PIT FIRING (1)
ca: FORN POU (1)
es: HORNO POZO (1)
Primitive firings were made up with wood, coal, sawdust, paper, smoking, in holes the clay pieces they madein the ground, cans, manure, etc. They did not have kilns but built up large outdoor bonfires, which covered the clay pieces they made. The bonfire was made up with combustible material and was usually in an area near where people lived. The bonfires never reached very high temperatures, the heat for firing wasusually around 700° C. The colors of the pieces were irregular as this depended on the intensity of the heat in each zone of the kiln.
a & b) Photographs of rows of clay pots being stacked and prepared for firing in an outdoor pit used as a kiln in Morope, Peru. Utilitarian pottery is used by local families. Sticks, twigs, and dung are used for fuel to fire the pots. Pottery and ceramics are popular crafts in this area of Northern Peru, and techniques are essentially unchanged over thousands of years.
c) Photograph of a proud boy holding a clay pot that he crafted in Morope Peru The child is member of a family that have been ceramic potters and craftsmen in this rural village for generations Most of the pots produced by the family are utilitarian vessels but this boy expressed himself as a sculpture artist The pot is a form of folk art Photograph taken by Nathan Benn August 9 1989
Copyright Nathan Benn: Pit firing
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