puki

plural pukis

1. A bowl or other dish used by Native Americans in the Southwest as a mold when making pots.

   She began a pot by forming a pancake of clay between her palms and laying it in a bowl-like vessel which was the bottom of a broken pot, called a puki.

   2004, Susan Ware, Notable American Women, →ISBN, page 418

   1 more example

   First, I made a puki, a tool used by Native Americans to form a pinch pot. Typically, a puki is a shallow, fired bowl used to keep the bottom of the pinch pot round while holding the entire pot in shape.

   2007, Suzanne J. E. Tourtillott, The Figure in Clay, →ISBN, page 80

2. Any form or mold used for making clay pots by hand.

   Like I showed you, the clay goes into the puki, coil by coil.

   2012, Jo-Ann Mapson, Finding Casey, →ISBN, page 268

   1 more example

   I begin by pinching a base or rolling out a slab that I place in a plaster form, or puki, for support..

   2008, Deborah Morgenthal, Suzanne J. E. Tourtillott, The Penland Book of Ceramics, →ISBN, page 13