I Made This Pinto Polychrome Bowl... TWICE!

In which I kick off the Ancient Pottery Challenge for season 5 with the Pinto Poly bowl and make a few blunders along the way.
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[@angeladazlich7145]

I like how you show us the good, the bad and the ugly of making pottery. Your videos are more interesting because of it.

[@AncientPottery]

That's really what making pottery is all about. Thanks.

[@willorocks]

Turned out beautiful! Wow what a giant too. Glad it survived the firing after spending hours on that paint job! Real cool! I've never had much luck either with polishing that white slip. Always seems to burn out faster for some reason.

[@AncientPottery]

I think what happens with polished slip is not that it burns out faster but that the organic paint doesn't' penetrate as well because it is compressed. I feel that the slip they were using with Pinto was different that what they were using for Gila and I think mine doesn't have the same qualities as the Pinto slip either. Oh well, live and learn. I have another Pinto I would like to do if I get time, maybe I will be able to make improvements next time.

[@willorocks]

@@AncientPottery That makes sense! That's the joy of experimenting around and learning as you go! Can't wait to see what other cool things you create down the road!

[@vicki1141]

Following your videos from Nova Scotia in Eastern Canada and wishing I were in the desert. Those bowl is stunning!!! Don't knock your painting talents, they are mighty fine. Thanks for all the great historical knowledge.

[@AlanDayley]

I enjoyed the edit of archeology and history information mixed in with the creation of the bowl. Thank you!

[@AncientPottery]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.

[@AncientAmericas]

Great work! I'm glad you didn't give up because the results were well worth it.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, tenaciousness pays off again.

[@tammyandkiki]

Absolutely gorgeous! I love hearing the history- it’s fascinating. Thanks for sharing❤

[@AncientPottery]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@chiaraconsoli3567]

You really have a LOT of patience, it's truly inspiring. I always enjoy watching the whole process, it's fascinating. I found the symbol of brotherhood very interesting, I didn't know it! And I think the decoration result is fantastic! I really appreciate your work ❤️

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you so much!

[@llanitedave]

Great video! Beautiful pot, the big thing is that it survived. You showed me another nice trick to help the bowl dry more evenly, too. One thing I've already learned, and you confirmed: I HATE spirals! (to make, not to look at and appreciate)

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Dave. Me and spirals have a love-hate relationship

[@SF-gy3oj]

Andy, I've watched all your videos, this was the BEST! So informative!

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, glad you liked it.

[@drawacrab]

I loved watching you make the bowl and I appreciated the really nifty historical information

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you very much!

[@gordonspond]

Hi Andy. I was always interested in making my own bonsai pots (I know, not native US culture, and also not "ancient"...) Your channel has helped me (1) Find my OWN clay, less than 2 miles from my house... and it's excellent clay!, (2) Understand how to process and work the clay and (3) How to fire my pots. I managed to fire my first pot in my charcoal grill (!) just yesterday and it came out PERFECT! Thanks for all your help!

[@AncientPottery]

That's awesome. I know of a few people who have started following my channel because of bonsai pots

[@markgibsons_SWpottery]

those swirls though!!! I have tried to come up with ways to cheat the swirls,... I have ruined some nice pots with crayola style swirls... You done better than I usually do and if I ever decide to do swirls again I will show you how they turn out! nice bowl! Thanks again for a great share!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, Next time I want to do it with a yucca brush.

[@marythompson9952]

Excellent! I really enjoyed the history and background. Thank you so much.

[@AncientPottery]

I am glad you appreciate it.

[@bobbysilas3669]

Super cool Andy

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks 👍

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

I think it is gorgeous, very happy for you.

[@PaulByrne-ev2zm]

You are a pleasure to watch. I learn so much even though I’m not a replicator.

[@AncientPottery]

I am glad

[@TerraformTogether]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise! It's very inspirational.

[@AncientPottery]

My pleasure!

[@stephenwalford774]

That sure is a nice bowl..well informative on the history...thanks for sharing with us all

[@bigbranch1]

What a great pot......really enjoyed the video.....Thanks

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@snehatrivedi8931]

Sir Andy, you are a breathtaking artist! ❤ thank you for teaching me so much!

[@AncientPottery]

Wow, thank you!

[@Sisa61]

Gorgeous result for all that effort ❤

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you! 😊

[@dorotheadiallo5790]

So, not just is the outstanding pot a piece of art, but the video is as well! Thank you Andy!

[@AncientPottery]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ellenlinscheid9435]

Thank you so much for sharing!!!! Love love love your videos!

[@AncientPottery]

thanks

[@j.sanders4017]

Great video.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks!

[@clementramon8589]

Thats why i love your videos. You tell how it is. Sometimes nail biting moments. Glad when your HARD work pays off. Thank you Andy. 😮

[@AncientPottery]

I appreciate that, thanks for watching

[@brittanywinn3955]

It's incredible!

[@alred3600]

It's always highly interesting to watch how many factors do involve into traditional pottery making. Being pretty much familiar with the matter myself, too (not so much with Native American pottery but prehistoric and early medieval European stuff, which creation at least technically isn't too far away) I'm always a bit astonished about the fact, You're firing pretty much on plane ground, not using pits and/or -depending on the result younwant- more or less elaborated coverings with clay or even grass sods, as this would be the methods used on this side of the big pond, especially when it came to smothering, organic paints (which aren't too common but occasionally do occur) and preventing iron- or graphit containing paint from beeping burnt away or (re-)oxydize. So I'm asking myself, if many challenges You face reaching from wind and uneven temperatures to organic stains or the notoriously tricky task of preventing iron paint from reoxydation, may could be connected not so much to material (whzchnif cause is a complete different topic) but to Your rather 'rough' and pretty difficult to control firing technique in pretty small fires 'on the floor' instead of slightly bigger ones using more or less elaborately prepared pits and already pre burnt 'coals'... Have You ever tried to use a small pit first coated with clay, then covered with a bit of dust, and slightly pre burnt to create some sort of airtight underground, then again filled with some sort of killn furniture (in my experience it's safer to burn it with the wood and not adding it cold onto the coals..), and wood burnt down untill only 'white' glowing coal remains, then slowly putting in the very well preheated pots and then adding even more white burnt coals into the pit, depending on which result you want even further covering it, or trying an even more elaborate burning technique with a first raw firing of the pottery and a second firing for the decoration? Or even construct some sort of primitive killn from clay or grass sods? And are there any archeologigal or ethnological samples for thus in the US Southwest? As, depending on the wanted result, this pretty much seems to have happened regularly in Europe's Prehistory and Early Medieval, ans sometimes even up to recent time firings, creating much more complex and diverse but also much more 'controlable' firing methods, which even made it possible to do such silly things like 'fireing' birchpeach or graphite-paint and even using a sort of high graphitecontaining clay or fireing incrustations made out of chalk successfully in low temperature reducing secondary or even third firings as some ceramics do combine those with clays and colours, whuchnhad to be burnt at much higher temperatures, using the effect of preheated and pretty much oxygen free claycoveredpits wich can be fired in a very precise and temperature controlling way, or, creating the opposite effect, can very easily be stuffed with smothering organjc material to create blackware. Another thing I'm wondering with your ironpaint challenge...have you ever tried to put a little bit if sulphurminto the process (there are quite a lot of natural sulphur-iron minerals out there...) As Sulphur is very often used in modern recipes to keep or make iron containing colours black, it's just an idea, but I'm realy wondering if this trick also could work with ironcontaining slips or even organic paint - maybe also explaining why beeplant colour seems to be so popular, as parts of the bad smell of the plant (like in all 'leguminoses' and related plant families) does come from certain sulphurcontaining molecules those plants do produce and contain. So maybe adding a little bit of extra sulphur to the process could help creating really nice blacks, also sulphur is a great bleaching mineral especially if burnt together with some kind of clays and volcanic ashes (who mostly do naturally contain sulphur, at least until it isn't washed out), so may adding a tiny bit of sulphure to some white clay and/or smectite washes and colour slips also could help, even with manganese colours or other mineral colours I'd make a try, as sulphure is and was so much in use historically in engobes and later in glaces and even became a key ingredient for 'metal' colouring and coating, which is pretty much similar and maybe even developed from potterymaking and painting. And yes, as You're recreating historic native pottery, all thus pretty much would be restricted through historical accuracy, occuring regional avail resources and a lot of chemical analyses of the originals, as even in one small village, different potters can use and transmit completely different techniques and recipes, and those techniques can quite often dramatically change in time, without very much change in the the looks of things, and vice versa, so almost no two pots are made exactly the same, and it looks really excessive testing to get a sample of what might be used, and what not, at least that's the case here in Europe, and for many things, we still don't know, or never will know exactly, as possible combinations and manipulations are practically endless and often very difficult to detect, as we often don't know, what to look for and much of the traces, and whole mineral or organic substance groups simply vanish pretty much completely through burning the pots, so often it's still guess and trial and error. And Yes, I simply love to see others do face the same challenges, as we do here, trying to find out, how exactly our ancestors may did it...Thanks a lot, it's always a lot of fun and a big learning experience!

[@Bunnyboop234]

This has to be one of the best creative videos i have ever seen!! I dont know if i would be able to make clay out of dirt since i have grass allergies so im trying to find alternatives thank you for sharing your creativity to the world so people like me can learn how to engineer and make use of out of resources❤ NEVER GIVE UP THIS IS BEAUTIFUL😭

[@scaphite]

Always a pleasure watching your craft great info. Consider doing a vid on Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara pottery?

[@AncientPottery]

I would like to learn more about it

[@mehmetaliduran7089]

very interesting 👍

[@wiliame]

i love listning to you talk :D thank you for a ncie video

[@doriswlongAgoandfarAway]

That is a lovely bowl. I wonder if you could use it to mix bread.

[@AncientPottery]

Sure you could. The nice thing about organic paint is that it is completely non-toxic

[@sheilam4964]

If that slip can be burned off, is it possible that where the black is lighter was because of the position of the pot in the fire? IE: downwind where the pot was hotter and maybe the lighter black parts is 'burned off', so to speak? This was a very enjoyable video, lots to learn. Thx for all of your effort and time doing this, filming it and sharing it with us. 👍👍👍👍👍

[@AncientPottery]

That is sometimes the case and is easy to tell when that happens from the pattern. But in this case the pattern of burned off areas relates to my polishing strokes. Thanks for the feedback.

[@sheilam4964]

@@AncientPottery - thx for sharing the knowledge.

[@Scou73r]

I have no evidence to back this up, but it's possible they used fully dry sheets of rawhide instead of a board to flip the bowls. Cowhide is fairly thick and stiff in it's raw form.

[@AncientPottery]

That's a great idea. Thanks

[@TuttleScott]

@@AncientPottery my first thought was to make a heavy mat with woven branches.

[@AncientPottery]

@@TuttleScott Maybe

[@guarnerrosales9806]

Super Qlt.... Sir: my RESPECTS FOR YOU, OLWAYS......

[@goglebert]

that's freakin' awesome. cheers from Ukraine

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you

[@goglebert]

@@AncientPottery do you know about Trypil-Cucuteni civilisation?

[@ChartAction]

I just want to give you kudos for your videos and thank you for all your knowledge this stuff is really interesting and I want to make some pottery now. I collected clay and sand im going to try to make some bowls first

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, I hope your bowls come out good.

[@John-mz6ig]

Do you think the ancient potters used multiple evenly spaced brushes on a single tool to cut down the time on hatching?

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@redrackham6812]

This is just a guess, and I am certainly no expert, but they might have used a stiff sheet of hide or leather where you have used plywood.

[@AncientPottery]

Good idea

[@redrackham6812]

Thank you. @@AncientPottery

[@weedwacker1716]

Do you think that pottery is more difficult to do here in the desert do to the aridity than out in the wet lands?

[@AncientPottery]

I think it is easier. Sure we need to be carful that the pot doesn't dry out too quickly but at least it dries. People who live in humid climates have trouble getting their pottery dry.

[@elizabethkuhn1159]

I want to make primitive pots for my plants. I would have a hole in the bottom of it so the water doesn’t stagnate. I would water the plant (roughly) twice a month. Is that okay? Will the strength of the pot be compromised over time since it isn’t glazed?

[@laurdy]

Could they have used a piece of Slate to flip their bowls?

[@AncientPottery]

Sure but it depends on the local geology. I don't think large pieces of slate are available anyplace I know of in southern Arizona

[@llanitedave]

I'm wondering if they just used helping hands from other people.

[@petepeterson4540]

use some vinegar to make your slip

[@AncientPottery]

What would the benefit of that be?

[@petepeterson4540]

hydration is improved as the vinegar will dissolve any and all lime or lime stone if you think there is none think again most clays are born at the bottoms of lakes and sea's@@AncientPottery

[@petepeterson4540]

it just helps try it and with your clays also@@AncientPottery

[@jillatherton4660]

😄👍

[@awyeagames]

Ancient people probably flipped bowls with the help of another person. 4 hands can do it easily.

[@AncientPottery]

True you have to trust the other person. I’m not sure if my wife would be the person for the job.

[@justdan5767]

Has anyone tried using blood for paint , its about 70 % iron, boiling it down would increase that and it would have been readily available. Thanks

[@AncientPottery]

Yuck

[@AncientPottery]

Clint Swink has tried it.

[@justdan5767]

I'm sure the native tribes were not as squeamish as we are. Any idea what Clints results were.

[@llanitedave]

@@justdan5767 Anemia?

[@AncientPottery]

@@justdan5767 No I don't. He just said he had tried "all bodily fluids" and I didn't ask any more questions.

[@magnuswootton6181]

if your going to start a war, you need to find where the clay is.

[@tebooho8582]

😃😅Do you ever buy clay

[@AncientPottery]

I recently bought 50 pounds of red mica clay from New Mexico Clay for making cover sherds. But usually no, I don't buy clay.

[@margaretfrew6661]

First thing that I noticed was that you did not wear a mask when you tipped out the clay., I know that you will add water and then knead the clay. Are your lungs OK?