and a child, bonded. so that's why i definitely think they made it together, rather than one person. either that or im putting this big deep story over what was really just a lazy business man trying to make a quick buck, or something

[@AncientPottery]

Way too well done for a child, interesting perspective though

[@Grace-ms7un]

I'd use that for salt and pepper

[@AncientPottery]

The two vessels are connected so you would end up with salt in your pepper and vice versa

[@springbloom5940]

A video on the ethics of reproduction would be interesting. Im a knapper and O... M... G... did I get read the riot act by my cousin's archaeology major fiancee. She got really mad when I told her if an archaeologist cant tell the difference, that says more about what she does, than what I do.

[@AncientPottery]

Man I don't even want to open that can of worms.

[@springbloom5940]

@@AncientPottery Hahaha

[@johanneswerner1140]

I really don't get it... The replica / experimental archeology is an interesting addition, at the very least from an outreach perspective. As long as you don't try to sell it as an original, why not? That at least is problematic, I get that.

[@springbloom5940]

@@johanneswerner1140 Well, take for example, the sherds he uses in pit firing. Any of those that go unaccounted could theoretically contaminate the archaeological record, having undergone 'relicing' by multiple firings. In 100 years they're in a museum collection as examples of divergent pottery tradition. This could be especially problematic for reproduction of local tradition, with locally sourced materials. Not criticizing, just being realistic that it could be a problem, particularly with more careless hobbyists.

[@johanneswerner1140]

Hm, I'm thinking too eurocentric. The knapping would be more... Difficult here than pottery shards. I know, I met a knapper during some field work (we took samples from his home). Still, a find is nothing without context or strata to tie it to a certain point in time. Thanks for your answer, makes sense!

[@DanielMartinez316]

Second to last? are you going to close the channel?

[@AncientPottery]

No, second to last of the ancient pottery challenge, just a series of pots I am making this season

[@DanielMartinez316]

@@AncientPottery oh, I understand now. Thank you.

[@silverlizz]

Andy, Please wear a dust mask when you grind or handle dry materials. We want to watch your videos in 30 years, produced live, without you being on oxygen. Or worse. We all love you too much.

[@Suburbanstoneage]

Beautiful! And great advice on murdering your darlings- so true!

[@AncientPottery]

Yes! Thank you!

[@llanitedave]

I'm starting to think of them as not so much darlings, but horcruxes! I put a little of my soul into each one. THEN kill it! Fantastic video.

[@5in1killa]

It sucks that the colonizers decided to destroy so much of the history of the indigenous people of the Americas. So much knowledge lost.

[@AncientPottery]

That is true but the history of the people who made these pots was lost before the first colonizer set sail from Europe.

[@5in1killa]

@@AncientPottery If they dissapeared by 1450 it's only like 40 years from Columbus and 50 years from Vespucci landing in SA, there could have still been an oral history or even written records about the people but they destroyed everything because of "paganism". If only they had an anthropological motivation and not a religious one history would be so different.

[@5in1killa]

That and the diseases they brought killing nearly everyone on the continent.