A woman (Yaa Nsiah Adiemu) headloads pottery that she has brought from Dorbour to the marketplace in Ahenkro, a distance of about 20 km which she has traveled on foot. She is accompanied by her niece (right). She carries in her headpan clay pots used for cooking food and making soup (sro chͻ and chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra). She sells her clay pots at the weekly market and by going house-to-house. The load that she is carrying here is at the end of a market day, after she has sold some of her pottery. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Adwoa Miwo (right) learns to make clay pots from her experienced potter mother, Peni Ngunu Chͻ (center), as they work together in the interior courtyard of their house. Mosi Nyuu (husband and father) looks on. Partially finished clay jars sit nearby, resting on the palettes (kapankpa in Nafaanra) on which they have been formed. The more experienced mother is making a larger jar than her apprentice daughter. Also placed around the house's interior courtyard are two dark-colored clay soup pots (chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra) and a wooden mortar (right). Thatch- and metal-roofed rooms surround the courtyard. Dorbour, 1994.
A potter sits on a stool as she molds the upper body of a clay water jar (chͻkoo in Nafaanra). In her right hand she uses a maize cob (bledjukaan in Nafaanra), pulling it against the exterior surface to smooth and thin the clay. In the foreground are water jars whose leather-hard upper body and rim have been joined to a rounded base, their clay bases still moist and not yet smoothed. Large wooden mortars and a headpan containing moist clay sit nearby as she works in the shade of an open-sided room. Dorbour, 1994.
Afua Donkor, a Nafana potter, uses a pestle to pound bark that will be used to make a solution to finish clay pots. In a nearby headpan, more stripped bark awaits pounding. After pounding, the bark will be soaked in water. Hot clay pots just removed from the bonfire will be dipped and turned in the solution. This colors the pots and is said to reduce their porosity. She sits on a stool as she works in the courtyard near a hearth. Nearby is a large metal cooking pot, several wooden mortars and a number of pestles. Finished clay soup cooking pots (chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra) sit behind her ready for sale. Dorbour, 1994.
Akua Donkor, a Nafana potter, etches grooves onto the leather-hard surface of a clay cooking pot (sro chͻ in Nafaanra) before it is fired. The lower part of the jar has been surface treated using a maize cob (bledjukaan in Nafaanra) as a roulette. This gives the pot surface texture, over which the grooved design is made. She wears bracelets that sometimes double as tools to decorate pots. Dorbour, 1994.
Women headloading pottery prepare to leave Dorbour to walk to the weekly market in Bondoukou, a distance of more than 30 km. They have secured the clay pots by tying nettting or cloth around them. The women are not necessarily potters. Some women trade in clay pots but do not make them. Dorbour, 1994.
Small pedestal-based bowls like this one (called kontondԑԑ in Nafaanra) are used in funeral rituals. Women cook food and offer it to the ancestors in a funeral ceremony called 'sro waa'. Larger versions of these bowls were used in times past as women's eating bowls; however, by the late 20th century small versions like this one were only made to order for funerals. Men were prohibited from touching them. Dorbour, 1994.
Fired clay stands like these were made by potters for use in the kitchen area of houses. Grouped together in threes like hearthstones, the stands supported pots over an open fire during cooking. Some of these fired clay stands had an opening, allowing pieces of meat to be placed inside where it slow-cooked and dried as other parts of the meal were cooking. Dorbour, 1994.
Yaa Tenabrԑ, a Nafana potter, sits on a wooden stool as she scapes the interior of a large clay pot. A metal bucket containing moist clay covered in plastic sits nearby. A well-worn grinding stone is visible at the top of the photo, on top of which rests a pink plastic cup. A small clay bowl filled with water sits next to it. The blue headpan to the right can no longer be used to carry things, but it remains useful as a support or stand for other things like round-based water storage pots. Dorbour, 1994.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Dorbour
Subjects:
Forming; Women's work; Potting; Plastic containers; Dorbour; Headpans; Metal buckets; Grinding stone
A seated Nafana potter uses her hands to mold the sides of a clay pot. Beginning with a lump of clay placed on a round palette (kpankpa in Nafaanra), she has used a draw-and-drag (direct pull) technique to form the pot. Nearby are the enamel ware plates that she uses as palettes or turntables on which to form pots. Another partially shaped pot is visible at the top of the photo. Dorbour, 1994.
A potter seated on the ground starts to form a clay pot. She begins with a lump of clay resting on a metal plate (kpankpa in Nafaanra) which she can turn as she uses a draw-and-drag (direct pull) technique to shape the pot. A second lump of clay has already begun to be formed (lower left) and a clay bowl contains water that she uses to moisten the clay as needed (lower right). Lying on the metal plates to the left are tools that she will use as she forms the pot including two maize cobs, a spatula and a stone. Dorbour, 1994.
Yaa Tenabrԑ, a Nafana potter, stands as she uses a spatula-like tool to smooth and thin the walls of a large clay pot which she is molding. She has shaped the pot using a draw-and-drag (direct pull) technique, beginning with a lump of clay and using her hands to draw the clay upwards and outwards. The pot rests on a round metal plate (kpankpa in Nafaanra) that can be turned on the stump on which it sits and on which the pot can be moved and set aside as it dries. Dorbour, 1994.
Adwoa Fodjoa, a Nafana potter, sits on a wooden stool as she thins the inside walls of a clay water pot (chͻkoo in Nafaanra). The pot has been formed and set aside to dry before the potter thins its walls. The round-based pot rests on a cloth as she works. Other water pots on which she is working sit near her, turned upside down. A metal plate that she uses as a palette (kpankpa in Nafaanra) on which to form pots sits by her foot. The clay jar in front of the pot on which she is working contains the water she uses to moisten the pot as needed. A tray with lumps of clay and two enamel ware pots sit nearby. Dorbour, 1994.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Dorbour
Subjects:
Forming; Women's work; Potting; Dorbour; Water pots (chokoo)
A potter completes decorations on a clay cooking pot (sro chͻ in Nafaanra). Another pot sits nearby, turned upside down. The lower bodies of the pots have been surface treated by rolling a maize cob (bledjukaan in Nafaanra) across the leather-dry surface of the clay jar. Shallow grooved lines have been etched over top. The clay jars are now ready to be fired. Dorbour, 1994.
A group of unfired clay pots to which red slip (chuma in Nafaanra) has been applied prior to firing. The string of Babobab tree seeds (foreground) is used to burnish the slip. By rubbing the dried slip vigorously with the seeds, the slip adheres to the surface and becomes shiny. To the right rear are several unfired clay eating bowls (kpokpoo in Nafaanra). Dorbour, 1994.
Ten clay cooking pots (sro chͻ in Nafaanra) have been placed upside down on a bed of firewood in preparation for a bonfire that will fire the clay pots. These pots have been red-slipped (chuma in Nafaanra) before firing. In the background is the bark that will be used to cover and surround the pottery before the bonfire is lit. Once lit, the fire burns for beween 30 minutes and an hour, after which the clay jars will be useable and ready for sale. Dorbour, 1994.
A potter uses a metal bracelet as a roulette to make shallow grooves on the leather-hard surface of a cooking pot (sro chͻ in Nafaanra). She rolls the bracelet across a surface that has been textured using a maize cob (bledjukaan in Nafaanra) roulette. Next she will make shallow grooves along the boundary between the smooth upper body of the jar and the maize cob-routletted lower areas. Dorbour, 1994.
Akua Donkor, a Nafana potter, uses a rounded-edged tool to make shallow grooves on the upper body of a soup pot (chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra). The clay pot has been allowed to dry to a leather-hard state before the decorations are applied. She has used a maize cob (bledjukaan in Nafaanra) as a roulette (roller) to surface treat the base of the clay pot. A single grooved line sets the maize cob rouletted zone from the smoothed surface above it. The woman wears bracelets that can double as tools for decorating pots. Dorbour, 1994.
A calabash bowl (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra) containing water rests on top of a small pedestaled clay bowl (kontoŋdԑԑ in Nafaanra) used in funeral celebrations. The clay bowl is used by women to present food to the ancestors (sro waa in Nafaanra). Calabash rattles used in funeral celebrations sit nearby, some next to a basket. Dorbour, 1994.