Traditional ceramic pottery for poor children

We are helping poor children to make their own pottery and help them sell them for money. We need the money for their food, shelter & school!

This project is for making an online pottery learning platform, so all our children can learn others how it;s done.

The tradition of making pottery has been passed down from generation to generation in our country and all visotors want to learn about it. A group of students eager to teach others the secrets of this craft. The men of the family are responsible for using a kick wheel to shape the plates and bowl but It is the women of a family that decorate the pieces, using several motifs that are common across all pottery forms. We want to make an interactive platform with online courses, free to all who are interesed about the craft.

We have given numerous lectures in schools and colleges and many visitors from other countries asked us support in making those kind of artifacts. For them and for all those interested in Romanian pottery crafts we want that this idea to be carried forward.

Pottery is an ancient craft, if we are to consider the beautiful works of ceramics from the age of neolithic. During this age, there was a remarkable civilization in the country of Romania. It implies a lot of hard-work, a lot of strength, craft and knowledge. Any mistake may result in destruction of the pot; for this very reason, pottery is traditionally reserved exclusively for men, while women can help decorating the resulting products.

The three most important types of pottery are as follows: stoneware, earthenware and porcelain, and each kind can be distinguished by the mixture of clay and by the temperature of baking or firing. For instance, earthenware requires a rather low temperature, which enables the use of colorful shimmering. On the other hand, stoneware is more resistant and strong, since it is made of a heavier mixture of clay. In order to have a harder finish, stoneware is then baked at a considerably higher temperature. Then, finally, porcelain can be considered not only the purest, but also the most delicate and fragile form of pottery. Porcelain is made of a quite fine white clay called koalin, which is combined with measured quantities of flint and feldspar, then baked at a rather low temperature.

Men take the clay from special places, bring it in and mold it with their bare hands, with their feet, or with a big wooden hammer, mixing it with water. The obtained paste is then being cleansed, then cut in thin slices and then shaped with the use of potter's wheel.

The wheel is made of two discs, a smaller one in the upper part and a bigger one in the lower part, these two being linked by a vertical axis. The earth piece is placed on the upper disc, while the lower one is handled by the potter, giving it a quite fast pace with his foot. The wheel spins in regularly circular movements.

Shaping an item requires a very special technique and a very fast working speed, because the mixture should not under any circumstances get dry before the product is ready (because of that, sometimes the item is produced even in 40-50 seconds.) After giving it shape, the pottery is left to dry in the shadows for a few days. Then it is being baked in special ovens, after having been decorated. The most frequent decoration technique uses a cow horn with a goose feather in it. The color pours through the horn to the feather. So it is a very distinctive, unique brush for painting the items. The finest decorations can be made with the use of a small stick with wild boar hair on its end. Another kind of decoration can be made by scratching the item with a metal end, after inserting it in paint.

Another important thing to be mentioned is that all the colors used by traditional Romanian potters are of natural origin. Thus, red is obtained from a special soil rich in iron oxide. This soil is dried, turned into powder, and then soaked in water. The resulting thick liquid is then passed through a cloth or a jigger, and the end-product is a shiny mixture. Black is also made from a special kind of soil, which can be found in earth erosions after rains. Green is obtained through baking copper wire mixed with humus. White is made of lime mixed with white mountain stones, burnt and turned to powder. Yellow is made of a special humus from Medgidia (reason for which it is harder to find), mixed with soil rich in iron oxide.

The chromatics of pottery preserves ancient traditions. The red ceramics from the south-western part of Romania is of Roman origin, whereas yellow, green and white used in other parts of the country indicate byzantine traditions.

We need at least 12.000$ for this project, but we have allmost 6000$ at this moment.

We need a very good platform, witch is 15% proccent done. We payed 2500$ to a coding company for it. we need to pay for all the materials and the persons who will make the courses.

All the courses will be filmed, and we will make an online website with all the movies.

All involved are connected to the event and hope that by the March 2014 it will be ready for launch this platform.
We expect at least 500 users online at each class.

If you missed the getget program you can allways donate via paypal at [email protected]