Making Pottery (Continued)

These days, it's impossible to go out and buy various daily necessities, so everyone makes them by hand. Knives, woodenware, pottery, and other items are all made by the tribe.

Wu Jiong: "We'll be making a batch in the coming days. Ask Qing Kuo."

If Wu Jiong was the leader of the entire tribe, then Qing Kuo was the leader of the sub-beastmen, and he was in charge of most of the tribe's gathering and crafting matters.

He is fair and just in his dealings, and everyone respects him.

Jian Mo asked Qing Kuo when he would make pottery.

Qing Kuo thought for a moment and said, "The weather is getting cold, and there's not much to gather outside. We can start making pottery in the next few days."

Jian Mo's eyes lit up immediately. "Great! I want to do it together!"

Qing Kuo: "Then we'll call you. We need to make some pottery for the tribe and some for our own use. You can make whatever you want for your own pottery, and we'll fire them together."

Jian Mo nodded repeatedly. "Then I'll try to see if I can glaze the pottery!"

These days, Jian Mo has brought many new technologies to the tribe, Qing Kuo asked with great interest, "What is glazing?"

Jian Mo: "So, after the clay body dries, you apply another layer of mud to the outside? And then let it dry again?"

He wasn't actually sure about the specific glazing techniques. He had never made pottery on Earth, and his knowledge came from various extracurricular readings and video channels.

Qing Kuo: "Then we'll give it a try."

Qing Kuo suggested putting pottery making on the agenda, so he discussed it with everyone.

They chose a day and decided to make the pottery.

Jian Mo originally thought that digging soil from the mountain would suffice.

When he actually started making pottery, he discovered that the clay used in the tribe was all dug from the riverbank.

The soil dug from the riverbank is finer, lighter in color, and feels different from ordinary soil; this might be the real clay.

After digging up the clay, everyone sifted it first.

The tribe uses nets woven from tree bark, the mesh of which looks no bigger than a toothpick.

The clay sifted through this mesh is very fine, with a texture similar to cocoa powder.

After the clay was sifted, Qing Kuo and several other experienced sub-orcs directed everyone to add water and mix the mud well.

Jian Mo originally thought that she was almost ready to make pottery at this stage.

Unexpectedly, they had to take the mixed clay to the large stone mortar near Hong Qiu's house, pour the mixed clay in, and knead it again and again until it became a smooth and firm lump of clay.

The whole process was exhausting; Jian Mo just helping out left Jane breathless.

It was cold, and he had to keep kneading and pounding the mud; the wind made his hands icy cold.

Because of the strong friction of the soil, his fingernails were worn down, and the nails separated slightly from the flesh, causing pain when touched.

The sub-beastmen were a little better than him, but not by much.

Jian Mo exhausted she questioned the meaning of life and didn't want to say a word.

Seeing him like this, Qing Kuo patted him on the shoulder. "If you're tired, go and rest over there. There's no rush."

Jian Mo shook her head. "I can still hold on."

Qing Kuo didn't say anything more, and patted him again.

Using a stone mortar to pound the clay is much faster than simply kneading it by hand; by the afternoon, the clay was almost ready.

Everyone carried the clay back to the open space in the village, found a sheltered spot, and slowly made pottery while basking in the sun.

Orcs and sub-orcs who had free time all came, as did children who could transform into human form.

Everyone puts a ceramic plate underneath and then they're free to create their own designs.

Jian Mo wasn't very good at this, so she followed Qing Kuo and the others, doing it step by step.

Qing Kuo would occasionally make corrections to prevent the blank from becoming uneven and cracking during firing.

Jian Mo originally thought pottery would be fun, but now that she's actually doing it, she's realized it involves a huge amount of labor, and she has to redo it from time to time.

Even someone as patient as him gets incredibly annoying; I don't know how someone with no patience can persevere.

Fortunately, once the shape is finished, you can draw some nice patterns on it, so at least there's something to play with.

After the clay blanks are made, they need to be air-dried.

It's cold and dry now, and the wind is strong, so it won't take long for it to air dry.

Jian Mo pondered for a moment and decided to first prepare the glaze.

He wasn't really familiar with this glaze; he only remembered that it was made by mixing mineral powder.

If he had transmigrated to this world during high school, he might have been able to usher the entire orc world into the industrial age.

Now that he's graduated from university, he's lucky if he doesn't starve.

There didn't seem to be any minerals near the Riverside Tribe, and Jian Mo couldn't think of anything she could use to make glazes.

He eventually went with Wu Jiong on Flying-Winged Beast to the Mengshui Tribe and brought back some ochre-red clay to use for plastering the walls.

It should contain iron, which can be used to make glaze.

That's all the chemistry knowledge he's almost forgotten can help him with.

After bringing the pigment powder back, he ground it carefully several times and sifted it to make sure there were no particles in it before mixing it into a paste. Then he took five pieces of pottery that had been air-dried for a while, applied a layer of glaze, and sent them to air-dry again.

He only experimented with the clay blanks he made himself, and no one had any objections.

Zhou Fu and a few others found it interesting and brought over some unfinished pottery pieces, saying they wanted to try it together.

Jian Mo then applied a layer of glaze to their pottery blanks as well.

Once the glaze had dried again in the shade, everyone began firing the pottery.

There are no kilns in the tribe. On the day of the official firing, everyone first digs up wet clay, makes a platform on the flat ground, then piles a lot of firewood on the platform, and then places the air-dried clay blanks on the firewood.

After placing the clay blanks, they also arranged a large circle of firewood around the earthen platform to make a frame, and then covered the frame with a layer of wet mud.

Finally, a gigantic hemispherical object was created, with an opening at the top and three openings at the bottom.

Jian Mo guessed that these openings were to allow air to enter, so that the firewood inside could burn more intensely.