When the thrower has finished his vessel, it is cut off from the table by a piece of thread or by a brass wire, and taken to the stoveroom to dry and harden. When sufficiently dry the vessel is placed on a lathe, and the turner shaves off all superfluous clay. The finer mouldings (using the word here in its architectural sense) may also be given at this stage, and sometimes the surface is shaped by a ‘profile’ of steel (it may be a piece from the blade of an old saw), which cuts the surface down to the desired shape. The shavings are carefully preserved and returned to the slip-house, to be blended with the new clay, the working qualities of which are thereby improved.
There are certain parts, especially handles, spouts, and projecting ornaments, which must in all cases be separately moulded. The foot also, in the case of large vases, is separately prepared and subsequently attached. These parts are made in plaster moulds by the ‘handler,’ whose duty it now is to fix them to the vase. Carefully marking the exact place, he spreads on it a thin layer of slip with a spatula, and then presses home the handle or other appendage. Should, however, the two surfaces be dry and absorbent, it may be necessary to add some gum to the slip thus employed. A similar process, but one requiring greater care and skill, is that of fixing together the separate pieces of large vases and figures. This is done in the way we have already described in the case of the handles and spouts--that is by applying a coating of slip to the parts to be joined.
It is at this stage that any decorations in relief that may be required are applied to the surface. These are often made in flat moulds, and to fix them it is enough to run a little water from a camel’s hair pencil behind the ornament after adjusting it to its proper place. These processes of fitting on of appendages and ornaments are included by the French under the term _garniture_.
MOULDING AND PRESSING.--It is evident that only vessels of a cylindrical or conical form, or, more exactly, such as have a circular section when divided horizontally, can be formed on the wheel. To produce any other form, the vessel must be either shaped directly by the hand or made in some kind of mould. The use of moulds for pottery is as old, if not older than that of the wheel. It was in this way that the _Ushabti_ figures of the old Egyptians were made, and many of these date back to the Early Empire. So in China, the further back we go, the more the use of moulds seems to have prevailed. I take from the excellent article on the manufacture of pottery in the _Penny Cyclopædia_ the following account of the process in use in England at the beginning of the last century:--