Indian pottery has been around for over 1,500 years.  Countless hands have shaped the clay and made pottery that has been useful as well as a work of beauty.  Today modern utensils in the home have replaced the need for pottery in home use.  Today's potters are more concerned with how the pot looks than with practicality.  In addition to looks modern potters are experimenting with new clays, trying new designs and developing new techniques.

As innovative as some of these new concepts are contemporary pottery is still firmly rooted in traditional soils.  All new Pueblo pottery is still made in the same way as the old, without the use of a wheel.  The walls of the piece are made by rolling ropes of clay and laying them on top of each other, then scrapping and smoothing the surface to remove any trace of the coils.  After the pot has dried a watery clay soup called a slip is wiped on the surface.  Than the pot is polished with a smooth stone.  If a design is to be painted it is done after it is polished but before firing.  The firing process is done outside in the open.  The pots are placed on a metal grate and covered with scrape metal or pottery shards.  The fuel is usually dried dung cakes and is placed under, around and on top of the pile and is than ignited.  The fire is usually allowed to burn down.  If a black pot is what is being made, the entire heap is smothered with a powdered manure and fine ash after the fire has reached its peak.

The most important buying advice in pottery is buy only what you like.  If you buy only what you like than you can live with the pleasure of owning a thing of beauty.