Oh No! Not Another Harry Potter Quiz!

Answer: Clay

All things pottery are made out of clay. This clay can be mixed with other materials, leading to many regional variations in the raw materials that are used to create pottery. Three of the most common types of raw material that may be used are earthenware, stoneware and china clay (kaolin), each of which have their own advantageous properties. Which material needs to be used to produce your pot really depends on what you want to make!

Following in the footsteps of the first potters, Harry has to try and mould his clay into a pot by using his hands. This appears to him to be a long, tedious process, but then again, he is used to using a wand to do everything! Now, when the teacher isn't looking...

Answer: Potter's wheel

The potter's wheel is the classic tool for making circular ceramics. This invention, thought to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia, greatly decreased the amount of time it took to produce pottery. Over time, the speed of the wheel increased and a technique called "throwing" was developed. To "throw", you put a lump of clay in the middle of a wheel, find the centre of the clay with your thumbs and then skilfully apply pressure with them until the sides of the clay start rising up. If done correctly you end up with a nice pot, and not with clay all over the floor!

After Harry had used a scouring charm to clean up his mess, he asked Hermione if she knew much about the potter's wheel. "Our ancestors were made on a potter's wheel, Harry. At least the Egyptians thought so! A legend told of how the deity Khnum created everything out of clay. He was associated with the source of the Nile and as clay is found deposited on river beds, he became associated with that as well." Judging by his performance today, Harry might want to consider offering sacrifices to the potter God!

Answer: Fire It

Without firing the pottery, a bit of water can result in all the hard work being reduced down to raw materials again. If Harry's efforts so far are anything to go by, this might not be such a bad thing! The equipment in which pottery is most commonly fired is a kiln. This is a sort of oven that can cope with the high temperatures required in the firing process. The temperature required is dependent on the raw materials being used. Earthenware pottery tends to require the lowest temperature range, with stoneware slightly higher, and china clay (kaolin) higher still.

However, Harry thinks that he needn't bother with all that. He just waves his wand and shouts "incendio". Let's just hope he doesn't burn the classroom down!

Answer: Centaur

The two main types of "painting" used on ancient Greek pottery were black-figure and red-figure. Both involved applying something called a slip to the pottery before it was fired. This slip consisted of the same material as the pot but in a slightly different form so that as the pottery was fired in several stages, the slip would end up a different colour to the pot it had been applied to. With both black-figure and red-figure it would be the slip that would turn black. The difference between the two is that with black-figure painting it was the figure that would be painted on the pot, and with the later red-figure technique it would be the background that was painted on the pot. The advantages of the red-figure technique are thought to outweigh the advantages of the black-figure technique, though both methods have significant drawbacks.

So Harry decided to try and paint Firenze the centaur on his pot. Taking his handiwork to show Hermione later, he was not too pleased when she said, "What a lovely unicorn, Harry!"

Answer: Amphora

An amphora looks like a vase with a slender neck and two handles on either side of the neck to carry it with. They could be used to store and carry just about anything that fit through the neck, both liquid and dry, with grain and wine just two examples. They are particularly associated with ancient Greece and Rome, and you're sure to see one (or one hundred!) in the archaeology collections of some the world's finest museums. The bottom part of the pot would have been made on the potter's wheel with the neck and handles being hand made separately.

As keen as Potter is to sell his idea to the proprietor of the "Three Broomsticks", he is told that times have moved on. People use barrels now. Apparently the potter is not the solution for everything!

Answer: Tin

Glazing involves coating the pottery with a glassy substance and then firing so that the two combine. Originally the technique was used so that pottery could successfully store liquids. Without the glaze, a liquid would cause the pottery to weaken. Glazes are also used to make pottery waterproof and for decorative reasons. A tin glaze allows pottery to have a shiny white surface applied to it which can then be decorated with colour. As a result of this, faience work has been used as a substitute for porcelain, with a notable example being Delftware, well known for its blue design on a shiny white background.

While all this fine looking faience pottery might look very pretty, Harry can't help but wonder how appropriate it is for a wizard. He certainly couldn't imagine it lasting five minutes in the Weasley house!

Answer: Jomon

Jomon pottery is some of the oldest known to have existed in the world. It is distinctive in the cord patterns that are pressed into the pottery design. The Fukui cave is just one sight where such ancient finds have been discovered. Although this is about as old as pots get, there have been more ancient ceramic objects found. At a Czech archaeological site was unearthed the Venus of Dolni Vestonice, a female figurine now housed in a museum in Brno, Czech Republic.

To the disgust of the archaeologist that has been carefully excavating the Fukui Cave for years, Harry decides to use his magic. "Accio Jomon pottery". The magic of archaeology seemed to be lost as a stream of long undiscovered pots made their way towards the young wizard.

Answer: Sèvres

Porcelain is generally made by using a compound predominantly made up of china clay (kaolin). The technique for producing this type of pottery originated in China, though the name actually comes from "porcellana", the old Italian for "cowrie shell". Sèvres has been one of the leading European porcelain manufacturers and the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin once worked at the factory. Expect to see lots of white, gold and light blue when viewing a fine collection of this French pottery.

So it's Sèvres Snape the potter! Well, almost. What would Severus think if he knew how Potter was using his name for his own gain?

Answer: No

Cauldrons are made out of metal, not clay! They might be a big pot, but they're not the work of potters! They now permeate our culture as something that a witch would use to cook up an evil potion, with the three witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" being among the most famous examples. Cauldrons also appear as prominent objects in Celtic mythology. In the Welsh folk tale collection known as the "Mabinogion", a story tells of the cauldron of rebirth. Dead warriors could be thrown in and be restored to life. The only drawback was that they could no longer speak!

Disappointed at not being able to make what he wanted for his witch friend, Harry tries to think of a substitute. "Perhaps Hermione would be happy with a clay cooking pot," thinks Harry. After all, you can cook swamp eel in one!

Answer: Grayson Perry

It caused quite a stir when Grayson Perry won the Turner Prize, though probably not because he was the first potter to win it. Given some of the strange concepts that have won the prize over the years, including a light turning on and off and paintings made out of elephant dung, the media naturally chose to concentrate on the fact that it was a man wearing a dress! Another famous potter who has been no stranger to controversy is Ai Weiwei. In 2011, following years of him denouncing the Chinese government, he was jailed by the authorities as he tried to leave the country. This provoked much condemnation from the international community. When he was released he was charged with tax evasion!

So much for Harry trying to portray himself as a serious figure in the pottery business. It seems to him that whether you are a potter or a Potter you will always run into trouble!