In my dream last night I was playing experimental ceramic instruments of different shapes and contortions. Some of them looked like rolling waves or seashell spirals and crevices that acted as special areas a hand could be cupped to make a bass sound.
Other specific areas of the ceramic instruments had a special ‘glazing’ to change the sound if you were to slap it with your fingers. There even seemed to be a water element to the instrument, so that by keeping it moist there would be a more pronounced sound when you struck it.
These bright red pieces of pottery were being made predominantly by members of the Seattle Phonographers Union – a local troupe of musicians who are known for using unmodified field recordings. In the dream, Amber and I were learning from their experimentations and building our own variations, playing more of a rhythm section in their ceramic orchestra.
Again in the dream, I was talking to one of the designers, Chris DeLaurenti, and he was telling me that they had a recipe for making the clay ’sour’. He said that it was a very key component to their construction, and used the words “Sour S–”. Unfortunately, the second word I haven’t been able to remember … I keep wanting to say ‘Saline’ but not sure if that is right? Silica is apparently a key ingredient in clay, so perhaps that was it? Wish I knew exactly what the secret recipe was…
Anyway, I’ve looked up some ways to create your own clay, and this site on ‘Reproducing Southwestern Pottery’ mentions souring:
“This is a part of the hydration process that begins almost immediately after the clay, temper and water are mixed, where bacteria form in the clay and spread throughout the paste. This makes the paste more malleable and cohesive. These germs are removed completely by the firing process.”
It makes sense in hindsight that one might do a sort of ‘curing’ or ’souring’ process when making clay, but it’s certainly not something I can ever remember consciously thinking about. I’m finding it quite strange that my unconscious just happened to bring this up.
so I’m reading “When Women were Drummers” and your making the drums okay is like manifesting things in dream worlds or what.
By the way I have been delivering my jars from the Ashrams in India to Tibet. I get pretty thirsty…thank goodness sometimes there’s water in them.