Imagine, you are an ancient Egyptian. Recently, one of your parents has died, and you are working hard to make sure that they are given all of the proper amulets, funerary goods and rituals to ensure they are protected on the way to the after life. Of course, this is all very expensive, and you can't afford to use gold and gemstones like the upper classes and Royal family do. You aren't so poor that you can't afford to provide faience beads, amulets and ushabtis though.
When I took these faience beads, which I restrung myself, to show the children, they were somewhat 'grossed out' by the idea that they might have come from a mummy. Many of the children are learning about Ancient Egypt in class at the moment, and have seen photographs of faience beads, usually in association with mummy's and funerary goods. They were relieved and surprised to learn that, although there is the possibility that these beads did once belong in a tomb or on a mummy, faience was a material used in everyday life as well. They far preferred to think that these beads had not been associated with mummified Egyptians. We had a long conversation about the treatment of the dead and tombs and I was interested to note that most believed the dead should not be disturbed. This was not because of any fear of curses or revenge on those who disturbed the dead, but because they believe the dead should be respected and left in peace. As one child told me 'We wouldn't want anyone digging up our Grandparents, it just wouldn't be right. What makes people who died thousands of years ago any different?'
Faience is a fascinating material. Egyptians have been making it for thousands of years, and it may even be older than glass making! The Egyptians usually called it tjehnet, but occasionally it was known as khshdj, which was the same word they used for the gemstone lapis lazuli. Although the beads I showed the children have lost a little of their original lustre, faience originally was quite shiny and would have glistened in the sun. The words which the Egyptians used for it reflected its shiny brilliance and in fact, because of this 'light' which it seemed to capture faience was seen as symbolic of life, rebirth and immortality. This made it a perfect material for grave goods, but it was also used in daily life and to make ritualistic items which could be used as offerings for the gods.
So what is faience? Faience is a ceramic, but it doesn't use any clay. It is made instead using quartz, an alkali, lime and ground copper. The quartz comes from sand, flint or crushed up pieces of actual quartz pebbles and the alkali would usually be some sort of plant ash or natron. When all of these materials were mixed with water, they formed a paste which could be modeled by hand, shaped using a mold or rolled around plant stems to make beads (which could then be cut into shorter lengths). If it was handled too roughly or fast it could crack while it was being shaped, but as long as the workers were careful it could be shaped into almost anything! Then, the paste would be fired to create a hard ceramic. If a bead was being made this would burn away the plant stem, leaving a hollow ready to be strung.
Firing would also activate the blue and green glazes which faience material is famous for. The glaze would be present before firing, having been either applied or created as part of the raw faience material. There were three methods for applying the glaze. The first and most ingenious, is efflorescence which is self-glazing. To make faience using efflorescence the glazing materials were actually mixed in with the paste. These glazing materials were often soluble salts which were mixed with the quartz and alkali. As the water evaporated, the salts clung to the surface of the object and created a scummy layer. When the object was fired the layer melted and fused, creating a glaze. The second two involve the glaze being added to the object and both require the glazing material to be ground into a fine powder. In the application technique the powder would be mixed to a paste with water, painted on, then fired. Cementation is the third technique and involves the object being buried in a pot containing the glazing powder. Then, when the faience object is fired, the powder sticks to the object, melts and fuses into a glaze. If you want to learn more about faience, click here.