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| 1894 Catalog of the HH Tammen Company Winterthur Museum Library |
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| pages 18, 19 (click to enlarge) |
"The only implements used in making this Puebloan
pottery are little trowels made of clay and mortars and pestles of stone, the
latter serving to reduce to a powder the mineral substances employed in part in
the decoration. When formed by hand and trowel and into the desired shapes, a
number of the unbaked vessels are placed together, and an oven-shaped pile of
combustible manure is piled around them and set on fire, by which process those
utensils intended for cooking'are finished, when sufficiently hardened in the
fire. The finer vessels, designed for uses which will not impair their beauty,
are covered with a fine quality of white clay, which, after being allowed to
dry, is capable of a high polish. Upon this coating the vegetable and mineral
paints are applied, with a piece of rabbit skin for a brush, in such designs as
suit the artist's fancy. The intense blackness of one kind of ware is produced
by covering them, when very hot, with a second heap of manure-fuel ; the sudden
partial cooling that ensues, causes them to absorb the smoke, which becomes oxidized
upon their surfaces. In the Santa Clara towns the burning is done in small
square ovens built into the walls of the houses; each family bakes its own
pottery, and family marks, or peculiarities of symbolical ornamentation
distinguish each matron's make. We offer for sale the following rare collection
of twenty-three pieces…"
