Note 9 — RAW MATERIALS; COLLECTION, AND PREPARATION

Stevenson said, in speaking of Zuñi pottery making: “This carbonaceous clay is first mixed with water and kneaded as a baker kneads dough until it reaches the proper consistency” (1883, p. 329). Mrs. Stevenson describes the preparation of clay at Zuñi as follows: “The clay is ground to a powder and mixed with a small quantity of pulverized pottery, fragments of the latter being carefully hoarded for this purpose. The powder thus compounded is mixed with water enough to make a pasty mass, which is kneaded like dough. The more care taken in pulverizing the material and the more time spent in working it, the finer becomes the paste. When the mass reaches such a state of consistency that the fingers can no longer detect the presence of gritty particles, it is still more delicately tested with the tongue, and when found to be satisfactory it is placed in a vessel and covered with a cloth, where it will retain the moisture until wanted for use” (1904, p. 374-5).