Andy Ward

@fwikklinhewwow Looks like you have a good place to start

@palatkwapi I watched the entire thing, as well as the next video in the series. I legit want to try it. (Pics for reference)

I'm spending time with my family in Montana right now and there is clay EVERYWHERE around here. If you are into wild clay Eastern Montana is a great place for exploring for wild clays. Here is a little of the clay and other materials I have been finding out here.

@fwikklinhewwow It depends on the clay, some is super easy, others need a little more work, but totally doable either way. Here is a video about that. youtu.be/3DIEO--AQnU?si…

@palatkwapi How hard is it to process clay? I've been trying to convince my brother to let me fiddle around and figure out pottery cus the entire area I'm in is clay and I think it'd be cool to make pottery from local wild clay

@ThomasWayneRil1 The timing fits. It’s interesting that the Mexican trade that had been coming to Chaco switched to Wupatki and Aztec got little to none of it.

Wupatki was made by the Chacoan Anasazi elite after they fled the Chaco canyon. They also established the Hopi Mesas before they fled down south. They headed to the Mogollon rim and then to casas grandes or Paquime. They may have been chased out by the Mesa Verdeans or the Athabaskans. Or both. Very cool video.

My latest video about Wupatki was released today. Wupatki is such an interesting place because it developed during a time that there was a lot of volcanic activity in the area and when the volcano finally settled down, the people left. youtu.be/4g2Y2TGVDBk

My new video is out. Why did people flock to live near this active volcano in the 1100s? youtu.be/4g2Y2TGVDBk?si…

Look at the similarity of the designs on this two pots, these pots don't have much in common. The white one was made in the 1100s in Northern Arizona, was painted with organic paint and fired in a smothered reduction firing. The red one was made in the 1300s in Southern Arizona, was painted with mineral paint and was fired in an oxidizing surface firing. So what is the connection? Want to take a guess before you read the answer? The southern red ware pot was made by immigrants who moved from Northern Arizona (near where the white ware pot was made) to Southern Arizona in the last 1200s bringing there unique ideas and designs with them.

@Alice9k3 @realjamesland62 Organic pottery paint

@realjamesland62 @palatkwapi What is this?

@palatkwapi Gonna boil down some wild lettuce, another milky sap weed, and see if it makes black organic ink. I bet it does. Stay tuned for results.

@ParkObsession renaissance festivals, Comicons...

Among my hottest takes are: -Everyone that brings up the theme park addiction never mentions sporting events or festivals like Coachella. People love having fun at theme parks, it’s not our fault you’re secretly miserable.

Did you know that many of the black on white pots from the ancient Southwest were originally red on white before firing. That's because the black paint seen on many of these is made from iron hematite that turns black when reduced in the firing. Our project in the Ancient Potters Club in April has been this Tularosa Black on White pitcher from the Museum of Northern Arizona. I just finished painting this one today, now I will need to fire it in a smothered pit to turn the red into black. The Ancient Potters Club is my Wednesday night Zoom pottery class. You can learn more at my website AncientPottery.how Next month we will be making a Babocomari Polychrome bowl. #ancientpottery

@laxmog Have you seen Wes at Airstream Wanderings? He’s in Minnesota. @airstreamwanderings3683?si=QR6MJsD0TnpLAMzJ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@airstreamwand…

@palatkwapi I might buy clay as a last resort, but I'm trying to do everything local for max historical immersion. I'm near the Minnesota River Valley which allegedly has lots of white clay, and also shells! (which have been found to be a superior temper than grit/sand for our clays)

Pottery can be decorated with a wide variety of natural materials. From organic paint made from boiled down plants, to different colored clays and different colored minerals. Manganese dioxide, iron oxide and copper carbonate can all make different colored paints. My spring mug workshop starts tomorrow and we will be using a lot of these materials to decorate our mugs. Which of these natural pigments have you had success with?

@laxmog Yeah I started out using caliche for my white. Not the best. White clay can be super hard to locate, I do sell a decent white clay on my website which is 100% naturally sourced.

@palatkwapi I have tons of various ochre shades near my house that all work well. My problem is a white paint. I can't find white clay so I've been using what I assume is calcium carbonate from white rocks. It fires to a clean white, but is very fugitive 💔

@flintlockactual Dispersed camping is where it’s at! No reservations necessary, more peace and privacy.

Using AI to show ancient pottery. I know the use of AI can be somewhat controversial so allow me to explain what I am doing. I am working on a documentary about the ancient Southwest for which there are very few good, usable photos of the artifacts. But I can feed a very small black on white photo of a pot into Grok, tell it the size and colors to use and get back an extremely accurate higher resolution color photo that I can use in my documentary. I can also use AI to recreate scenes of what everyday life looked like 1000 years ago. Pictured is an amazing Sacaton Red on Buff (A.D. 950-1150) jar excavated from Snaketown that is 25 inches in diameter.

@robertoblake @NickNimmin @vidIQ I appreciate the feedback Roberto, I get very frustrated by low views but I am growing slowly.

The only ones I see from you doing less than 10K are only really because the thumbnails are not as visually attractive as your other ones, usually for some minor subtle reason. But your content is exactly the sort of thing my mom and sisters would watch and the quality and consistency in theme is there. Most people are not passionate about things they are good at and knowledgeable about. Most people don’t like who an what likes them back… You have an intersection of passion and competency. Most people do not, and can’t soft pivot to something they like, but are at least decent at.

What is the WORST YouTube advice you've ever heard...?

@NickNimmin @robertoblake @vidIQ Your passion can also be too niche. I’m kind of in that boat myself. Over 230k subscribers but many videos get less than 10k views.

@vidIQ "Just make videos about something you're passionate about and it will work out." ...as they walk by the graveyard of channels that never went anywhere because they thought they didn't need to learn how to actually make content.

@realjamesland62 Dogbane paint? That's a new one to me.

@palatkwapi My 5 inch saucer (puki) dogbane ink experiment turned out good. I call it Western Cherokee Black on Red. I made the dogbane ink last summer.

Show Low Polychrome (ca. 1325–1400 AD), a striking White Mountain Red Ware pottery type from Arizona's Mogollon Rim region. Featuring bold black geometric designs over red and white slipped backgrounds, these vessels showcase the artistic mastery of ancient Southwestern potters. Perfect for history lovers and artifact enthusiasts! #AncientPottery #SouthwestArchaeology #ShowLowPolychrome

This pot was made using just a few simple, natural tools. Formed from natural grey clay, shaped with a piece of gourd, scraped with a deer rib bone, smoothed with a pebble, painted with red ochre using a brush made from a yucca leaf.