Beaker Making

This series of photos shows how I construct a replica Bronze Age Beaker, using a simple pinching technique.

I use a heavily grogged earthenware clay, which is cut in two pieces and made into “thumb pots”.

One is the base and the other, with no bottom, is the top.

I pinch out the shapes and leave them to stiffen.

The top has a groove pushed around the lower edge, with flaps that fit over the base piece on the inside and outside, this helps me to locate the pieces together and forms a strong “tongued and grooved” joint.

After I join the sections, I thin the pot further and refine the shape by more squeezing and scraping.

I leave it to dry and stiffen a bit more, then wipe the surface with clay slip using my father's shaving brush to make a smoother surface.

I then impress the decoration motifs around the beaker, usually using a wooden comb to make multiple rows of dots in a variety of herring-bone patterns.

Sometimes I use a cord or rope to make circular spirals.

After the pot has dried I fire it in an open bonfire, together with more pots, such as urns, made the same way.

The initial stage of firing is a slow roast, when the water is driven off over several hours of my careful tending.

I place the pots in a ring, with fire on the inside and outside to promote even heating.

When dried out I then pile more timber right over the pots and get a good old blaze going for about half an hour. The temperature should reach 850C and the pots turn ceramic.