The Armour Archive

I am looking for a potter who will do custom historical pieces, namely various ancient Greek vessels. These will be utilitarian type and not decorated. Pricing must be "practical" because these will surely break sooner or later since they will be used at camp.

Any suggestions for possible craftsmen or vendore would be welcome,

Thanks,
Tim

I'm not sure if he does custom work, but Duke Aaron Graves of Atenveldt is a potter.

I got one of his cards at Estrella and PMed you his email address.

there is someone in my barony that excels in pottery I'll ping them and see if they might be interested

Do you have any links to the pieces you're interested in doing? I don't know any potters off-hand, but my lady is very much interested in learning pottery, and I'm trying to find some pieces that are simple to make, but still useful, for her to try out. I've got a wealth of information from the 15th-17th century, earlier sources would be great to add as well. Thanks.

Tim, check out this lady: http://venetiancat.com/. She seems very knowledgeable and specializes in both classical items and Italian Ren- I bought a lovely little apothecary jar from her at an event in New England last winter and we discussed doing a custom set of 14th century table ware at some point (which is still on my long list of kit acquisitions).

Klaus

Thanks, Klaus. Amazing stuff and right on the time period. But the prices---OY!!! I'm not saying they aren't worth it, but I need utilitarian for now, something I know is bound to break around camp, eventually.

The thing I want most is 1-2 large wine amphoras in one of those narrow bronze dippers for serving. I'm thinking maybe 18" tall or so. I'd rather not pay more than $50. Maybe I'm crazy---I dunno.

If I cant find it, I may sculpt one, make a mold and pour them with red slip. Then maybe I can sell enough to diffray the set-up costs? I'd rather no though 'cause I'm lazy!

Cheers,
Tim

I throw all sorts of vessels on a wheel. when I make (or buy) a wheel I would be more than happy to make them. but for the time being ?I would go with someone else. I will tell you when I get a wheel of my own though.

Aaron

Thanks, Klaus. Amazing stuff and right on the time period. But the prices---OY!!! I'm not saying they aren't worth it, but I need utilitarian for now, something I know is bound to break around camp, eventually.

Yeah, she does appear to be rather at the artisan end of the pool, but I suspect a good chunk of her prices is the decoration. She had some reasonably-priced small and unglazed (or clear-glazed) Greek and Mediterranean items at the event, as I recall- I thought she might be open to doing an order of "plain-jane" items for less, but I don't know what her policy is for such things.

K

I've been doing pottery classes for a couple of years now and what you're really going to end up paying for is the decoration. For an experienced potter, the vessels themselves aren't going to be that difficult to make but the method of decorating pots in the greek style is fairly time consuming, depending on how elaborate you want it. Just a small decorative band around the rim isn't too bad but large scenes in black and red will take real work and skill.

I was thinking of undecorated. No painting.

One of our guys lives on the South Side and makes amphorae. Freakin huge. You arent gonna pay $50 for a plain one. There's more than that in the clay alone, not to mention the time spent making it and firing it. If you want I can put you in touch with him but I think you're gonna need to spend a lot more than that.

Sounds reasonable, Animal Weretiger, I'm interested. Please give me his contact info (or send my info to him, whatever).

tim(at)yestergear.com

Thanks,
Tim

http://www.jeffbrownpottery.com/
Good friend, amazing potter, imho one of the finest. Worth a try, I have mantioned having him make me amphora and claw beakers and the like and he was game, his 15th cent rarenware is excellent, i use it every day

Tim, unless I'm mistaken, Animal will send you to Maruk, and I've already given you his contact info. Maruk's been making stuff for us for a number of years and I highly recommend him.
Gwen

Thanks for all the leads, folks. I probably have enough for now. Many thanks!

Tim

http://www.ironwoodpottery.com/

tim u gotta go withi this guy. he makes amazing stuff. anything u can think of he can make. he made steve a few pie covers for events as well as a huge curfu(sp?)

I looked at Ironwood's website a few months ago and wondered if they do any reproduction pieces. The website seems to go to great pains to point out that they don't-

We make an effort to maintain a balance between copying and artistic freedom; often, the details of a piece are altered, added, or subtracted to make it more useful or aestetically pleasing. These changes are kept within the confines of other contemporary peices; for instance, a jug may have a body and neck from one source and spout and handle from two different, contemporary peices. It may then be decorated in a manner consistent with the time and place of origin, but dissimilar to any of the original pieces...pieces from Ironwood Studios are not carbon copies of artifacts.

Gwen

Yup. Maruk is THE man when it comes to pottery. He's the best I've ever seen. The few pottery things I ever did were done in his studio with him walking me through them and because of his help they turned out ok. He's that good .

*and* he's one cool dude. But then again I'm biased I guess.

Gwen

Ironwood Pottery does make reproduction pottery. The potter is making sure that buyers know that there are still differences between the original medieval pottery and the reproductions. The website was really underselling the products. The differences and reasons are described well enough on the website, for example not using lead-based glaze. It is similar to modern armourers using modern steels instead of medieval wrought iron. It's a fine point that few people know or care much about, but the nit picky will call it out as not being an exact reproduction.

For an example of research on a particular peice, see the write-up linked below. You can ask about any of the products and find out what catalogs they're in.

http://www.ironwoodpottery.com/wst_page2.html

I've bought a few things and looked quite a bit at various events. I sent an email about this discussion and he updated the main page to be more clear. Let him know what you need. It's top quality.

Jacob

http://www.badharepottery.com/

She is the wife of one of my guys
Check out the stuff she did for one of the Sudhere guys

Ops, pic was to big

Go to gallery, scroll down, and look for the following statements:

Viking jug and cups. Unglazed exteriors. Custom order for a Viking Re-enactor.

Anglo Saxon cooking pot. Unglazed exterior. Custom order for a Viking Re-enactor