Clay is a very simple material. It is abundant, cheap, easily acquired and prepared and does not require extensive processing. If these characteristics were not there for clay, it would have been impossible for primitive people to make pottery. Even today pottery can be made with out resort to science. Clay is also a temperamental material. Its plasticity or workability varies widely, so that some clay which serves quite well for one thing is useless for another. Clay shrinks when it dries and shrinks more when fired, and this creates all sorts of problems in making pottery.
The practical answers to all of these problems connected with making things out of clay lie with craft rather than science. Ootters, over the centuries have successfully worked out techniques for handling their material.
To be continued…………….
