The Carafe

If you like a tipple then this is one for you.

Carafe, hand-raised in Britannia silver

Our recent experimentation with raising vessels has led us into the delectable realm of the wine carafe and we were able to display our latest design at the opening of the ‘Pour Me’ exhibition at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen two weeks ago. The carafe was accompanied by our wine and water jugs, showcasing the results of two quite different techniques; hot-forging and hand-raising.

Carafe, Water/Wine Jugs – ‘Pour Me’ at Devon Guild in Bovey Tracey

The Carafe begins life as a flat disc of silver and is worked cold around a stake, gradually hammering in concentric circles and raising up the bowl of the vessel. From there the shape can be encouraged outward or inward to make the neck broader or narrower. Since the slenderest point of the neck is also the point at which the user grips our carafe, we strengthened this section by working the silver from the rim downwards to ensure a good thickness of metal. Play the video below to see how this is done.

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Having a base specially turned in a cube of oak allows us to leave the carafe with a bulb-shaped reservoir rather than a flat bottom. When it sits in its base the reservoir is actually hidden unless viewed from above in which case there is an entertaining optical illusion, that Tardis effect of being ‘bigger on the inside’.

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We chose to leave the carafe with the dappled surface produced by the raising, which really comes alive once the inside of the vessel is gilded. The warmth of the gold also lends itself to the rich tones of a good claret!

We will be exhibiting our carafe at the Craft In Focus event at RHS Wisley from Thursday 27th April – Monday 1st May 2017, along with our flower vases which are made using the same raising technique.