Making Egyptian Canopic Jars
September 26, 2013 by sharongale
Painted Canopic Jar showing the Head of the God Duamutef
This particular project was a school class activity with years 5 & 6. It was so good, I had to add it on the Art Cabin site. The children had to make Canopic Jars from clay. I decided that it would be a good idea if we used a polystyrene cup as an armature to help the children retain a good ‘jar’ shape.
I think the photos are self explainatory if you want to try this activity (to a degree), so I won’t list a ’how to‘. Things to mention though: We used air drying clay, the slip (clay glue) is made by mixing water & clay together to form a sticky mush. Always crosshatch areas & add slip to bits of clay you want to join together. Clay will shrink when drying and cracks may form around the jar so just fill these with slip and let it dry. We punctured holes in the polystyrene cup with a toothpick before we started. The jars were painted using poster paints. Metallic gold mixed into a light brown, makes a good base colour.
Lids depicting the Egyptian gods
Lids depicting the Egyptian gods
Lids depicting the Egyptian gods
Painted Canopic Jar showing the Head of the God Qebehsenuef
Painted Canopic Jar with Eye design
Painted Canopic Jar showing the Head of the God Duamutef
1.Leave an area of 1.5cms around the clay base to attach the clay coils
2.Crosshatching & applying slip to the base ready for the coils
3.Rolling out clay coils
4.Make long clay coils to wrap around the armature
5.The clay coils around the armature
6.Smoothing the coils around the jar
7.Smoothing the sides of the jar
8.Use a toothpick to mark a design in the clay
9.Cutting out the circular shape for the lid using the jar as the template
10.Crosshatching the area where the inside coil / ‘stopper’ of the lid will sit.
11.Attaching the coil ‘stopper’ to the inside of the lid
13.Making a pinch pot for the lid’s head
14.Sculpting the head of Duamutef
15.Shaping the head for the lid
16.The finished lid
17.Canopic jar ready for painting
Can I ask why you have to put holes in the polystyrene cup first? This idea looks so amazing – I want to try it with my Year 5s this week!
Hi Nicky
Thanks for taking a look ay my blog, I’m glad you like this project 🙂
I put holes in the polystyrene cup so that air can circulate and help dry the clay. Good luck with your Year 5s, I hope they have as much fun as my students did!
Sharon
These were absolutely stunning – thank you so much for sharing!
My pleasure, hope your Year 5s enjoyed making them :).
Hi Sharon – do you have any idea how much clay you had to use per jar? Just trying to work out if we have enough in school without ordering more… Thanks 🙂
Hi Adam, thank you for visiting my blog. For the jar, I remember separating the clay in to palm sized round balls in advance, one for each child and a few extra spare. Since we made the lids the follwing week, I did the same again, one ball of clay per child. To stop the clay drying out, put the clay balls in a bowl with a damp tea towel on top or place them back in the big plastic bag the clay came in with a damp sponge. If your students don’t finish their coil jar in one lesson, you can put it in a sealed bag with a very damp sponge, away from heat. Check it during the week to make sure it isn’t drying out. Good luck and let me know how they turn out. 🙂
i’m going to try these with my g6 🙂 lovely idea. thank you
Hi YoungJin, thank you for getting in touch. Glad you like the post, good luck with your canopic jar making, let me know how you get on. 🙂