A project finished.......

And finally, Gerry's reproduction of the Prunay Vase - an Iron Age pedestal pot is finished.

This project has been on going for about 2 months when a PHD student asked for a potter to see if a pot could be made to replicate one found in France from the La Tene culture of the Iron Age.

The British Museum has done lots of analyses on how the pot was made and came to the conclusion that the two colours of the design were achieved by a process of oxidation and reduction firings. Gerry has questioned this as the pot fabric of the pot shows no evidence of black reduction anywhere other than the outside pattern. To Gerry it looks like the black was painted on top of the red slip applied to the surface of the pot. The British museum said that this could not be possible because there is no step up from the red to the black.They suggested that the red part of the design must have been shielded in some way- but with what? If a wax had been applied it would have melted before any reaction would have occured.

So what is the answer? If anyone knows, we'd be interested in hearing about it.