Face Jugs - Logan-Hocking Schools

[Pages:13]Face Jugs

Rita Jones Instructor

Ugly Jug

Of the many crafts indigenous to South Carolina, one of the most interesting is the pottery face jug, or "ugly jug".

The tradition of pottery with faces dates back to Egyptian times and appears in many other cultures throughout the ages.

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 The first face vessel created in the U.S. was created by an unknown Massachusetts potter around 1810.

Face Jugs

No one knows for sure the exact origination or purpose of face jugs, but we do know they first appeared in the slave communities of the Carolinas in the early 1800s.

Enslaved African Americans were the brickmakers and potters on the plantation, and in their spare time, they created these grotesque pieces.

The folklore surrounding face jugs adds to their appeal.

Some say the slaves made jugs to be placed on graves and that they had to be ugly enough to frighten the devil.

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 Others say that the slaves believed tht if these jugs broke during the year after death it meant that the soul of the deceased was wrestling with the devil.

What makes the face vessels so unique and special to South Carolina is how they were created.

? It was the combination of site and situation that the most prolific production of face vessels occurred at the Southern Porcelain factory in Bath, South Carolina during the mid 1800's.

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 Kaolin clay was combined with the dark stoneware clays on the jugs to make features that clearly mimic human eyeballs and teeth.

Research has shown that both white and black potters created these vessels - not just the slave potters.

The vessels sold well because there was a need to store moonshine in a container that didn't look like every other jug in the house pantry.

Children were strongly warned against touching that jug or "the boogie man would get ya!"

Consequently the jugs were made as mean looking and ugly as possible, and generally the faces were crudely fashioned.

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 After the Civil War, pottery production in South Carolina declined.

Itinerant potters, who hired out their skills, moved on following the westward expansion of our country and the tradition of "ugly jug" making continued in North Carolina and Georgia with some generations of potter families who farmed and threw pots to make a living.

Face jugs continued to be a good seller - especially during the temperance movement.

Today, contemporary potters have resurrected the interest in face jugs and some of the older generation of potters (Craig, Meaders & Brown - now deceased ) who could hardly get 25 cents for their jugs are now selling at four and five digit prices for a big jug!

Burlon Craig (19142002), considered one of America's great folk potters, kept the face jug tradition alive in North Carolina during the 20th century.

This jug was thrown from two types of clay in 1983.

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 Traditionally wheel thrown out of dark clay with bits of broken china or white rock used as eyes and teeth, and usually with a pulled handle or tow, face jugs can be both humorous and grotesque.

Also known as ugly jugs, devil jugs and voodoo pots, they continue to be a popular folk-art tradition, and sideline of many potters in the Southeastern U.S.

Assignment

Goals and Objectives 1. Learn to construct handbuilt face jugs using basic

soft-slab ceramic construction techniques with simple sculpted features. 2. Provide creative expression, an appreciation of the human face as an art form and the opportunity to express emotions through art. 3. Provide an understanding and appreciation of traditional pottery in a historical/cultural context.

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Assignment

3. Create a series of jug face bottles (at least five). 4. Bottles can be of the same size or various sizes

depending on you. 5. Your "family" of jugs will be created in red clay with

white clay eyeballs and accents (see procedure). 6. Start collecting your bottles today! Look for smooth

sided bottles, like one or two liter soda bottles.

Procedure

Remove the label from a plastic bottle and cut above the curved portion at the bottom.

Any size straight-sided plastic bottle will work.

Two-liter pop bottles make wonderful jugs.

Invert and insert the curved bottom portion inside the plastic bottle to stablize the cut edge.

Roll out a 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick slab using a rolling pin and guides on canvas or a slab roller.

Cut slab into a rectangle shape long enoug to encircle the bottle.

Be sure to allow for trimming and overlap. The width of the rectangle is at least equal to the

height of the shoulder of the bottle.

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 Use graduated pastry/cookie cutters for cutting the shoulder portion of the jug.

The diameter of the shoulder piece needs to be large enough to meet the outside measurement of the finished cylinder.

The hole is cut based on the largest feature on the neck of the bottle.

Reserve some slabs of clay to make the bottom and the neck of the jug.

Miter the seam for the cylinder by holding the knife at a constant angle, while trimming the short sides of the rectangle.

The profile of the clay slab should be a parallelgram.

Apply a thin coat of cooking spray or vegetable oil to the bottle, then wrap with the slab and check the fit.

Make any slight adjustments by trimming or gentaly stretching.

Bursh the seam with a damp toothbrush and join.

The toothbrush gently scores the area and creates a small amount of slip all in one step.

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