The final process in the fashioning of a vase is the attachment of the handles. These can be made either in moulds or by hand. Any one who thinks that the making of handles is a simple or quick process will soon be undeceived. Whether working in plaster, as one would if the handle is made in a mould, or in clay, if it is made by hand, the potter must bestow infinite care on the work, as both clay and plaster are very liable to break; and working on so small a thing as a handle is extremely fussy. The writer personally found nothing so difficult in her whole pottery training as the making of handles. The best method of procedure in handwork is first to shape the handle roughly while the clay is soft and plastic, then wait until it becomes leather hard, and finally refine it to the desired form and finish with modeling tools. In moulded work, the handle has to be cut out in plaster and then used for making the mould. When the handles are finally made, they are joined to the vase by means of slip, in the same way that the sections were (fig. [27]). As the handle is pressed into position the superfluous slip will of course spill over the edge, and this has to be carefully removed and the surface smoothed before the vase can be pronounced finished. The vase is then put in the drying room so that all the water in the clay may evaporate. Only when it is perfectly dry can it be fired in the kiln; otherwise it is liable to crack.
Fig. 27. Attachment of handles
The handles of Athenian vases show perhaps better than anything else the great skill and sense of beauty of the Athenian potter; and they will repay detailed study (cf. figs. [28-33]). They are never, as so often on modern vases, detached pieces stuck on the vase as a kind of afterthought. Rather, they seem to grow out of the vase like branches from a tree, which gives them a wonderful, living quality. Moreover, the place where they were attached, the size, and the curve have been carefully considered both from a practical and from an aesthetic point of view.
Fig. 28. Amphora in the Boston Museum
Acc. No. 01.17
Fig. 29. Hydria in the Metropolitan Museum