Shaping a cooking pot in Kon Tơ Xing village 1/4 : Roughing out

Y Gah places the support on which she is going to make the pot on lump of clay on its support and inserts her thumbs in the middle. (It is interesting to note that before opening the lump of clay, she makes the Sign of the Cross.) While turning around the support, she presses the edges between her thumbs and her fingers to compact the clay and enlarge the opening. Once the hole in the centre of the cylinder has the depth of her thumb, and still turning around the support, the potter inserts her right hand inside pushes down the clay in the centre of the bottom to create a hole again and then pulls up clay from the bottom to the top. She uses her left hand as support from the outside. She also uses her right hand’s fingers to scratch the outer surface in order to close up the cracks that appears when she pushes out the walls. It also helps to even the thickness of the walls.