The Ancient Egyptians used special jars as apart of the mummification project, one for each of the major organs (at least the ones they considered major). The brain was picked out of the head and thrown away, as it was considered useless. The heart was left in the body because the body because that's what you'd use to think and feel. Your heart is what makes you who you are. The liver, lungs, stomach, and intestine were each placed in separate canopic jars, before the rest of the body was dried with a type of salt and wrapped in strips of linen.
The lids of the jars had lids that represented the appropriate god to go with each organ. A jackal, falcon, human, and baboon. Some canopic jars were carved from wood, but many were made from taracota. My students made small canopic jars, not only as a way to remember what we'd learned about Ancient Egypt and their beliefs, but also as an excuse to learn the ceramics pinch pot technique, and maybe make something perfect for storing toothpicks or Q-tips.
every pinch pot starts by rolling a ball of clay and inserting a thumb. I tell my students to pretend their fingers are glued together and held straight like a paddle. The thumb presses gently towards the paddle fingers and turned a tiny bit at a time to make the hole bigger and the walls thinner and taller until a jar shape is made. In order to curve the top of the jar in, the fingers would be held at a 45 degree angle out from the flat jar bottom so that the thumb turns under and creates a shoulder to the pot and a smaller hole.
We added a little mini neck to the pot or a ledge a little down from the mouth of the pot by scratching the surface with a needle (scoring), and then making a coil which is also scored. Painting a little bit of wet clay or water creates the slip or "glue" needed to get the two pieces bound together.
To make the lid, a smaller ball of clay is used to make a tiny pinch pot that fits on top of the coil ledge. Pushing, pulling, and adding bits of clay through more scoring and slipping helps transform the plain lid to an animal or human head. Be sure to keep the lid on the jar as it dries to keep things fitting together as it shrinks.
