How to Make Horsehair Pottery

Legend has it that horsehair pottery was created accidentally when long hair strands from a Native American woman, who was removing a piece of pottery from a hot kiln, fell onto the pot, leaving behind an interesting carbon design on its surface. Today, horsehair pottery is a vibrant pottery technique practiced by many artists, most notably by Native American artists living in the southwestern United States. While horsehair pottery is traditionally made with the mane or tail hair of horses, you can also produce quality, although less dramatic, results utilizing coarse fur from long-haired dogs and cats.

Things You'll Need

• Low-fire clay
• Pottery tools
• Slip
• Smooth stone or cloth
• Kiln
• Cones
• Horsehair
• Paste wax

Instructions

1. Create a low-fire clay wheel-thrown or hand-built piece of pottery utilizing pottery tools such as a potter's rib, wood modeling tool, needle tool, ribbon tool, loop tool, steel scraper, wire clay cutter, and throwing sponge. Dry, then bisque fire (first fire) your pottery at a lower than normal temperature (Cone 06--approximately 1828 degrees F). This makes the vessel more porous, enabling the clay to absorb carbon from the burning horsehair later on.

   Optional Step 1
   Brush dried clay piece with three applications of clay slip (a mixture of clay, water and deflocculant---a chemical thinning agent), hand polishing your pottery with a smooth stone or cloth after each application has dried. This creates a shiny, buffed surface. Bisque fire it at Cone 06.

2. Remove vessel from kiln and let it cool.

3. Place pottery piece in a warmed kiln and let it ramp up to 1300 to 1400 degrees F (depending on the type of kiln). Heat until the cone(s) is melted.

4. Remove vessel from kiln and immediately place horsehairs on the hot surface. You have only about 30 to 45 seconds to apply the horsehair before the exterior becomes too cool. Once the vessel's temperature drops lower than 900 degrees, the hair will not burn.

5. Let the pottery piece cool. Wash or brush off the horsehair ashes. If you remove the ashes by washing, let the piece dry. Then polish your finished horsehair creation with a paste wax, which brings out the beauty of the horsehair design.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't try to create a specific or detailed design. Time is short. Most artists have no control over exactly how the design will emerge. In pottery, kilns are fired to a "cone" level, which includes time as well as temperature. Cones have different numbers that correspond to a heating-rate/temperature combination needed to make the cone bend. A perfectly fired cone will be bent at a 90 degree angle. Less than 90 degrees, the kiln was under fired. More than 90 degrees, the kiln was over fired. If you can't find horsehair, you may use dog or cat fur that is at least 3 inches long. The coarser the hair, the more distinct the design will be. You may also try bird feathers but the design will be much broader. Horsehair pottery can be cleaned with a slightly damp cloth. You may use a thin coat of wood floor paste wax to restore the satin finish if needed.

• Horsehair pottery is not functional because of its porous quality. It is only for decorative use. Never pour liquids into horsehair pottery. You will notice a hair-burning odor when the horsehair is applied to the hot surface. There will also be carbon residue left on the clay piece after the hair has burned away. If you are sensitive to these effects, please take precautions, such as a dust mask or gloves.

References

• Pottery Magic
• Horsehair Pottery
• Earthen Horse Pottery

Resources

• Continental Clay Company
• Knot-A-Tail