Learning Through Making

Experimental production of stone tools

Month: June 2026

The return of the blue handaxe, possibly

June 27, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Today we had an Archaeology Open Day which was surprisingly quiet. Consequently I had quite a bit of free time in the lab on my own. I had also had about five blue glass bottles cluttering up my office for what seemed like ages, and so I added two and two together and came up with a trug of blue glass cullet.

This wasn’t completely out of the blue (pardon the pun). My colleague in Geography, Holly, is in charge of a small furnace and we have discussed the possibility of melting my glass bottles to produce a slab of glass, and Tuesday next week may be the opportunity to do so. However, based upon previous experience I needed a method of stopping the melted glass block adhering to the clay mould. Enter Potters Aluminium Kiln Wash.

The experiment next week is to use the clay mould given to me by Alice la Porta, and use the Potters Aluminium Kiln Wash to form a layer between the mould and the glass cullet to be melted in the furnace. Holly is going to be in charge of times and temperatures, I will be in charge of keeping my fingers crossed.

This is the mould Alice gave me, let’s see how it goes…

Making an Appleby Bronze Age glass arrowhead

June 6, 2026 / / 0 Comments

In February this year Karen and I had a trip to the Lake District courtesy of the folks at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology and National Highways. Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA) were delivering a series of community engagement workshops called Common Ground as part of the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project, with the aim of linking together aspects of Archaeology and Wellbeing. My friend Nick Overton suggested a Bronze Age arrowhead workshop might do the trick, and that is how I found myself on a Wednesday morning in February sitting in a lovely community space called the Appleby Hub. Chloe and Ned from OCA were there to facilitate the session, take photos, make arrowheads, and after the event garner feedback. The attendees were members of the local community interested in learning about local history and archaeology. The following photos and comments were kindly forwarded to me by Ned.

“A very good session and the instruction was clear & helpful. The instructor’s knowledge was very impressive – Thank you“

“Really enjoyed [the] session, making a glass arrowhead. And enjoyed the experience interacting with other class members & the session leader. Good conversation – relating to process & relevance of time and how the flint version could have been made and used.“

“Brilliant, fun, and very informative!”

“Brilliant session. Enabled to do something I never thought I would be able to do. Good activity for social interaction.”

As the feedback suggests, the session went really well. Thanks to Nick Overton for introductions, Jessica Elleray for organising, Chloe Brownlee-Chapman and Ned Baker for facilitating, the Appleby Hub for hosting and the folks from Common Ground for a great session and the fantastic feedback.

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