Get All Fired Up and Serve Others

Pottery is the process of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials.  These products are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form.  The main categories of pottery include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain.  

Pottery is one of the oldest and most widespread of the decorative arts.  Objects made of clay and hardened with heat were used as vessels to hold liquids or as plates and bowls from which food could be served.

The Greeks are credited with making pottery an art form.  At the time potters were still known as craftsmen.  Their pots and vases were mainly created for drinking and pouring, or for storing wine and olive oil.

The ancient Egyptians created the first kilns.  Their kilns were lined with bricks made with clay and straw for insulation.  The Egyptians were also among the first to glaze their pottery before firing.

You can make pottery without a kiln.  All you need is a lump of clay and your imagination. If you don’t fire clay it becomes dry and will be brittle and easily broken.  If the object gets wet it will absorb the water and will eventually collapse and become a lump of clay.  Greenware is the term used to describe clay objects that have been shaped but not yet fired.  Firing the object converts them from clay to ceramic.  

Greenware is unfired pottery.  Regular pottery clay is meant to be fired but don’t use your kitchen oven to fire pots.  You may cause a house fire.  The temperature needed to fire clay is at least 1000 degrees F ( 540 degrees C) or hotter.  

Earthenware can be glazed, partially glazed, or unglazed.  The most common is sometime called redware or terra cotta.  Cooking in a clay pot is much better than cooking in a normal utensil.  Earthenware pots retain the oil and give moisture to food.  Clay pots add many important nutrients like calcium, iron and magnesium to food.  A clay pot improves the quality of the food and provides various health benefits.  

These are the sayings on the bookmark called Advice from a Pot.

• Be Well-rounded

• Keep in Shape

• Hold Your Own

• Don’t Go to Pieces

• Serve Others

• Chip in When You Need to

• Get All Fired Up!

These are my thoughts about each of these sayings.

• Be Well-rounded - A well-rounded person is competent and talented.  Develop your skills so you become competent.

• Keep in Shape - Get plenty of exercise. Move more and sit less.

• Hold Your Own - Stand firm and maintain your position in spite of difficulties and challenges that come. 

• Don’t Go to Pieces - Don’t get so upset that you lose control and cannot do what you should do. 

• Serve Others - Do something to benefit other people.  Look outside yourself and beyond your own problems, to bring value to others.

• Chip in When You Need to - To chip in means to contribute something.  It may be money, time, or some advice or wisdom.  We all have something we can contribute to help others. 

• Get All Fired Up! - Be extremely excited and take Massive Action!

Have a great day.  Get all fired up and add value to others today.  

# living life abundantly   # published author   # travelling tuesdays