This Man Makes His Clay Pots With Absolutely No Modern Tools
Next time you go to grab a plate out of the dishwasher pause for a moment to think about how your ubiquitous plates and cups used to be made before factories. One Australian man is discovering exactly that with his YouTube series called Primitive Technology. The channel focuses on living in a ‘primitive way’, basically living without any modern tools or technology. The YouTube and blog host identifies himself as John Plant. Plant lives in Far North Queensland in Australia. He conducts his experiments in primitive styles on a private piece of land. In this video Plant demonstrates how to make and fire basic ceramics.
First, he collects clay from the bank of a nearby creek. You can see that he picks out any immediate impurities in the clay before letting it dry slightly next to his fire. He shapes the clay into a series of cups. Each cup is then individually fired in a very hot campfire that is built around each little cup. After the firing, Plant strikes the cups with a stick and they resonate with a very satisfying solid sound of hardened clay. Plant then tests each cup in the river and they solidly hold up to the test. The next project is a large pot with a lid. Plant uses the very traditional spiral technique to build the walls of the pot. Making the clay into a large snake, the clay is then wound around and around until the desired height is reached. After firing this beautiful pot, it also gives off that satisfying sound.