Pottery and Ceramics

Who it is for. Beginners with no formal certificate, including school leavers, women's groups, farmers who want a second income and persons with disabilities. National Proficiency I is the first level of Ghana's TVET framework. It is a bridging level for people with little or no formal education, who do routine tasks under close supervision.

Why pottery

• Pottery is an old and living craft in Ghana. In Mpraeso (Eastern Region), women potters build pots by coiling and fire them in the open, using local clay and grog, and potting is a main source of income for them.
• In Vume (Volta Region), most women make traditional pots, a craft passed down from their parents, and their products sell in Accra, Tema, Koforidua and Aburi.
• In Sirigu (Upper East), seven women started the Sirigu Women's Organisation for Pottery and Art (SWOPA); it now has over 350 women and runs a visitor centre, gallery, workshop and guesthouse.
• In Tanoso (Ahafo Region), potters make bowls, cups, flower pots, bricks and tiles; bowls sell for GH¢4 to GH¢30, and traders from Côte d'Ivoire buy in bulk.
• Clay is cheap, but the craft needs skill, patience and a safe way to fire. A KNUST study found no commercial market for ceramic raw materials in Ghana, so most potters dig and prepare their own clay.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace.

• Steps are numbered. Do them in order. A line that ends with a source name in brackets comes from the sources list at the back. A step with no source is standard safe practice or the author's teaching advice, not a measured figure.
• Any number marked example is made up to practise sums. Replace it with your own local prices.
• Every unit ends with a Check yourself of three questions. Answers are in the Teacher Copy.

Local words used in this book

Pottery words differ from town to town. Ask your trainer for the words used where you live, and write them in your logbook.

Competency standard

Range. The training yard and firing place. Evidence. Daily safety checklist; observed cleaning, lifting and burn first-aid drill; oral questions.

Danger 1: clay dust

Clay contains very fine crystalline silica (quartz). Wet clay is safe to touch. The danger comes when clay dries out and turns to dust.

• The dust that harms you is so fine that you cannot see it in normal light, and it goes deep into the lungs.
• Breathing it can cause silicosis, a serious lung disease that cannot be cured, and it raises the risk of lung cancer. It also causes long-lasting chest disease with coughing and breathlessness, made worse by smoking.
• Dust comes from slip and clay that dry out on floors, tables and clothes. Dirty work clothes still give off dust after the job is done.

Your dust rules

Danger 2: fire and hot pots

Open firing uses a big, hot fire. Pots stay hot for hours. Steam trapped inside a damp pot can crack it, and a pot can break with force.

Your fire rules

1. Fire only at the place your trainer chooses: far from houses, thatched roofs and the firewood store, because smoke and sparks come from a firing.
2. Before lighting, put two buckets of sand and a drum or buckets of water next to the fire.
3. Wear cotton clothes, closed shoes and leather or thick cotton gloves. No loose cloth, no plastic sandals, no synthetic clothes near the fire.
4. Use long sticks to move fuel and pots. Never reach over the fire.
5. Keep children and animals away.
6. Never leave a firing alone.
7. Let pots cool before you touch them.

First aid for a burn

1. Cool the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes, as soon as possible.
2. Take off rings and clothing near the burn, but leave anything stuck to the skin.
3. Cover loosely with clean cling film or a clean, dry cloth.
4. Do not put cream, oil, butter or toothpaste on it, and do not burst blisters.
5. Large or deep burns, and any burn on the face, go to the clinic at once.

Danger 3: heavy lifting

A bucket of wet clay, a sack of sand or a big water pot is heavy. Backs are injured by bad lifting.

1. Plan the lift. Know where the load is going, clear the path, and get help if it is heavy.
2. Keep the load close to your waist.
3. Stand with feet apart, one leg a little forward.
4. Bend your knees and hips a little at the start; do not stoop.
5. Do not twist. Turn with your feet.
6. Lift smoothly, look ahead, and know your limit.

Carry clay in half-full buckets. Carry pots on a board with two people.

Danger 4: lead in glazes

Some old glazes use lead to make them melt at low heat. Lead in a glaze can pass into food and drink if the pot is not made properly. Lead harms children most: a child with lead poisoning may look well, but lead is linked to learning problems, slow development and lower IQ. No washing or boiling can remove lead from a pot.

In Ghana, a 2023 study by the Ghana Health Service and Pure Earth found lead in many locally made aluminium cooking pots, and Pure Earth reported lead in 18% of ceramic cookware it screened.

Check yourself: Unit 1

1. Why must you never sweep dry clay dust?
2. How long do you cool a burn under running water?
3. Why is lead glaze never used on a cooking or drinking pot?

Competency standard

Range. Two local clays; one batch of prepared clay of at least 10 kg. Evidence. Clay test record; prepared and wedged clay; oral questions.

What clay is

Clay is formed when rocks such as granite wear down into very tiny particles that wash into river banks, valleys and swamps. Clay particles are fine and flat and slide over each other, so wet clay can be shaped. When it is fired, clay changes for ever: it becomes hard and brittle, no longer dissolves in water, holds water and resists heat.

Step 1: find clay

Where to look: stream and river banks, swampy valley bottoms, and the places where block-makers and old potters dig. Ask older people where pots were once made.

Signs of clay

• Big cracks on the surface of the dry ground often mean clay is there.
• Clayey soil is hard to crumble in your fingers. Mixed with a little water, it sticks to your hand and leaves a stain.

Before you dig

In Ghana, all minerals in their natural state belong to the State, and the Minerals Commission lists clay, with sand and granite, as an "industrial mineral" worked under a restricted mineral right. Whether a potter who digs a small amount of clay by hand for her own pots needs such a right was not verified. Ask your Assembly and the Minerals Commission district office before you dig clay to sell in large amounts.

Step 2: test clay

Do three quick tests on every new clay. Record the place, the date and the result.

Test A: feel and coil test

1. Take a lump the size of an egg. Add water a little at a time and knead it until it feels like soft dough.
2. Roll it into a coil as thick as a pencil.
3. Bend the coil round your finger into a ring.
4. Good clay bends into a ring with few or no cracks. If it cracks badly, it is "short" (too sandy or not clayey enough). If it is very sticky and smears like butter, it is "fat" and will shrink a lot.

Test B: shrink test

1. Mix some clay into a dough. Put it on a plastic sheet and beat it to remove air.
2. Roll it into a bar exactly 100 mm (10 cm) long. Mark the ends.
3. Leave it to dry for 24 hours.
4. Measure it again.
5. Good clay shrinks not more than 10%: the bar should still be at least 90 mm long. A bar that dried to 93 mm has shrunk 7%, which is acceptable.

Shrinkage (%) = (wet length − dry length) ÷ wet length × 100.

Test C: test firing. Make three small test tiles or pinch pots from the clay and put them in your next firing (Unit 6). Check: did they crack, what colour are they, do they ring when you tap them?

Step 3: improve the clay

You can make clay better by adding other materials. There are three kinds: other clays, organic materials (such as chaff or sawdust) and sands.

• Sand reduces shrinkage, helps even drying and makes clay less sticky.
• Grog (fired pottery crushed into a powder) reduces cracking in shaping and drying, protects pots in the fire and lets gases escape. About 20% grog is added to crude clay. Mpraeso potters use grog from their own area.
• Dung is sometimes added, but Practical Action found in Kenya and Sudan that dung, especially donkey dung, weakens clay. This course does not use dung in clay.

A starting mix to test (example): 4 buckets of prepared clay to 1 bucket of fine sand or grog (that is 1 part in 5, about 20%). Make test bars of the clay alone and of the mix, and keep the one that shrinks less and cracks less.

Step 4: prepare the clay (soak, sieve, stiffen)

Clay from the ground holds stones, roots and lumps that crack pots. Large potteries in Sudan mix clay with water in one pit, pour it through a filter bucket into a second pit, and drain the water back, leaving good clay behind. You can do the same with buckets.

Tools and materials: 3 buckets (or two pits lined with plastic); a coarse sieve and a fine sieve (window mosquito mesh nailed on a wooden frame, from a hardware shop); a stick for stirring; old sacks or plaster boards; plastic sheet.

1. Dry and break. Spread the dug clay in the sun until dry, then break it into small lumps with a stick. (Do this in the open air; wear a mask if it makes dust.)
2. Soak (slake). Put the lumps in a bucket and cover them with water. Leave for one to two days. Dry clay soaks faster than wet clay.
3. Stir into a thick, smooth liquid like porridge (this liquid clay is slip).
4. Sieve. Pour through the coarse sieve, then the fine sieve, into a clean bucket. Throw stones and roots away.
5. Settle. Leave it a day. Pour off the clear water on top.
6. Stiffen. Spread the thick slip on dry sacks, boards or on a dry clay bed in the shade. Turn it now and then. It is ready when it no longer sticks to your hand.
7. Mix in sand or grog now, if your test showed you need it.
8. Store in a bucket with a lid or wrapped in plastic. Clay that rests (matures) for several weeks before use cracks less.

Ready clay: soft enough to press with a thumb, firm enough to hold a shape, does not stick to dry hands, has no grit you can feel.

Step 5: wedge the clay

Wedging means kneading clay by hand on a table to make it the same all through and to push out air bubbles. Trapped air can make a pot burst in the fire and damage the pots next to it.

Tools: a strong table or a smooth concrete slab (damp, not wet); a cutting wire with two handles (fishing line or wire from a hardware shop tied to two pieces of stick).

1. Take a lump of 2 to 3 kg.
2. Push the top of the lump away from you and down with the heels of both hands.
3. Lift the far end, roll it back a little, and push again.
4. Turn the lump a quarter turn every few pushes. Keep it a tidy shape; do not fold air in.
5. Do this 40 to 60 times.
6. Check: cut the lump in two with the wire. If you see small holes like a sponge, air is still inside; wedge again.
7. Pat it into a ball and cover it with plastic until you use it.

Common mistakes and fixes

Check yourself: Unit 2

1. How long is the bar in the shrink test, and how much may it shrink?
2. Name two things you can add to clay to reduce cracking.
3. How do you know wedged clay has no air left?

Competency standard

Range. At least three pinch pots and two coil pots. Evidence. Finished pots; observation; oral questions.

Ways of shaping clay

Pots are shaped by hand (pinching, coiling or joining slabs), on a potter's wheel, or by pressing clay into a mould. Hand-building is the oldest way, and the parts are joined with slip. Ghana's traditional potters in Mpraeso use the coiling method.

Tools for hand-building

Joining clay: score and slip

Every join in this course is made the same way. Slip is liquid clay. To join two pieces, scratch criss-cross lines on both surfaces, paint slip on, and press them together.

1. Make joining slip: a little of the same clay stirred into water until it is like thick cream.
2. Score (scratch) both surfaces in a criss-cross pattern with the needle tool.
3. Paint slip on both.
4. Press the pieces together and wiggle slightly until slip squeezes out.
5. Smooth the join with a finger or tool on both sides.

Making a pinch pot

1. Take a ball of wedged clay the size of an orange. Make it round.
2. Hold it in one hand. Push the thumb of the other hand into the centre until it is about 1 cm (a finger's width) from the bottom.
3. Pinch the wall gently between thumb and fingers. Turn the ball a little after each pinch.
4. Work round and round from the bottom up, thinning the wall slowly.
5. Stop when the wall is about 6 to 8 mm thick all round. Hold it to the light or feel it with two fingers.
6. If the rim cracks, smooth it with a wet finger. If it cracks a lot, the clay is too dry.
7. Tap the base gently on the table so the pot stands flat.
8. Smooth inside and out with a damp sponge.
9. Scratch your initials and the date on the base.
10. Cover loosely with plastic.

Making a coil pot (water pot or bowl)

Materials: 3 to 5 kg of wedged clay; joining slip; a board; a turntable; a damp sponge; a scraper; plastic.

1. Make the base. Flatten a ball of clay into a round disc about 1 cm thick and the width you want. Put it on the board. Trim it round with a knife.
2. Roll coils. Roll clay on the table with your fingers spread, from the middle outward, into a rope as thick as your thumb (about 1.5 to 2 cm) and long enough to go round the base. Make several. Keep them under plastic.
3. First coil. Score the edge of the base and paint slip. Lay the coil on the edge. Cut the two ends at a slant so they overlap, slip them and press them together.
4. Blend the inside. With your thumb or a finger, smear clay down from the coil onto the base, all round the inside.
5. Blend the outside. Smear clay from the coil down onto the base on the outside too.
6. Add more coils. Score and slip the top of the last coil, lay the next coil, blend inside and outside. Put the end joins in a different place each time, like bricks.
7. Shape as you go. To make the pot wider, lay each coil a little toward the outside. To make it narrower, lay it a little toward the inside.
8. Rest when it sags. After 4 or 5 coils, if the wall feels soft, leave it 15 to 30 minutes in the shade, uncovered, to firm up. Cover the top coil with a strip of plastic so it stays soft for the next join.
9. Scrape and thin. Scrape the wall with the scraper to make it even and smooth, about 8 to 12 mm thick for a water pot.
10. Paddle (optional). Hold a smooth stone inside the wall and tap the outside gently with the wooden paddle. This presses the coils together and makes the wall stronger and rounder.
11. Make the rim. Lay a final coil, blend it, and smooth it round with a wet rag folded over the rim while you turn the pot.
12. Sign and cover. Mark your initials and the date on the base. Cover with plastic.

Common mistakes and fixes

Check yourself: Unit 3

1. What are the four steps of a good join?
2. Why do you blend coils on both the inside and the outside?
3. What do you do when a coil pot starts to sag?

Competency standard

Range. One slab planter, two moulded bowls, two flower pots. Evidence. Finished pieces; measurements; oral questions.

Rolling a slab

Tools: a rolling pin (a smooth bottle or a length of round pipe from a hardware shop); two guide sticks of the same thickness (for example two strips of wood 8 to 10 mm thick); a cloth or old sack to roll on; a knife; a ruler; paper templates.

1. Lay the cloth or sack flat on the table. Sprinkle a little fine sand on it so clay does not stick.
2. Put a lump of wedged clay between the two guide sticks.
3. Press it flat with your palm.
4. Roll from the middle outward, with the ends of the rolling pin on the guide sticks. Turn the slab over and roll again.
5. Stop when the pin rests on both sticks all the way: the slab is now even.
6. Let it stiffen a little (until it bends without cracking but does not sag) before you cut and join.

A square planter from slabs

1. Cut paper templates (example size): a base 20 × 20 cm, two long sides 20 × 18 cm and two short sides 18 × 18 cm. The short sides fit between the long sides, so with a slab 1 cm thick they are 2 cm shorter. Measure your own slab thickness and adjust.
2. Cut the pieces from a slab that is just firm.
3. Score and slip all the edges that will meet.
4. Stand two long sides on the base, then the two short sides. Press each join.
5. Roll a thin coil, press it into each inside corner, and smooth it. This makes the corners strong.
6. Smooth the outside corners with a scraper.
7. Make drainage holes: push a round stick through the base to make two or three holes about 1.5 cm wide.
8. Sign and date the base. Cover loosely with plastic.

Simple moulds

A mould lets you make many pots of the same shape and size. In Al Fashir, Sudan, women potters make everything by hand over moulds, often using an ordinary saucepan as the mould for a clay stove. They shape a mould from clay in a hole in the ground, smooth the inside with a stone, dry it in the sun for about 30 minutes, then press clay onto it.

Hump mould (over the outside): use an upside-down basin, a calabash or a fired clay bowl.

1. Cover the mould with a thin cloth or a sheet of newspaper so the clay will not stick.
2. Drape a slab over it. Press it gently down from the top to the sides, so no air is trapped.
3. Trim the edge level with a knife.
4. Leave it until the clay is firm enough to hold its shape (but not so long that it shrinks onto the mould and cracks).
5. Turn it over, lift off the mould, peel the cloth, and smooth the rim.

Press mould (inside a bowl): press a slab into a fired clay bowl lined with cloth; trim; lift out when firm.

Making a flower pot

Flower pots sell to homes, offices, hotels and plant nurseries. A good flower pot has a drainage hole, a flat base that does not rock, an even rim and a wall that does not crack when it is filled with wet soil.

1. Make the base: a disc 1 cm thick, the width you want (example: 16 cm across).
2. Cut the drainage hole now in the centre of the base, about 2 cm wide.
3. Build the wall with coils (Unit 3) or with a slab wrapped round and joined, widening slightly toward the top so the plant can be lifted out later.
4. Thicken the rim with an extra coil: rims take knocks.
5. Make the wall about 8 to 10 mm thick.
6. Add a saucer: a slab disc 2 cm wider than the base with a low rim (a matching saucer adds value).
7. Make several of the same size using a paper template or a mould, so they stack and sell as a set.

Common mistakes and fixes

Check yourself: Unit 4

1. Why do you use two guide sticks when rolling a slab?
2. What happens if you leave a pot too long on a hump mould?
3. Name two things every flower pot must have.

Competency standard

Range. All pots from Units 3 and 4. Evidence. Drying record; decorated and burnished pots; oral questions.

The stages of clay

At the leather-hard stage you add handles, join parts with slip, trim, carve and burnish. Once a pot is fully dry, it can no longer be bent or added to; it breaks if you bend it.

How to dry pots without cracks

Pots shrink as they dry. If one part dries faster than another, the pot cracks. The thicker the wall, the slower it must dry.

1. Day 1: keep the new pot under loose plastic in the shade.
2. When it is leather-hard: trim, decorate and burnish (below).
3. Then dry slowly in the shade, out of wind and direct sun. Turn the pot round once a day so every side dries the same.
4. Rims, handles and thin parts dry first. Wrap them with a strip of plastic for a day to slow them down.
5. Turn pots upside down when they are firm enough, so the base dries too.
6. Only at the end, put pots in the sun. In Sudan, zeer water pots are kept indoors for a day to dry slowly, then put in the sun for another day.
7. Before firing, a whole day in the sun makes sure they are completely dry.

Is it bone-dry? Touch the pot to your cheek or the inside of your wrist. If it feels cool, there is still water in it. Bone-dry clay feels the same temperature as the air and is lighter in colour.

Decorating

Decorate at the right stage. Ghana's traditional pots are often decorated with simple patterns pressed or cut into the clay, and with red or dark slip.

Coloured slip. Make slip from a different-coloured clay (red, white or dark), sieve it through fine mesh, and paint it on. Keep a record of which clay gave which colour after firing.

Burnishing

Burnishing is polishing a pot with a hard, smooth tool before firing, to give it a shine without glaze. It is done at the leather-hard stage; very dry clay scratches, so dampen the surface a little first. A burnished pot repels water but is not watertight. Burnished pots are fired below about 1,000 °C. Fine clays take the best polish.

Tools: a very smooth stone (river pebble, no chips), the back of a metal spoon, a piece of smooth bone or hard plastic. Check the stone: a chip or bump will scratch the pot.

1. Wait until the pot is leather-hard.
2. (Optional) paint on one or two thin coats of fine, sieved slip and let it lose its shine.
3. Rub a small area with the stone in small, overlapping strokes, pressing gently.
4. Work over the whole surface in the same direction.
5. If the clay gets too dry and scratches, dampen it slightly with a finger or a little oil on the stone (author's practice; test on a test tile first).
6. Rub a second time when the pot is a little drier for a higher shine.
7. Let it dry slowly; do not touch the shiny surface with clay-covered hands.

Check yourself: Unit 5

1. At which stage do you burnish and carve?
2. How do you know a pot is still damp?
3. Why should rims and handles be wrapped with plastic while the pot dries?

Competency standard

Range. At least two open firings of 20 or more pieces each. Evidence. Firing record; quality check sheet; observation; oral questions.

What firing does

Firing bakes sun-dried clay into pottery. Fired clay holds water, resists heat and no longer dissolves in water, and most earthenware clays change colour. Earthenware can be fired from about 600 °C, as in simple pit firing; early bonfires may reach about 900 °C quickly. Unglazed earthenware stays porous, so it is limited for holding liquids unless it is sealed.

Open firing and pit firing

Pit firing is the oldest way of firing pots. The pots are placed together in a pit in the ground with fuel such as wood, wood shavings, dried dung and leaves, covered, and the fire is lit and tended. In Mali, pots are set on sticks and covered with a mound of grass, and the women share the work. In Kenya, many potters fire in an open bonfire or a pit. It is cheap and simple, but it works badly when it is wet, it heats and cools very fast so pots crack, and in wind some pots are not fired. A shallow pit, or a low wall round the fire, protects it from wind and slows the firing.

The two danger points

• About 100 °C: water left in the clay turns to steam. If this happens too fast, the pot cracks.
• About 580 °C: the quartz in the clay expands. If this happens too fast, the pot cracks.

That is why a good firing starts slowly, is even all round and cools slowly.

Prepare

Fuel and tools: dry firewood (split, thumb-to-arm thick), dry straw or grass, dry sawdust or wood shavings (from a sawmill or carpenter), broken pot pieces (shards), long sticks, gloves, two buckets of sand, water.

1. Check every pot. If it has a crack or is badly made, do not fire it: break it, soak it and use the clay again.
2. Dry in the sun for at least one day before the firing.
3. Choose a calm, dry day. Fire in the late afternoon if the place is windy at midday.
4. Clear a circle about 3 m wide down to bare earth. Dig a shallow pit about 30 cm deep (or build a low wall of bricks or stones round it).
5. Put the sand, water and first-aid kit beside it. Tell the people near you.

Fire (step by step, with your trainer)

1. Bed. Spread a layer of sawdust or straw and a layer of small sticks in the pit.
2. Warm the pots. Stand the pots round a small fire at the edge of the pit for 30 to 60 minutes, turning them, until they are hot to the touch. This drives out the last water slowly.
3. Load. Place the pots on the bed, the biggest at the bottom, mouths down or on their sides, close together so they cannot fall. Put shards between them. Put small pieces in larger ones.
4. Cover. Cover the pots with a layer of straw or grass, then lean firewood all round and over them like a tent. Leave gaps for air at the bottom.
5. Light from the side the wind is coming from.
6. Keep it slow at first. Add small pieces of wood. Do not build a roaring fire in the first hour.
7. Then build the heat. Add wood evenly all round so no side is cold. Watch for pots showing through: cover them with more wood or shards.
8. Peak. After two to three hours (the time depends on your clay and size), the fire burns down to glowing coals and the pots glow a dull red. Your trainer judges when it is enough.
9. Cover to cool. Cover the embers and pots with shards, old metal sheets or a layer of ash to slow cooling and keep out cold wind.
10. Wait. Leave the pots to cool for many hours or overnight. Opening a firing too early makes pots cool too fast and break.
11. Unload with gloves when pots can be touched. Put out the remaining embers with sand and water.

Check every pot (quality check)

Grade: A (sell at full price), B (small fault: sell cheaper), C (crack or leak: break and use for grog).

Firing loss (%) = pots cracked or broken ÷ pots loaded × 100. With an improved kiln, losses can come down to under 10%. Record yours every time; it shows if you are improving.

Common firing faults

Check yourself: Unit 6

1. Name the two temperatures where pots crack if the fire changes too fast.
2. Why do you warm pots beside the fire before loading?
3. What does a dull "clunk" in the ring test tell you?

Competency standard

Range. The trainee's own plan. Evidence. Costing sheet; one-page plan; sales record if pots were sold.

What sells

• Tanoso potters sell bowls for GH¢4 to GH¢30 depending on size and finish, mainly for serving food and grinding pepper and spices, and women traders sell along the Sunyani–Kumasi highway; sales rise in festive seasons and at weekends.
• Decorative flower pots were listed in Greater Accra in October 2026 at about GH¢250 to GH¢1,150 each; most listings did not state the material.
• Charcoal stoves with a fired clay liner (such as the Gyapa) use up to 50% less charcoal than a plain stove.
• Clay water filters are made in Ghana: Pure Home Water's factory in northern Ghana made about 200 filters a month in 2011 and sold the filter systems for about US$10. Do not make or sell your own pots as "water filters" at this level: a filter must be tested to show it cleans water. You may resell tested filters from a known maker.

Location settings that give good returns

Business ideas and ingenuity

Market yourself

• WhatsApp Business is a free app with a business profile and a catalogue of products with photos and prices. Photograph each pot in good daylight on a plain cloth.
• A free Google Business Profile lets buyers find your yard on Google Maps.
• A sign at your yard; a stall on market day; pots on show at a plant nursery.
• Tell buyers the truth: "unglazed, for plants and water, not for cooking" or "burnished, decorative".
• Keep a portfolio: photos of your best pots with sizes and prices.

Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) bans discrimination in employment and asks for accessible public places. Many pottery tasks can be done seated: wedging small lumps, pinching, coiling, slab work, decorating, burnishing, checking pots and selling. A person who uses a wheelchair can work at a table of the right height with tools within reach; a person with low vision can work by touch (pinching and coiling rely on touch) with good light and a fixed place for each tool; a deaf potter can follow picture cards and written steps. Digging clay, carrying loads and tending the fire are harder; share these tasks in the group. (Author's advice; no Ghana source found.)

Check yourself: Unit 7

1. Why do firing losses raise the cost of each good pot?
2. Name two places that buy flower pots.
3. Why must you not sell your own pots as water filters at this level?

1. What lung disease can clay dust cause, and how do you prevent it?
2. Name four things you keep next to an open firing.
3. Why is no lead glaze ever used on food pots?
4. Describe the shrink test.
5. Why do you soak and sieve dug clay?
6. Why do you wedge clay?
7. What are the four steps of a good join?
8. Name the three stages of drying clay.
9. At which stage do you burnish?
10. Why must a pot be bone-dry before firing?
11. Name the two temperatures where pots crack if heated too fast.
12. How do you work out firing loss?

Best next reads: Practical Action's Clay Based Technologies and A Better Bonfire Kiln; HSE's COSHH essentials in ceramics: Silica sheets; the Hub's Workplace Safety and Money Skills manuals.

What this module does not cover: the potter's wheel, kilns, glazes, coal-pot liners in volume and running a workshop with staff (see Levels 2 and 3).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.