Women make pots and vases in many African cultures. Many African vases are earthenware. Earthenware--pottery made of clay--is one of the oldest types of pottery. African potters make vessels by hand and apply coloring slips prepared from vegetables or different clays. Potters might then incise or impress decorations onto the vases and fire them at low temperatures. Much of African pottery has a "handmade" quality.
Moist clay's malleable quality allows the potter to create a variety of forms, from simple bowls to more complex water bottles. Water bottles and other vessels can be used as vases when not carrying water. Whether decorated with slips or incised marks, African vases and water bottles are often simple, with a bowl topped by a narrower neck.
Many African ceramics are earthenware and made of red clay. The predominant colors of African vases are thus usually reds, browns and blacks. Once a potter forms the vessel and lets it dry, the potter may cut abstract designs into the clay surface with a wood or metal tool, or texture the surface by impressing patterns with a roulette. A roulette is a sort of cylindrical stamp that a potter can roll along a surface to impress a continuous texture or pattern. Another option for the potter is burnishing the pot to a high sheen: this is a common characteristic of African vases and other ceramics.
African arts in general--including sculpture, architecture, painting and textiles--often reflect an interest in geometric abstractions of the human or animal figure, as well as patterns. The same interest in ordered arrangements of triangles, stripes and other geometric forms is often manifest on African vases.