We start with a pinch pot. The walls must be of even thickness. Scoop the clay from the inside base and wall. Coil it onto the rim to keep the edge from stretching too thin and cracking. Bits of cloth or leather, or a small corncob, are dipped in water and used to smooth the walls.
Different villages make different pot shapes.
Mpraeso is noted particularly for its grinding bowls, shal- low dishes with strong, inverted rims and ridges on the interior. A small wooden pestle is used for grinding - tomato, pepper, okra, whatever is required. The clay, brown, tan or black, is mixed with sand after being cleaned to add body. The Mpraeso potters use their clay very wet, much wetter than I'm accustomed to, perhaps to compensate for its rapid drying in the hot sun. Potters dig their clay from nearby deposits and carry it back to their yards, where they clean it of debris, wet it down and spread it out to dry.