Comments on: Jane (Sigler) Burckard – Memory Jug

By: Bridget

Bridget — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:31:35 +0000

Thank you for sharing! I hope to make memory jugs with 100 junior high students in a couple of weeks, but had been unsure of what adhesive to use. I will do a trial run this weekend with the thin set.

By: Paula Johnson

Paula Johnson — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:12:23 +0000

Wow, what a great Memory Jug! I found this site last night quite by accident, I had Googled “directions for memory jug” hoping to find out what types of clay are used, but I think this type of jug with the mortar will be so much easier for me to make, as clay can be so hard and I don’t have a lot of strength in my hands. A few years ago I was in a “garden junk” mode and I covered old bowling balls with lots of different things…one with pennies(no grout), one with fossil from the Chesapeake Bay, this one I did grout, and many with broken china mosaics and half marbles, I used GE silicone II for doors and windows in clear as my glue and several years later they are still outside doing fine, right now they are under 2 feet of snow! I also love to make mosaics with broken jewelry and have covered a couple of duckpin (small) bowling balls, one of these I did use clay over the whole ball, but I think I put it on a little to thin and some things did pop off and needed to be glued back into place. Also the clay I used has a pinkish hue and I didn’t want that for my jug. I can hardly wait until this snow melts and I can find the 2 large clay flower pots I know I have and try this, I may just have to break down and buy something if I can find the right piece! Also I love that you share what you know!!Thanks so much for posting this! Paula

By: Jane Burckard

Jane Burckard — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:53:47 +0000

We experimented with regular mortar and thin set mortar and found the adherence better in the thin set. We put the mortar on in sections and pushed the items into it (you should layout the items the way you want them first). I am not familiar with mastic. Regarding school kids, I have heard that the jugs got started during the Depression as a project for kids using things like glass jars, etc. and putting window putty on them for the grout. They would use things like beads, shells, marbles, buttons, etc. For the occasional item that would fall off, I would put a strong glue in the indentation and put the item back in. I used a terra cotta flower planter right out of the yard, but have seen them used on ceramic and pottery jugs, jars, vases, etc. Have fun.

By: Lee Tinneny

Lee Tinneny — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:11:16 +0000

My grandmother had a memory jug and we used to look at it for hours. It was the first thing we would go to when we visited her. I want to make one for each of our four grandsons using some of the small toys they have played with over the years and some of my trinkets as well. Mastic, Durham’s Water Putty and Aleene’s thick Designer Tacky Glue have been offered as bases for the items on the jug. Which if any do you think is best? Where can I find a good pottery jug? Thanks, Lee

By: lori

lori — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:03:58 +0000

By the way, I have been waiting for some instructions on this project so I can teach it to my 10 year old art students and have them be able to glue down their favorite junk! Any ideas what would be a good base for them? We just did picture frames with tiles and they didn’t even want to grout them. They needed instand gratification. Who’s gonna argue? Maybe little galvinized buckets would work and I saw some cheap ones at Michaels… Hmmm. I need to think about it…

By: lori

lori — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:53:22 +0000

Did you grout it afterwards? or just apply thin set to the whole pot and then push the stuff into it and let it dry? some of the items would be hard to grout around after the fact! I JUST LOVE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE AND WANT TO TRY ONE! Do you think the thinset works better than mastick? Thanks! Lori

By: Tracy Sigler

Tracy Sigler — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:27:34 +0000

Thanks R.D. for visiting the site!

By: R.D. Collins

R.D. Collins — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:45:39 +0000

Jane, I really like your memory jug. I wish you had shown it to us when we were there in December. Bill will likely bring back some interesting relics from Turkey to add to your collection. Perhaps we can see it another time? It was nice visiting with all of you. We wish each of you a happy and prosperous New Year.
Thanks Tracy for sharing this. I have enjoyed visiting your websites. They are very interesting.

By: Aunt Jane

Aunt Jane — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:52:45 +0000

I am pleased that you like my memory jug. This was my first attempt and my brother, who is an artist, helped me tremendously. My husband tried several mortars which would adhere to the terracotta planter that it is based on and found that thin set mortar worked best. We did sections at a time starting at the bottom and working up to the top of the section; letting it dry and doing another section. We drew a template of the pot on paper and put the artifacts down on paper in the design we wanted before starting to place in the mortar. There are some web sites on memory jugs, but I didn’t find them very helpful. I couldn’t have done it without my brothers design and my husband’s mortaring. Feel free to ask if you have questions.

By: A True

A True — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:36:42 +0000

Dear Jane,

I love your memory jug. I want to try one myself. Are you willing to divulge the kind of mortar you used, and any other tricks that might make the first time easire?