Main Centre Of Pottery:
This small village located at the western shore of the Inlay Lake, Shan State, Burma, and its inhabitants - scarcely 100 Shan families who sleep in beautiful, traditional Shan huts and houses comprising wood and bamboo frames, matting, bamboo and wood flooring and thatch roofs - are renowned for the assembly of top quality pottery/earthenware, which here as everywhere within the country is both an industry and an art. After having visited this main pottery centre of the Shan State, seen the potters at work and bathed during this village's atmosphere you'll certainly check out pottery through different eyes.
A noteworthy fact is that the ancestors of Khaung Daing's potters would little question not recognise that decades, centuries even millennia have passed since they gave up the ghost and would definitely be ready to immediately join into the method of creating pottery at any time and any of its stages from the very starting to the very end as nothing has changed within the traditional methods since they themselves once did this work.
The basic materials used, their sources, the methods of their preparation, the tools, the techniques of forming the pottery and its burning, the designs, the sizes, the various sorts of pottery, the sorts of kilns used, etc., everything - absolutely everything - has remained an equivalent . With reference to pottery, time has obviously stood still and can most likely still do so. Pottery is typically a closed corporation and therefore the knowledge and skills needed to perform this craft are handed down from generation to generation; and today's potters' descendents aren't likely to vary anything. But that's the longer term and that we will now concern ourselves with this and Khaung Daing's present-day pottery workshops.
Now as ever pottery or earthenware plays a central role in Burma's households as pottery is put to innumerable uses: plates, bowls, cups, beakers, vases, pots of any size to cook, preserve and serve food and beverages, to form rice wine, to plant flowers and plants into them, as depository for money, jewellery, gold, etc. (still usual in rural areas), statues, figurines, children toys, burial urns, then on then forth; all pottery. Accordingly, of these different sorts of pottery articles are produced in Khaung Daing Village.
The main material used is potting clay. Either damped and kneaded clay powder (terracotta) or previously soaked in water for a extended time then after the water is poured away stamped until smooth and pliable. Occasionally, these two different sorts of clay are blended. The clay is formed of earth and silt from the lake. the tactic wont to make smaller pottery like tableware is that the 'wheel throwing' technique. allow us to now watch a potter using this system at work.
To make e.g. a bowl on the wheel (set during a shallow mould and turned either by foot or hand by the potter himself or an assistant) a lump of clay is placed within the centre that's then pulled and pushed by the potter into a cylindrical shape. He then presses his thumb onto the highest of the cylinder, creating a hole that he expands while pulling up the edges . Afterwards he begins to make the lip using one hand on either side of the sting of the article. After completion the potter runs a skinny wire under rock bottom or foot of the piece and removes it from the wheel. The earthenware is produced in one uninterrupted and smooth process out of 1 lump of clay.
For large pots and jars the 'coiling technique' is applied. Big jars - like those called 'hundred-container' because they need a holding capacity of hundred 'Viss' ( 157 kilogram) - are 4 feet/1.2 metres high, have a gap of 18 inches/43 centimetres, a bulbous body and a narrow bottom. Storage pots have a holding capacity of up to 60 gallons.
The process to form and form such an enormous pottery article consists of 4 stages, the primary of which is that rock bottom or base of the jar is made and semi-dried. within the second stage of manufacture the potter forms out of an extended string of clay the wall of the lower half the jar. The string is made into a loop or ring and therefore the jar is made up by superimposing the rings, which are scraped smooth at the surface because the article builds up, 'glued' to rock bottom by wetting the sides and put to dry. The third stage is to make the upper half with the lip an equivalent way during which the lower part was made. counting on the utilization the jar is meant for, further elements like loops near the opening/mouth are added. The fourth stage consists of putting the 'half-jars' together and letting the entire thing dry within the sun.
After being dried pottery articles are fired (also called baked or burned). this is often usually wiped out kilns but when lower burning temperatures and shorter burning periods suffice - as is that the case with ordinary terracotta pots - it's done by what's called 'open fire'. The potters simply cover the sun-dried earthenware that's piled in stacks on the bottom with a thick layer of straw, which is then assail fire. this hearth reaches a temperature of about 1.202 to 1.382 degrees F (650 to 750 degrees C).
For glazed pottery a paste is formed of powdered cinder or lava from the Shan mountains, alittle portion of clay and 'thamin-yay' (rice water that's poured out of the pot when the rice is prepared cooked and is the glue or binding agent) and slapped on the dried pottery before the burning process. The baking of glazed earthenware that's sometimes called 'middle-fire ware' needs high temperatures of 1.650 to 2.192 degrees F/900 to 1.200 degrees C.
Other methods of decorating pottery are painting or the stamping and/or incising of styles . Pottery are often painted before or after the burning.
As for kilns there are basically two different kinds: those built above ground and people built under ground. Both of those are so-called 'intermittent kilns' because they have to be extinguished before being unloaded and recharged. against this , 'continuous kilns' are often loaded and recharged while the hearth is burning. In Khaung Daing the underground type is employed . An underground kiln may be a pit with steps to enter and leave it on one side and a screened vent on the opposite side. The above-ground kilns are made from bricks with an entrance on one side and screened smoke holes. Once the pottery is thoroughly stacked within the kiln and therefore the spaces between the larger articles are crammed with smaller pottery like children toys (play pots, figurines, etc.) the kiln is crammed with firewood, which is about alight before the doorway is correctly closed with bricks, clay and earth/soil. After several days of baking - the lengths of the amount is chosen consistent with the dimensions and number of pieces of pottery - the kiln is allowed to gradually calm down for variety of days before it's opened to unload the pottery.
To watch all the stages of the entire pottery-making process performed in old traditions by the Shan people of Kyaung Daing not only is an educating but also a really entertaining event that creates you develop a pity earthenware and as stated previously you'll from now on check out e.g. the plate you're eating from, the cup you're drinking out and therefore the bowls during which your food is served with different eyes.
I am now leaving this beautiful village to return to Nyaung Shwe, where I even have started my tour. i will be able to spend the remainder of the day and therefore the night in Nyaung Shwe. Tomorrow morning i will be able to continue my journey ashore to Pindaya. I hope you've got enjoyed the visit to Kyaung Daing. I did and hope we'll see again.
A noteworthy fact is that the ancestors of Khaung Daing's potters would little question not recognise that decades, centuries even millennia have passed since they gave up the ghost and would definitely be ready to immediately join into the method of creating pottery at any time and any of its stages from the very starting to the very end as nothing has changed within the traditional methods since they themselves once did this work.
The basic materials used, their sources, the methods of their preparation, the tools, the techniques of forming the pottery and its burning, the designs, the sizes, the various sorts of pottery, the sorts of kilns used, etc., everything - absolutely everything - has remained an equivalent . With reference to pottery, time has obviously stood still and can most likely still do so. Pottery is typically a closed corporation and therefore the knowledge and skills needed to perform this craft are handed down from generation to generation; and today's potters' descendents aren't likely to vary anything. But that's the longer term and that we will now concern ourselves with this and Khaung Daing's present-day pottery workshops.
Now as ever pottery or earthenware plays a central role in Burma's households as pottery is put to innumerable uses: plates, bowls, cups, beakers, vases, pots of any size to cook, preserve and serve food and beverages, to form rice wine, to plant flowers and plants into them, as depository for money, jewellery, gold, etc. (still usual in rural areas), statues, figurines, children toys, burial urns, then on then forth; all pottery. Accordingly, of these different sorts of pottery articles are produced in Khaung Daing Village.
The main material used is potting clay. Either damped and kneaded clay powder (terracotta) or previously soaked in water for a extended time then after the water is poured away stamped until smooth and pliable. Occasionally, these two different sorts of clay are blended. The clay is formed of earth and silt from the lake. the tactic wont to make smaller pottery like tableware is that the 'wheel throwing' technique. allow us to now watch a potter using this system at work.
To make e.g. a bowl on the wheel (set during a shallow mould and turned either by foot or hand by the potter himself or an assistant) a lump of clay is placed within the centre that's then pulled and pushed by the potter into a cylindrical shape. He then presses his thumb onto the highest of the cylinder, creating a hole that he expands while pulling up the edges . Afterwards he begins to make the lip using one hand on either side of the sting of the article. After completion the potter runs a skinny wire under rock bottom or foot of the piece and removes it from the wheel. The earthenware is produced in one uninterrupted and smooth process out of 1 lump of clay.
For large pots and jars the 'coiling technique' is applied. Big jars - like those called 'hundred-container' because they need a holding capacity of hundred 'Viss' ( 157 kilogram) - are 4 feet/1.2 metres high, have a gap of 18 inches/43 centimetres, a bulbous body and a narrow bottom. Storage pots have a holding capacity of up to 60 gallons.
The process to form and form such an enormous pottery article consists of 4 stages, the primary of which is that rock bottom or base of the jar is made and semi-dried. within the second stage of manufacture the potter forms out of an extended string of clay the wall of the lower half the jar. The string is made into a loop or ring and therefore the jar is made up by superimposing the rings, which are scraped smooth at the surface because the article builds up, 'glued' to rock bottom by wetting the sides and put to dry. The third stage is to make the upper half with the lip an equivalent way during which the lower part was made. counting on the utilization the jar is meant for, further elements like loops near the opening/mouth are added. The fourth stage consists of putting the 'half-jars' together and letting the entire thing dry within the sun.
After being dried pottery articles are fired (also called baked or burned). this is often usually wiped out kilns but when lower burning temperatures and shorter burning periods suffice - as is that the case with ordinary terracotta pots - it's done by what's called 'open fire'. The potters simply cover the sun-dried earthenware that's piled in stacks on the bottom with a thick layer of straw, which is then assail fire. this hearth reaches a temperature of about 1.202 to 1.382 degrees F (650 to 750 degrees C).
For glazed pottery a paste is formed of powdered cinder or lava from the Shan mountains, alittle portion of clay and 'thamin-yay' (rice water that's poured out of the pot when the rice is prepared cooked and is the glue or binding agent) and slapped on the dried pottery before the burning process. The baking of glazed earthenware that's sometimes called 'middle-fire ware' needs high temperatures of 1.650 to 2.192 degrees F/900 to 1.200 degrees C.
Other methods of decorating pottery are painting or the stamping and/or incising of styles . Pottery are often painted before or after the burning.
As for kilns there are basically two different kinds: those built above ground and people built under ground. Both of those are so-called 'intermittent kilns' because they have to be extinguished before being unloaded and recharged. against this , 'continuous kilns' are often loaded and recharged while the hearth is burning. In Khaung Daing the underground type is employed . An underground kiln may be a pit with steps to enter and leave it on one side and a screened vent on the opposite side. The above-ground kilns are made from bricks with an entrance on one side and screened smoke holes. Once the pottery is thoroughly stacked within the kiln and therefore the spaces between the larger articles are crammed with smaller pottery like children toys (play pots, figurines, etc.) the kiln is crammed with firewood, which is about alight before the doorway is correctly closed with bricks, clay and earth/soil. After several days of baking - the lengths of the amount is chosen consistent with the dimensions and number of pieces of pottery - the kiln is allowed to gradually calm down for variety of days before it's opened to unload the pottery.
To watch all the stages of the entire pottery-making process performed in old traditions by the Shan people of Kyaung Daing not only is an educating but also a really entertaining event that creates you develop a pity earthenware and as stated previously you'll from now on check out e.g. the plate you're eating from, the cup you're drinking out and therefore the bowls during which your food is served with different eyes.
I am now leaving this beautiful village to return to Nyaung Shwe, where I even have started my tour. i will be able to spend the remainder of the day and therefore the night in Nyaung Shwe. Tomorrow morning i will be able to continue my journey ashore to Pindaya. I hope you've got enjoyed the visit to Kyaung Daing. I did and hope we'll see again.