As the earthen kiln began to be built, the foot of the mountain began to become lively.
Ye often brings a few older children to join in the fun. Although he can't do heavy work, he can help clean up grass roots, leaves, stones and other impurities in the soil.
It can even help with mud stepping.
When busy and resting, Xu Chen and others would take a group of children to the river beach to catch fish and shrimps. Although the harvest was not big, it was cool and lively, but they could always get a few kilograms in half a day. When they were hungry, Ye took the children
Peel and clean the fish and shrimp and start cooking on the stone slab.
Sometimes Ye would take a group of children to a nearby place to pick some delicious berries and bring them back as snacks.
With this group of children making noise, the construction site became more and more lively, and the tribesmen came over to take a look, making the usually barren place at the foot of the mountain slowly turn into a hot land.
Making pottery is actually very simple.
It mainly depends on the quality of the mud.
The earthen kiln had not yet been dried, so Xu Chen had enough time to repeatedly experiment with the techniques of each aspect of pottery making.
In order to make pottery better, he also made several simple tools out of wood, such as trowels, tile knives, scrapers, whittling knives, digging knives, seal knives, etc., seven or eight large and small, all using large and small tools.
Different wooden buckets are cut into shapes using stone knives and axes, and then polished with stones and smoothed.
As Xu Chen made more and more tools, a group of people also respected him more and more, so they completed all his arrangements very carefully and did not dare to be careless at all.
While working playfully, Xu Chen also slowly made a batch of pottery clay.
Because it was the first time for him to make pottery on a large scale, Xu Chen had no idea about the fire temperature, etc. In order to ensure the quality of the firing, he did not make too big a pottery. All the pottery was made of rice bowls, water cups, plates, kettles and other small utensils.
And this is also the most lacking daily necessities right now.
After accumulating some experience, you can start firing pottery basins, pots, pots and even large vessels in pottery jars.
Relatively speaking, the larger the object, the more difficult it is to make, the greater the chance of firing failure, and the longer the firing time will be.
Whether it is pottery or porcelain, the heat is very important.
Mastering the heat of the kiln is basically more than half of the success.
The earth kiln was filled with fireworks every day. After several days of continuous smoking, the wet soil filled around it began to change color, and the mud smeared in the kiln was all smoked into a black sauce.
More than ten meters away from the kiln, there is a mud pit specially made for mixing mud. Cleaned clay is poured into it, and after adding water, it is repeatedly dug and trampled with a wooden hoe until it becomes uniform wet mud.
This kind of mud is not directly made into pottery, but is put into balls under the pergola and covered with wet grass for two days to make the mud more flexible.
Use a trowel to cut the well-coated mud into clumps of suitable size, place them on a clean stone board and knead and beat them repeatedly until they become completely soft and suitable, then slowly knead them into the desired shape.
The smaller the utensil, the simpler and easier it is to make; the larger the utensil, the more difficult it is.
The clay bricks Xu Chen makes right now are not big.
However, there are many styles and shapes, especially kettles and cups, which have specially made lids and handles.
The trowel cuts mud, the tile knife shapes, the scraper trims, the sharpener trims, the digging knife digs holes, and the seal knife carves characters.
As Xu Chen gradually became familiar with it, the style and appearance of the pottery produced became more and more exquisite and beautiful.
He is also becoming more and more immersed in this natural wildness and creation.
Not only did he have to use a seal knife to carve the four words "Bashi produced" on the bottom of each shade-dried clay.
Even some simple patterns of flowers, birds, insects and fish and some hieroglyphs are written on some clay bricks that they think are exquisite.
And every time Xu Chen started carving, Ye would hold her breath and stand by the side, watching without blinking her eyes. After Xu Chen finished carving, she would carefully hold it with both hands and place it on the stone slab.
After seven or eight days of busy preparation, there are already hundreds of clay bricks produced, enough to be fired in a kiln.
Therefore, Xu Chen planned to finish carving the last few and officially put them into the kiln for firing.
Seeing Ye's serious attitude towards studying, Xu Chen handed her the carving knife and then handed him a clay pot.
"Ye Ga, try it!"
Ye obviously didn't expect it, and was at a loss as he held the carving knife.
"Try it, it's very easy!" Xu Chen encouraged with a smile.
So Ye mustered up the courage to take the pottery pot, picked up a carving knife and slowly carved out four characters on the bottom.
Although it is crooked, every word is correct.
"good!"
Xu Chen gave a thumbs up and then pointed at the body of the pot.
Ye's thin body was trembling slightly because of nervousness, but under Xu Chen's encouraging eyes, he thought for a moment and slowly engraved a circle of numerical symbols on it, and then handed it to Xu Chen with a worried look on his face.
"Very good, it seems you are very familiar with numbers!"
Xu Chen nodded with a smile after reading it, and called on Gu Heju and others to start sending all the made clay bricks into the kiln. Also put in at the same time were various strange human figures and animals made by a group of children.
Half an hour later.
All the mud bricks are put into the fire kiln and arranged in circles. After observing that there are no problems, the kiln door is sealed with stones and soil, and then the fire is officially lit.
As the kiln fire began to burn, thick smoke rose into the sky from the flue on the top of the kiln. Everyone cheered excitedly, and the scene was filled with joy.
Although Xu Chen breathed a sigh of relief, whether he could successfully bake real pottery next depended on the power of the kiln fire.
To increase the temperature of the kiln fire to about 800 degrees and allow the clay to melt slightly, you must continue to add firewood and let the kiln temperature continue to accumulate and rise.
In this way, there will be no shortage of manpower day and night, otherwise the kiln will be burned during the day and turned off at night, and the temperature will rise and fall, and the clay kiln will probably be scrapped.
Thinking of this, he went to Muba to discuss and arrange for someone to come and watch the night.
Mother Ba was naturally very concerned about this matter, and arranged for five adult men who stayed on the mountain to take turns going down the mountain every day to keep watch.
This was the first time for the tribe to spend the night at the foot of the mountain, so everyone was very nervous. However, the location was right at the foot of the mountain, so it was not very dangerous. Nothing happened for two days, so the tension quickly disappeared.
.
Taking advantage of these two days, Xu Chen began to make medium and large vessels, mainly pottery basins, pots, pots, urns and some jars and jars.
Compared with ordinary living utensils such as cups and dishes, this kind of large pottery is more useful for cooking food, storing food, boiling water for cooking, etc., which can truly improve the quality of life of the tribe.
However, it is much more difficult to make large-scale pottery. The clay is too wet and easy to collapse, the clay is too dry and difficult to shape, the clay is too thin to stand up, and the clay is too thick to be burned thoroughly.
So in two days, he only made seven or eight samples.
However, during this exploration, he and a group of bricklayers became more familiar with the craft of pottery. Whether it was mixing clay or shaping, the skills became more and more comfortable, and Xu Chen also continued to let a group of kiln workers participate in the production.
At the same time, through subtle communication, the language and writing about pottery are gradually learned and accepted by everyone, making communication more convenient.
Especially a group of children accepted it very quickly. After hanging around for a while, they were all able to accurately recognize every item Xu Chen mentioned, and they could even count simple quantities. Numbers within ten were basically no problem.
And Ye can already use simple addition and subtraction to perform some simple operations.
Because of the emergence of kilns, the tribe's past living habits were completely broken.
Whether they go out to work or stay in the cave, they come to the kiln to take a look every day.
In particular, everyone was obviously very interested in the process of making clay clay. Not only did a group of children follow suit by making some pottery figurine toys, adults sometimes couldn't help themselves and had a great time making a few utensils by themselves under Xu Chen's guidance.
As the kiln became more and more lively, everyone gradually became familiar with the atmosphere of life at the foot of the mountain.
And Xu Chen also started planning to let some people move here first.
Of course, if you want to live down the mountain, you must fully consider safety factors. At least you must build a fence near the kiln and build some houses.
With the arrival of autumn, the weather is getting colder and colder, and the food for animals will become less and less. Medium and large beasts such as wild wolves, leopards, lynx and wild boars still pose a huge threat to humans.
The valley is surrounded by primeval forests, and there is definitely no shortage of large beasts like tigers and bears. They roar like they are competing all day long. Once one breaks in, it will definitely cause heavy casualties.
It is impossible to build houses and cut down trees right now.
Stone knives and stone axes can only deal with small trees, vines and thorns that are as thick as arms and legs. They are basically useless against larger ones, so the best ones are fence stones.
There is no shortage of mud and stones right now, but there is a shortage of manpower.
However, this should be done sooner rather than later. Although the cave is safe, climbing up and down every day is tiring and a waste of time.
Therefore, while Xu Chen was teaching a group of people to make pottery, he also observed around the kiln, and gradually he had some more mature ideas in his mind.
…
The kiln fire burned day and night for five days and five nights.
Xu Chen estimated that it was almost done, so he asked the kiln workers to stop the fire.
At first, the more than ten simple mud bricks that were randomly fabricated were thrown into the fire pit and burned overnight, and they were relatively strong. Now they are burned fiercely in a special kiln fire for five days, and they should have been burned through.
Not to mention the size of the device is not big.
Even if the temperature is a little different, it will definitely be much better than the first time.
In addition, the burning time was too long and there was no supply of firewood. In recent days, a group of people in the kiln factory spent most of their time collecting firewood and pulling out weeds. Basically, all the dead tree trunks in the garden one mile below the foot of the mountain were picked up.
Continuing to burn it will outweigh the gains and losses.
In fact, he only discovered now that in the absence of coal, the biggest consumption in kiln burning is wood.
At present, the tools are simple and rudimentary, hunting is basically dependent on hunting, and burning firewood is basically dependent on picking up firewood, which is a sad group.
After a night of annealing, all the clan members went down the mountain early the next morning, preparing to observe the epoch-making moment of the opening of the kiln.
The mother's head was covered with feathers again, a string of strange-shaped necklaces hung around her neck, and the inheritance staff covered with runes and pulp was also taken out again.
A group of women repainted the men's paintings religiously.
Although Xu Chen was not yet an adult, Mu Ba gave him the status of an adult with the power of the patriarch, so he was once again painted with colorful patterns, like a rainbow paint man surrounded by stars holding the moon.
After turning off the fire overnight, the temperature of the kiln has subsided, but due to the continuous high-temperature baking, the plants within dozens of meters in radius have become dehydrated and withered, and the soil around the kiln has also become completely dry. Under the extreme dryness,
When you get close, you can still feel the unique dry smell of kiln fire.
Amid the excited cheers of a group of savages, Xu Chen used a wooden hoe to dig open the closed kiln door. As the stones and soil collapsed, a wave of slightly hot air hit his face.