I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 928: Porcelain Complete
When Lame finally covered the newly opened hole with the piece of animal hide from the inside and nailed it with a copper nail, it declared the end of this great challenge.
“Phew!”
Lame pushed the handle of the wooden plug forward, and as the air was compressed, the animal hide covering the outside of the first hole was blown open, letting the airflow gush out.
At the same time, the airflow generated by pushing the handle pressed the hide nailed to the inside of the second hole tightly against the wooden board, completely blocking the second hole, and no air escaped from there.
“Phew!”
Lame exerted force with his arms and pulled back the wooden plug that had been pushed all the way in.
With his pull, the animal hide covering the first hole was firmly sucked against the wooden board, and no air could enter from there.
Meanwhile, the hide covering the inside of the second hole opened, and outside air flowed in.
Watching this scene, Heiwa’s face was full of smiles, his cheeks slightly flushed, and his hands could not help but rub back and forth vigorously.
Lame knew what Heiwa wanted to do most at this moment, so after a few pushes and pulls, he decisively handed the wooden handle to Heiwa.
Heiwa took Lame’s place, receiving the handle from him, and impatiently began pushing and pulling. With each push and pull, his face grew redder, as if drunk, and the excitement coursing through him was indescribable.
With the wooden bellows created by Lame, Heiwa abandoned the plan to make a bellows out of pottery.
After comparing, he found that wood was undoubtedly more suitable for making this thing.
Of course, this bellows that Lame had just made could not be used directly because it was only a prototype—small in size, producing insufficient airflow, and still imperfect in many places.
However, once these technical difficulties were overcome, making a large bellows would no longer be difficult; it would just be a matter of copying the prototype.
Of course, the gourd was still in Jinguancheng, and Lame and the others had not seen it yet, but that did not prevent them from mastering this skill.
As Lame started to work busily, the carpenter’s workshop rang again with the sounds of sawing, planing, and hammering.
Time quietly passed amidst this clamor, leaving a floor covered with scraps and wood shavings, and at the same time, a large bellows appeared in the workshop.
Compared with the small prototype bellows from before, this much larger bellows had many changes.
For example, there was only one hole for air to go out, but it was large, while there were two holes for air to go in.
However, the two inlet holes were not as large as the one outlet hole.
This was because, when pushing air out, the pressure was too great and the hide was relatively soft; if the hole was too large, the hide could be pushed out of the hole.
On the side where the bellows handle was located, a wooden board was also installed to seal the entire bellows.
Of course, holes were left for the wooden piston’s handle to move.
At the same time, the handle on the wooden piston was changed from one to two.
This was because Lame and Heiwa discovered that with only one handle in the center of the piston, the piston could easily tilt during pushing and pulling.
With two handles, one above and one below, this problem was avoided.
To make it easier to grip and push, a short wooden grip suitable for hand operation was installed at the ends of the two handles protruding from the bellows, connecting them.
Additionally, the wooden piston inside the bellows was modified compared to before.
Previously, the piston was made entirely of wood; now it was wrapped in a layer of smooth, hairless hide.
This was mainly because Lame and Heiwa found that a purely wooden piston could not completely seal the gaps between the piston and the bellows wall during pushing and pulling.
The presence of these gaps meant that when pushing the piston down, a lot of air would escape upwards.
If air escaped here, the airflow from the outlet below would be greatly reduced.
After wrapping it with this layer of hide, this problem was greatly solved.
Although it was impossible to seal all the gaps and prevent a single bit of air from escaping upwards, after this modification, the air escaping upward was greatly reduced…
Outside the Green Sparrow main tribe, a huge wooden bellows was being pushed and pulled continuously, making a “whoosh” sound.
With the sound of air, the flames in the kiln rose steadily, and even though the weather was already cold, approaching it made one feel the intense heat.
Compared to the simple bellows that Han Cheng had made before, this enclosed bellows was undoubtedly more convenient and efficient.
Heiwa gripped the wooden piston handle, pushing and pulling repeatedly, sending bursts of air into the furnace.
In this nearly freezing weather, sweat actually ran down his forehead.
But Heiwa did not care; he just continued to pull and push the bellows, sending gusts of air under the kiln, wanting the fire inside to burn more fiercely, seemingly unaware of fatigue.
Watching the roaring flames, Heiwa’s heart also burned with them…
The bellows, puffing out air, eventually stopped, and the flames gradually diminished until extinguished.
The glowing coals gradually darkened, losing their brightness, and white ash began to form on them.
As time passed, the coals lost all heat, and the warm bottom of the furnace slowly became cold.
Many people gathered around the kiln, including Shaman and the Eldest Senior Brother.
All eyes looked at the now-cool kiln, then at Heiwa standing beside it, anticipation and anxiety filling their hearts.
Heiwa’s excitement grew; having fired many kilns before, he now felt a rare sense of helplessness.
He shook his hands vigorously, took a deep breath, and went to open the kiln.
As he moved, the sealed kiln door opened, and fine dust flew out, revealing some whiteness inside.
Heiwa reached into the not-so-warm kiln and touched the piece closest to the edge, taking it out.
The moment his fingers touched this outermost piece, Heiwa’s heart skipped a beat.
Because the feeling under his fingertips was different from any pottery he had touched before.
Even glazed pottery did not feel this smooth.
He restrained his excitement and carefully took his hand out of the kiln.
Everyone’s eyes fell on it.
Although they had never seen porcelain before, when they saw the cup that Heiwa took out of the kiln, everyone immediately confirmed that this was the porcelain that the Divine Child had spoken of!
Because this cup was just too beautiful! Too stunning!
It completely outshone all the pottery previously made in the tribe.
This was a qualitative leap, so great that one only needed a glance to recognize it.
Before, people had only heard the Divine Child say that porcelain was exquisite; now, seeing this freshly fired porcelain, they realized it was even more refined than he had described!
Heiwa held the cup with both hands, his eyes revealing a dazed, enchanted expression.
He looked at it carefully, not daring to move too much, fearing that he might accidentally break this exquisite piece.
The others’ gaze was also fixed on Heiwa’s hands, full of amazement.
For a moment, it became especially quiet; some even forgot to breathe.
“Let… let me see…”
After a while of silence, Shaman’s voice came, slightly trembling.
Heiwa, as if waking from a dream, carefully brought the porcelain to Shaman, handing it over with caution.
The shaman took the seemingly lustrous porcelain, holding it in his hands and inspecting it closely; his previously cloudy eyes grew exceptionally bright.
His rough fingers continuously stroked it lightly, reluctant to let go.
Heiwa, after watching for a moment, realized there was more porcelain in the kiln and hurried back to retrieve more pieces.
The others also gathered around.
A large white bowl, smooth and round, reflecting sunlight as if emitting a glow.
A small spoon, equally smooth, appeared somewhat translucent under the sunlight…
With Heiwa’s careful movements, piece by piece, porcelain made from kaolin clay was taken out.
Tapping it lightly with his hand produced a pleasant, very melodious sound.
However, compared to pottery, the yield of porcelain was lower—only three or four out of ten pieces survived; the rest were mostly broken.
Even so, it was enough to delight Heiwa and the rest of the Green Sparrow Tribe.
High-ranking members could hold a piece of porcelain and examine it carefully; lower-ranking members each received a shard to inspect.
The porcelain was not only beautiful and glossy but also extremely hard; even thin chips from broken pieces could cut meat.
The fineness of the porcelain exceeded everyone’s imagination in the tribe; people even felt that such items should be carefully treasured, and using them to hold food was almost a crime.
Shaman and some others even felt that such items could be passed down as treasures from generation to generation.
This mentality was mainly due to the small number of porcelain pieces and the tribe’s first encounter with it.
Once more, porcelain was produced, and people became accustomed to its presence; this would settle down.
The appearance of porcelain so exquisite that it could not be described in words left the Green Sparrow Tribe in a state of extreme excitement and joy for a period of time.
Shaman had repeatedly placed the fine porcelain on the stone platform in front of the totem, hoping that the great Sky God would also see this exquisite thing.
In fact, compared to showing it to the Sky God, Shaman wanted to immediately convey the good news to the Divine Child far away in Jinguancheng, letting him know that the tribe had successfully fired porcelain according to his instructions.
However, the Divine Child was not present in the tribe, and Jinguancheng was too far from the main tribe, making communication difficult, so the shaman had to rely on the aloof Sky God to relay this very good news to the Divine Child in Jinguancheng…
In the pottery workshop, Heiwa and some others skilled in pottery worked as if injected with adrenaline, making clay bodies from kaolin.
They wanted to fire more exquisite porcelain so that all the tribe’s citizens could eat from fine porcelain bowls.
At the same time, they also hoped to trade this exquisite porcelain for abundant food and other items from other tribes.
Previous pottery could already be exchanged for many items; now, porcelain, far more exquisite than pottery, would surely fetch even more!
Just thinking that their tribe could fire many porcelain bowls in one kiln and immediately exchange them for food and other items collected over a long time by other tribes made Heiwa and the others extremely excited.
This excitement was even stronger than the thrill of firing the porcelain itself.
Because of Han Cheng, this unscrupulous Divine Child, the originally simple and naive primitive people had now lost some of their former simplicity…
Through previous making and firing, Heiwa and others had discovered some small techniques for making clay bodies from kaolin.
For example, making the clay as thin as possible, making large porcelain pieces was extremely difficult.
As they continued their labor, one by one, clay bodies made from kaolin began to take shape.
Some people used tools to scrape off excess from dried clay bodies, making them smoother and more shaped.
Once enough clay bodies were made, a batch would be fired in the kiln.
During the firing, Heiwa never missed a session.
He always paid close attention to all aspects of the process and recorded them in a small notebook, according to the Divine Child’s instructions, for future reference and to identify areas for improvement.
Amidst the busy work, time quietly passed, and after clouds obscured the sky, the dry, cold weather was temporarily ended.
Without the whistle wind, snow grains fell from the sky, bouncing and rolling on the ground.
However, when the snow grains accumulated, the later ones could no longer bounce.
After the snow grains covered the ground with a layer of impure white, snowflakes began to fall.
While heavy snow fell on the Green Sparrow main tribe, in the southern Jinguancheng, sunlight still shone…
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