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Saggar Making

A saggar is a fireclay container. It is usually oval or round in shape and it was used to protect the pottery from the flames and smoke of the kiln during firing.

Saggars are made from saggar marl. This is a coarse grey fireclay with refractory properties found along with coal measures in North Staffordshire.

This was mixed with ground-down fired saggar marl called ‘grog’, to add strength. More grog was mixed into the clay used for the ‘bottom clay’ than the ‘side clay’, as the bottom needed to be stronger.

Coal was used for firing bottle ovens. Smoke and fumes filled the kiln, and if the pottery was not protected it would be marked.

Clay-ware articles were placed in saggars for support and protection in the ovens. Saggars were used for both biscuit and glost firing. The ware was placed differently inside them for different firings.

Larger factories had saggar makers on site, rather than buying saggars in from another company. Machines were available from the 1880s, and were used by specialist saggar-making companies who supplied to small factories.

Saggars were made by a team. Wages were paid to the department, and shared out. Like most factories Gladstone Pottery had two saggar makers, a frame filler and a bottom knocker. The saggar maker was a skilled man, the frame fillers were usually male apprentices, and the bottom knocker was usually a boy. Mould runners usually started at 10 but bottom knockers were a little older as it was such heavy work and it paid more.

Saggar making was well paid compared with many other jobs in the pottery factory.

Saggars could last for thirty or forty firings, (about four months) if they were not broken. Although cracks could be filled, they needed to be in good condition to work. Rejected saggars would lie in heaps called ‘shordrucks’ until taken away to use as landfill.

Saggars come in a variety of different shapes and sizes for different types of pottery. They were also given a variety of names, including oval, ring, hillier (a lid rather than a saggar as such), banjo, jiff, riddle, rig, and jenny. This varied from one potbank to another.

How many were needed?

The factory needed to continually make saggars due to the number that were broken. A team aimed to make ten per hour. If no more were needed for any reason the younger men would make themselves useful to the fireman.

The Mawl (pronounced 'mow') that was used to beat out the fireclay weighed about 35 lbs. Mawls were kept in water to stop them drying out and splitting, to stop the marl sticking, and to keep it constantly heavy.

The word saggar is thought to come from 'safe guard.'

Saggars were necessary when ovens were fired using coal, but are no longer needed. Ware is now supported by lighter pieces of kiln furniture, and placed on trucks which pass through clean tunnel kilns. Some manufacturers use kiln bats around all ware to protect it.

• The saggar maker’s bottom knocker produced the base of the saggar by flattening a lump of fireclay into a metal ring, using a heavy wooden mallet known as a mawl.
• The frame filler flattened a larger mass of clay on his bench and cut out a large rectangle. This clay was wrapped around a drum, to mould the shape of the saggar.
• The saggar maker joined the base to the walls of the saggar using his thumb to smooth over the join. This was done on a turntable.
• When the saggar was dry it was fired empty, on top of the bungs of full saggars.

How a saggar is made, in detail (all objects mentioned are in the saggarmaking workshop at Gladstone Pottery Museum)

The saggar maker's bottom knocker

The bottom of the saggar was made by the saggar maker’s bottom knocker (making bottoms for two makers).

• An iron ring would be placed on the brick bench and sawdust scattered inside to stop the marl from sticking (the ring may be oval, circular, square etc. depending on the shape of the saggar needed).
• A piece of marl (refractory clay found with the coal measures) would be cut from the pile of bottom marl with the marl cutter, and then worked by hand on the ground into a basic oval shape which would then be placed in the ring on the bench.
• It would then be bashed into the ring with a mawl, (like a big mallet) until it filled the ring completely just level with the top of the ring.
• The ring full of marl could then be slid onto a metal shord (a perforated flat shape) and carried to the whirler. The ring would be removed, leaving an oval flat sheet of saggar marl. The outside rim would then be dampened with a cloth.

The frame filler

The sides of the saggar were made by the frame filler (making sides for two saggar makers).

• A large rectangular cast iron bench would be scattered with sawdust to stop the clay sticking, and covered with marl (side marl).
• The marl would be trimmed level to the height of the rim using the marl cutter.
• The marl would be bashed down flat to compact it by the frame filler using a mawl.
• The marl would be marked out with a measuring stick, and cut into strips using a long steel rule, to make the sides.

The saggar maker

The saggar maker would then do as follows:

• Take a saggar mould (or jolly hoss) and place it sideways onto the pre-cut strip, rolling it along the length to form the sides.
• Put the mould and marl onto the whirler on top of the base. The overlapping clay on the sides of the saggar would be cut off with a knife and wetted to form a smooth join.
• Hit firmly with a splicer (wooden tool like a cricket bat) which is also used to shape and smooth the sides. Water needed to be applied all the time.
• A topping tool (curved metal) would be used to shape and smooth down the top rim of the saggar.
• The excess rim on the base would be cut off with a knife, leaving a small border to be scooped up to meet the sides with a plucker (wooden wedge tool). Water needed to be added all the time to help join the base to the sides.
• A cant tool (a flat piece of metal with a lip, often made from piece of tin can) would be used to smooth the side at the base and lift the base slightly away from the shord.
• A wooden rib would be used to smooth the walls of the whole saggar.
• The saggar mould would then be removed.
• The top of the saggar would be batted firmly with a topping stick to flatten it.
• A rubber (kidney shaped tool) would be used to round and smooth off the rim.
• A banner (like a lid, heavy wooden board) would be knocked and pressed on top of the saggar to check that it was level.
• The completed saggar would be taken to the drying room on the shord, where it would be laid on its side to stop cracking.
• It would be taken to the kiln and fired on top of all the full saggars.