Linda Ferzoco on sat 27 nov 04
Hi,
I subscribe to a weekly email about words and their origin. Today's email
contained this:
4. Weird Words: Saggar
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A protective box enclosing ceramic ware while it is being fired.
In large-scale pottery manufacture years ago, the furnaces (called
bottle kilns from their shape) were usually heated by coal or coke
furnaces. Flames, ashes and corrosive gases would have damaged the
pottery if it wasn't protected by being put into "saggars", a word
that seems to be a contraction of "safeguard". These were hollow
squat cylinders with flat tops and bottoms so they could be stacked
in the kiln, often in piles 30 feet high or more. Saggars were made
from a type of fireclay that was mixed with a proportion of ground-
up reused saggar called "grog"; they only lasted for about forty
firings, so every large works had its own saggar-makers. These men
had assistants whose job was to make the heavy flat bottoms of the
saggars, beating the fireclay into shape inside an iron hoop using
a mallet called a mawl (pronounced "maw" in Staffordshire). These
assistants, lads in their teens, were the "saggar-maker's bottom
knockers". These and related jobs - such as the "batter-outs" who
beat out the strips of clay for the sides of the saggars - vanished
when kilns began to be fired instead by clean gas or electricity so
that protective saggars weren't needed.
--------------
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Cheers, Linda Ferzoco
Pacifica, California
Marta Matray Gloviczki on sat 27 nov 04
linda,
i always thought that it was called: saggER.
or is it something you call differently in different
parts of the english speaking world?
marta
>>>Linda Ferzoco wrote:
> Weird Words: Saggar
=====
marta matray gloviczki
rochester,mn
http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/marta/
http://users.skynet.be/russel.fouts/Marta.htm
http://www.silverhawk.com/crafts/gloviczki/welcome.html
Paul Lewing on sat 27 nov 04
on 11/27/04 7:01 AM, Linda Ferzoco at ltferzoco@YAHOO.COM wrote:
> These
> assistants, lads in their teens, were the "saggar-maker's bottom
> knockers".
And how would you like to fill out your tax return with that filled in as
your occupation? Or introduce yourself at parties as a saggar-maker's
bottom knocker?
Thanks for that, Linda. isn't it interesting that the only people who fire
in saggars today use them for exactly the opposite function- to enclose
stuff with the pot and let it make marks on the ware?
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Linda Ferzoco on sat 27 nov 04
On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 12:43:38 -0500, Marta Matray Gloviczki
wrote:
>linda,
>
>i always thought that it was called: saggER.
>or is it something you call differently in different
>parts of the english speaking world?
>
>marta
Hi Marta,
The word list I cited is British; that may account for the spelling. I took
a quick look online using OneLook dictionary and found both spellings with
"sagger" as the main entry in most cases.
Cheers, Linda
Edwards on sat 27 nov 04
Hello Linda; Thanks for the fun read!
Michael Cardew in Pioneer Pottery gives a really nice description of how
to make saggars. He comes from an earlier time and has a delightful way
with words. If you have a chance, it is worth the risking an eye on.
~Craig
________________
Craig Edwards, New London MN
e-mail craigedwards@charter.net
http://photobucket.com/albums/v11/credwards/
Linda Ferzoco wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I subscribe to a weekly email about words and their origin. Today's email
>contained this:
>
>4. Weird Words: Saggar
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>A protective box enclosing ceramic ware while it is being fired.
>
>In large-scale pottery manufacture years ago, the furnaces (called
>bottle kilns from their shape) were usually heated by coal or coke
>furnaces. Flames, ashes and corrosive gases would have damaged the
>pottery if it wasn't protected by being put into "saggars", a word
>that seems to be a contraction of "safeguard". These were hollow
>squat cylinders with flat tops and bottoms so they could be stacked
>in the kiln, often in piles 30 feet high or more. Saggars were made
>from a type of fireclay that was mixed with a proportion of ground-
>up reused saggar called "grog"; they only lasted for about forty
>firings, so every large works had its own saggar-makers. These men
>had assistants whose job was to make the heavy flat bottoms of the
>saggars, beating the fireclay into shape inside an iron hoop using
>a mallet called a mawl (pronounced "maw" in Staffordshire). These
>assistants, lads in their teens, were the "saggar-maker's bottom
>knockers". These and related jobs - such as the "batter-outs" who
>beat out the strips of clay for the sides of the saggars - vanished
>when kilns began to be fired instead by clean gas or electricity so
>that protective saggars weren't needed.
>
>
>
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