Richard Carlton interviewing Ibro Šabanović about clay and sources. Liješevo

Richard Carlton interviewing Ibro Šabanović about clay and sources. Beginds by saying that clay sourcing is the biggest problem (theat the potters have). They have to go to the woods some 3-4 km away with a tractor or, in recent times, a mechanical excavator. Now and, even when digging by hand, they dug down to 4 metres or more, but there is no clear relationship between depth and quality of clay. 'Purer' clay is generally found at grearter depth, though, with less stone or other impurities. Potters need really clean clay, he reiterates. You know from the sound of the spade if there is good or bad clay. The clay is on government land. They wait until Autumn to dig it. Now (Spring) is too muddy. In the past it could take three days to dig a hole then further days to dig the clay, so this would be an annual job with help from family, including children. Potters had to be careful about animals falling into the holdes, though, so sometimes covered them up. Visnjica had the best white clay, but there was another source locally in the same direction from which was mined clay for making spark plugs, but after it closed Ibro went there in 1998 and found it inaccessible. He treid to ask Dzevad at Visnjica to dig clay there, but it didn't ahppen He then taked about old potter Miho (Begovic) at Visnijica and said that Dzevad and his wife used to sell Miho's pots, and that they used to meet at the marked in Fojnica. But Visnjica potters, says Ibro, only had white clay so couldn't adapt whedemand switched to cooking pots of coarser, red clay.