[jph009]

This second Greek vase is an aryballos. They are quite small, about 6 cm high. They have a very narrow opening which means the contents, olive oil, can only be brought out by shaking the aryballos. A bit like the Old Spice after shave bottles (if you're old enough to remember them). A piece of string was wound around the small neck and the rest of the string was long enough to tie the aryballos to a belt. The olive oil usually had a scent added to it. They were worn by youths and supposed to be used after getting a bit sweaty during their athletics. In reality, they were worn as a fashion accessory to suggest being a bit sporty and youthful. A bit like those of us oldies who wear trainers but can't be bothered to even run catch the bus.

My model is a bit bigger than a real aryballos, by about 15% I'd guess. That was to make it easier for me to cobble together a first attempt. Although I drew plans, it was still a learning/guessing process as I built it. I added some corrugated card at the base and the middle. I did try that with the top but gave up (hence a wonky top - but many of the real ones are wonky too). I'll try again on a second attempt at some point.

As per the first model, I used felt tip pens to add a design when the model was completed. The stage of having a ready printed design on the parts is a long way off as yet. I'm just not that software literate to leap to that stage but I will get there eventually.

In the new year I hope to have PDFs ready of the alabastron and this aryballos. They probably will be blank designs. Would anyone be interested in having a go making them?