Black pottery is made from a mixed paste of ground black serpentine stone and special brown clay, which is found in Imphal east, Andro, Manipur. The pots are manually shaped, polished and sun-dried and heated in a bonfire. The black color of ham is a result of reduction firing of the ware, and the beautiful shine on it comes from polishing the heated earthen pots with a local tree leaf. Unlike most other kinds of pottery, Black pottery is not shaped on the potter’s wheel. The entire process is quite labor-intensive, and while it’s mostly the men making the pottery, women folks also participate. It’s heartening to see the younger generation also taking interest in the craft and willing to take the legacy forward.
Black pottery is made using a mixture of two materials, leshong lung (black serpentine stone) and leshon or salla nali (weathered reddish-brown rock), which are found in abundance in the area. The two minerals, quarried from the local landscape using hand tools, are thoroughly dried for a few days before they are evenly powdered using shamkhur, a wooden mortar and suk, a pestle, mixed with water in a wooden trough, and kneaded to make a homogenous clay. A portion of this is separated and rolled flat to make the base for the pot. The rest is rolled out to make the wall of the pot: it is flattened — initially using the hands, and then a cylindrical roller — to obtain a length with an even, predetermined thickness. This is cut to the required length and breadth using a bamboo-bladed knife before it is curved into a cylinder and placed vertically on the circumference of the base on a stand. A moist paste of the same clay is used to seal the edges of the cylinder and join it to the base. Moving around the working block or using a rotatable stand, the potter then shapes the vessel, keeping one hand on the inside while continuously beating the clay from the outside using a wet hamkapi, a wooden or bamboo paddle with a cylindrical handle and flat head, while keeping the clay moist to keep it from cracking. The potter uses various sizes and shapes of paddles, and the flat heads may be wrapped with jute, cane or other materials, which help retain moisture and lend texture to the pot. A bamboo scraper is used to even out the edges, remove excess clay or dirt, and sometimes to etch motifs or patterns onto the surface when the pot is semi-dry. The surface is smoothened and polished using a variety of implements such as brushes, stones and marbles. The pot is then air-dried for four to twelve days, usually over the hearth inside the house, before it is fired in an open furnace or a closed kiln to about 800º Celsius. Once cooled by wrapping in dry grass, it is polished by rubbing with the leaves of the local sahi tree (Lithocarpus dealbatus), which imbue it with its distinctive sheen. Cane or other decorative materials may later be added to the handles or other ancillary parts of the pot.
