A number of half-finished stone vases recovered in excavations of Minoan sites provide information on the processing phases of stone vase manufacture. Thus, we know that first of all a shape was given to the outside of the stone and then the inside was chiselled. The earliest stone vases seem to have been made by chisels and cutters which were used for the external chiselling and for removing parts of the core, a technique also used in Cycladic stone carving.
From the beginning of the Early Minoan II period (2600 BC) a cylindrical drill was used for removing the inside of the stone. This tool was a hollow rod, probably part of a reed filled with sand for smoothing the stone. The rotating pressure of the drill inside the stone hollow gradually removed small cylindrical cores until the whole core was removed and a cavity formed.

From the Middle Minoan III period to the Late Minoan I period (1750-1450 BC) a more advanced technique was employed, allowing the processing of harder raw materials. Traces of boring lathes have been found on the stone vases of this period. These must have been cylindrical metal tools which were rotated in the centre of the stone core and removed its inside with the help of water and emery, a hard mineral used for smoothing.

The complex shaped vases were made up of different pieces which were stuck together. The outside of the vase took its final shape with the smoothing of the surface, while the relief decoration on some stone vases was made by metal knives, chisels and spear-heads, using a technique similar to that of seal carving.