Making Potteries like a Boss

Hana wake up the next day feeling super exhausted, tired and sticky all over. She could feel her drool drenching half her face. As quickly as possible, she wiped the residue off haphazardly so that no one could see. After a moment of clarity, she finally realized there is no one else here.

If only Shiro and Kuro could talk, she would've knew how much noise she made after she fall asleep last night. It was like a primordial savage beast bellowing non-stop from inside the cave. Shiro and Kuro shot each other a knowing glance.

In their heart, they complained why this being is not cute at all while sleeping. At least during the day this being looked quite decent especially when she was cooking like last night. Both of them smacked their lips as they remember their last dinner (Do snakes even have lips?).

All the noise has attracted several wild beasts but had been disposed by both of them using grisly means.

Well, at least they filled their stomach over the night. The food this being makes was delicious, but too little.

They didn't know that Hana had been quite generous with them since in her eyes, these strays should've just eaten kibbles a.k.a. dry pet food. She treated them like children, with children's stomachs. Hence, the portion of half of an adult per pet was given.

It can't be helped, as Hana don't have experience raising magical pets. And the sizes of both Kuro and Shiro did not help; they just looked like any ordinary little snake and dog she'd seen.

Hana drank a few gulps of water and used only a handful to lather her face to make herself felt fresher. The sourish bitter taste inside her mouth was purposely ignored. She sorely missed her mouthwash.

[So much dried saliva. I must've make quite a scene last night...]

Hana blushed.

Thank god they were just animals. If not, she won't know where to hide her face. All her dignity will go down the drain. She didn't realize her pets' intelligence level were quite high.

Oh dear..

After finish refreshing herself, Hana reviewed her goals from her notebook first and amended the date.

Short term goals (Day 3)

1. Scout surroundings for information and geographical location - half done

2. Find water source - done!

3. Find tinders, twigs and logs for fire making - done!

4. Find things for defense - done (sharpened burned shaft)

5. Make a chisel – done!

6. Make water container

7. Make a cooking pot with clay

8. Forage rattans to make baskets

9. Make fish trap at river

Today's goal (ehem! Yesterday's goal ok)

Eat soup for dinner! – Success!

She happily crossed the succeeded goal of yesterday and wrote today's chores based on her goals while eating two bananas.

What to do today (Day 3)

1. Make water filters using bamboo canisters

2. Make a fish trap

3. Forage some lianas/rattans

4. Find clay sand for pottery making

5. Forage for tinders/twigs/logs

After another swig of water from her water bottle, she immediately moved out from the caves.

Hana brought along with her another two bananas, one tausa biscuit, and the last twiggies she had in her inventory. She also brought along one empty water bottle which she transferred half of the water from the last bottle.

Right now, she was left with a quarter bottle of clean water. She felt an impending crisis coming.

Although water shortage was not an issue, clean water free from pathogens for consumption was her first concern. She was scared to get sick in this forest since she didn't have any basic medication.

Her GIT (1) was quite delicate since she was young as she could easily gotten stomach problems when eating random unhygienic food as compared to others.

She filled all her provisions of the day into one shopping bag and suddenly remembered she needed to bring along some charcoal. She scooped out all the coarse charcoal she could find from the fireplace she made for two nights consecutively and filled them inside one opened bamboo canister to the brim. The charcoal will be an important component in making a water filter. It can absorb impurities and germs easily.

She didn't forget to bring one uncooked sausage. After a short contemplation, Hana threw in the whole roll of clingwrap together as well. She intended to use the sausage as bait if she had the time to make a fishtrap. As for the clingwrap, she was not sure of its usage, but she had a haunch she might need it to wrap the completed bamboo canisters to prevent all of the filter material from falling out later. Well, better be safe than sorry right?

Hana walked out briskly towards the stream with a sure gait this time; on her left shoulder, a shopping bag full of things, on her left hand, the supposed homemade 'spear' for self-defense, and on her right, the newly made chisel with a function of a hoe. This time, she had so much to do and she needed to double up! As she sighed, she really wishes that she could have something that can help her carry all of these items, a shopping trolley would be a heavenly item here.

...

Hana glanced at her smartphone. It was already 8.30 am. Kuro the snake who silently followed her all this while disappeared into the trees as usual. Hana knew that the little guy might need a little time to do some personal stuff. She just shrugged it off.

She immediately started to look for a suitable location to make a fish trap. She walked along the stream to find a strategic location and started digging when she reached just beside the stream a little bit upstream. She started digging the soil about one feet deep and use her hands to smoothen the clay-like sand, making into a v-shaped channel.

Hana's heart pained as she teared the sausage and sprinkle the meat pieces inside the hole, and some on the mini channel itself. She had no choice; this was the only meat in hand which she could use as bait. The water from the stream did not enter the hole, but just touched the edge a bit. The channel has a slight inward slope towards the hole. She then plucked some tree branches and camouflaged the hole from the sides. She prayed silently for the fish to be stupid enough to enter the tiny hole.

...

After two hours of setting up the fish trap, she walked downstream for ten minutes and reached a location with smooth clay-like sand beside the stream.

Yes, it took two whole hours. You've seen it right. Others would need less than 30 minutes for that.

Hana was in fact, weaker than the average Joe. This was because, she always found ways to skip PE when she was young, and skip exercising when she got older with a myriad of excuses. Slowpoke was her middle name.

Now, she had no choice but to step out and performed muscle work to survive. Probably she need to change her middle name now that she works so hard to survive (Lol, the Author just joking 😊).

Next, she proceeded to make a fire first and cleared up a space of three meters for safety purposes. Well, in a half-hearted manner of course. Her waist was already aching from digging the soil just now. She pounded her back weakly like an old people while sighing, lamenting her misfortune.

As the small fire burned lightly a few feet away, she sat down cross-legged beside the stream with dirt and all and started playing with the clay sand. Fortunately, the surrounding was rather shady. Hence, it wasn't that hot.

The clay sand was smooth to the touch. While gathering the doughy sand, she tossed out the gravel she found mixed into the soft clay. While segregating the gravel from the clay sand, she contemplated the things needed before starting.

Hmm… Water, for making the sand into clay. She chose a random bamboo canister and filled it up to the brim with water from the stream.

Next, she need a flat large stone, as a base where she will do her work on. Aha! That's just nice! She fished out a remarkably flat flower-shaped stone from within the stream. Surprisingly, this aunty didn't find it suspicious that a nice flat 'stone' was within her reach.

She also need a smaller sized stone, as a base for the big stone. Hana looked around and tried out several stones with her new flat flower-shaped stone. She placed the small one at the bottom, and the big flat one on top. As she didn't want to waste any time, she choose the first one that was relatively stable.

Next, she need some large leaves for lining her fresh potteries when they were done. She cautiously grabbed some large sized leaves a few meters away after making sure no creepy crawlies in the vicinity. This was where the supposed 'spear' came in handy; she swished it to the left and the right a few times like a wannabe martial artist before judging it was safe to get to the leaves.

Water was then poured into the soft sand gently as Hana used her other hand to knead it in. The cooling sensation of the clay felt really pleasing to the touch. She became so immersed with the clay dough until she forgot her previous fatigue.

It's just like her homemade Playdoh (2) that she once made for her kids!

This is so much fun!

Hana had plenty of happy experience playing with this thing with her daughters!

She smirked and haphazardly rolled the clay dough into long snakes using her two hands. She arranged the long 'snake' clay dough in a stacking position on the flower-shaped flat base she fished from the stream earlier. In less than ten minutes, she managed to make her first crude clay pot. It looked like a circular censer with low height and wide berth, impressively equipped with handles on the left and on the right as well as a proper cover with a tiny ventilation hole to boot.

Hana then went to fetch some more water from the small stream. She gently placed the pot together with the flower-like base stone on top of the smaller stone. She then poured some water on her right hand. Hana repeatedly smoothened the rugged edges of the pot with her right hand, and carefully turned the flatten flower-shaped stone base with her other hand, just like a manual potter's wheel. It gave the pot a professional looking-finish.

She judged that this pot will be able to hold about two liters of water or broth maximum; just nice for her daily usage. She knew of the approximate volume because she made the size of the pot similar to the pots she owned at home.

The first cooking pot done!

[I'm not done yet!!!] Hana was so excited like she had just been injected with chicken blood.

She quickly shoveled the area for more clay and started on the second clay pot. She still used the same snake method, but this time, her aim was to make a large cylinder pot for filter water storage. It was not that big, just the size of about 6 liters. She calculated the average height needed using the standard mathematical formulae for a cylinder with her trusty smartphone.

Well, although she's not good with math, it's the harder ones that she couldn't comprehend. The basic ones with established equations were not a problem if they are remembered or provided. Those are just high school math as they say. She only needed to remember the basic equations and the value of pi. Three decimals were good enough.

After another ten minutes, the second pottery, a cylinder-shaped crock pot with a lid and handles was made.

Hana admired her work for a few seconds and an epiphany struck.

[I should've become a professional potter. This is really good, if I may say so myself.]

This aunty happily kept on inflating her own ego, cross-legged, filthy, while playing with dirt, in the middle of nowhere. What a pitiful sight.

Hana continue making the third pot like a boss; this time, due to immense confidence from the two previous potteries, she attempted a calabash gourd shaped pottery.

She remembered, this shape of pottery was very famous in Kuala Kangsar (3) known as 'labu sayong' (4). It is a kind of dark colored pottery that olden people used to keep clean drinkable water. It has a cooling effect at which the water will be colder than room temperature even without keeping it in the fridge.

Nowadays, these potteries had lost their true functions and became souvenirs for tourists who dropped by the area. It was the same for Hana. She had one, but only used it as an ornament in the living room.

Since the shape was slightly intricate, Hana made several attempts before she got it right. It kept on collapsing due to imbalance from her lack of experience. However, Hana was adamant on keeping true to the calabash-like shape in order to achieve the cooling effect she knew. After all, where can she find a fridge in the middle of the jungle?

It was nearly noon when she was finally done. She used the leftover clay to make a mug akin to a Pannikin (5), complete with a cover.

Hana found the location where the sun shone the most intense and gently placed all four pots of varying shapes and sizes for drying. She prayed that there won't be any rain for today. If not, she will surely cry a river TT___TT.

She made a mental note to prepare for a future kiln when she has enough resources. She can envision her days making lots of clay-based things in the future as long as enough clay can be found. Unfortunately, she had nearly exhausted all clay sand in this specific area.

Note:

(1) GIT = gastrointestinal tract. Includes the stomach, small intestine and large intestine

(2) Playdoh = a soft clay-like substance for kids to play

(3) Kuala Kangsar = a town in Perak state in Malaysia

(4) Labu sayong = a famous pottery localized to Kuala Kangsar. Google 'labu sayong kuala kangsar' to see the variation of potteries

(5) Pannikin = a large mug with cover usually made from metal or clay. It was used a lot during camping for drinking soupy broth