The Rustic Pottery Art of Huong Canh – North of Vietnam
Huong Canh is a village located in Binh Xuyen, Vinh Phuc province, Vietnam. It is well-known by its traditonal and fitured handcraft ceramics, called Huong Canh stoneware ceramics.
Huong Canh Pottery Village is over 300 years old and its traditional quintessence is still retained. All ceramic products are made from green clay and brown clay, characterized by the local soil. Huong Canh stoneware ceramic is famous for its natural beauty, rustic and high durability. Its pottery making process is drawn from the experience of many generations from time to time, plus the knowledge and reseach of each craftman during his working process
Brown clay is the clay that lies 50 cm to 1m5 below the surface of the rice field, from 1m5 to 6m is a green clay layer.Brown clay has the effect of hardening the bones of ceramic, green clay increases the glossiness of ceramic surface. Each craftman has his own proportion to create a perfect mixture of these two diferrent clays. After creating a shape as being expected, it will be fired at high temperature to produce a distinctive rustic ceramic product.
Talking specifically to the process of turning the soil to be the mixture of clay for shaping. Clay is kept in a dry place from 6 months to 1 year, with the purpose of allowing the material to “absorb” the air, rain, wind, and sun. This will help to reduce the soil expansion that can cause product damage. 
In order to have a clean mixture of clay, soil have to go through 5 stages of the filtering process and immersion process. Then, the clean soil will be kneaded to give the soil ductility – called mixture of clay, for easy-hand shaping. Since the featured clay contains more iron oxide compared to other types of clay in diferrent locals, tapping to the finsihed product can sound like a metal bell. Besides, this feature of the clay helps the product enable to withstand high heating temperatures up to 1,200 Celcius degree in the ceramic kiln. Thus, Huong Canh ceramic products are well-known about its durability and quality.
