The Ancient Tradition of Using Tree Bark to Decorate Pottery

The native O'odham and Maricopa potters of Arizona use bark from the mesquite tree to make paint which they use to decorate pottery. In this video I explore this tradition, try my hand at making some of this paint and entertain the idea that this tradition may be related to the older Salado tradition of using organic paint on pottery. My experiment will be concluded next week when I fire this pot that I painted with this new paint.

Here is the link to the book I show in this video, "Dirt for Making Things" by Mary Fernald https://amzn.to/3pEdO5f

0:00 The 3 ways of using organic paint to decorate pottery
3:29 Dirt For Making Things book
6:04 Collecting mesquite bark to make paint with
8:55 Cooking down the bark into pottery paint
11:00 Painting pottery with mesquite sap
15:08 Mesquite sap paint vs. other organic paints

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