The method of producing hollow-ware (dishes and bowls etc) by hammering an initially flat sheet of metal over a curved stake. In raising the metal is struck on the convex side of the form with a curved faced-hammer compressing and thickening the walls of the vessel as the overall diameter of the vessel is reduced and the edges are ‘raised’ above the centre. The diameter of the initial blank is much larger than the diameter of the finished article; typically the starting blank has a diameter equivalent to the combined dimensions of the average diameter and the height of the finished form and is of relatively thin sheet. The thickening of the metal at the rim is often increased further by caulking the edge. So that, starting with a 0.9 mm thick blank the rim may end up 2 to 3 mm thick, and the vessel is less likely to distort during use.
The raising process is usually preceded by a ‘blocking out’ or ‘hollowing’ process in which the sheet is forged into a shallow dish-shaped form by hammering from what will become the inside of the vessel against a concave depression in a wooden block.
Related Terms: blocking, caulking, dishing, hollowing, sinking