Mortarium

[M. Demetrius]

Ok, back to the reporting. The three mortaria and two pistilia survived the firings. My friend, Jan, the potter, bisque fired them with her things, and we pit fired them at my place Mar 21. The coloration was very interesting, and varied according to where the smoke plumes went inside the pit, what was in direct contact with the sawdust base, where the cow dung touched, and who knows what else? It's always unpredictable, basically, but adds individuality to each piece. I believe the Romans, who were not making tiles for fun, but to cover large areas of floor, fired their tiles in oven/kilns that were probably walk in sized, and odds are they could put at least a couple of hundred at a time in the firebox. I don't have such an oven, and don't plan to build one. I'll just fire a few now and then in the pit. It's a good way to get rid of the sawdust from wood projects, and scrap wood, plus deadwood from the forest next to the house.

So here they are. At least a couple of them will make the trip to Houston to the museum display tomorrow. We'll see how that goes over. Here's a link to the three mortaria and pistilia. The third pistilium (pestle) will be made of hard wood, yet to be collected and shaped from the woods. Oak, most likely.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd29 ... stilia.jpg