- Name: Svafnir Thorvaldson
- Project Title: Playing with Pots: Puzzle Jugs of the Late Medieval and Renaissance
- Location: Shire of Quintavia
- EK Wiki: https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/wiki/Svafnir_Thorvaldson
- Blog: https://thegildedloam.wordpress.com/
This project involves the recreation of a puzzle jug inspired by a 16th/17th century example made in Urbino, Italy. Puzzle jugs are prank cups used to trick unsuspecting users into spilling their drink, or as a drinking game to see if they were clever enough to figure out the puzzle. These jugs have perforations in the top, so if you try to drink from the rim, you will spill. There are multiple nozzles, at first glance it may seem a simple matter of sucking on one of the nozzles, but all are connected, so you cannot make suction without plugging the remaining nozzles. Many puzzle jugs have other secret holes which further confuse the drinker. Some puzzle jugs have fake nozzles that do not connect to the hollow rim.
For this project I copied the approximate shape and decorative features of the Urbino Puzzle Jug, such as: the incisions, the snake-like filigree, the handle shape, the nozzles, and the face at the bottom of the handle. I also copied the key technical features of a puzzle jug, as best I could without being able to physically examine the original: a hollow rim, a hollow channel leading from the bottom to the rim, and extra nozzles.
Documentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PVMDjpgnslt-p2g5OKilfF9NVgnEB5gf/view?usp=sharing