It all starts with this….
A humble yet delightful ball of clay. Clay really is magestic stuff. I love to throw big! starting out with a large lump of clay as big as my head. Equally I love the calm repetition of making batches of the same thing such as the products you see here. Whether big one off peices or smaller items from my product lines I’m a happy human when I’m throwing clay. Currently I tend to make larger items to order so get in touch if you’d like to discuss bespoke pottery orders.
Once thrown, a piece needs to dry for several days. (None of this pottery malarky is quick - despite what you might have seen on the Great Pottery Throwdown)
Drying then trimming
Once the clay is ‘leather hard’ the piece is reattached to the wheel, but upside down this time. It is stuck in place using either suction and water or small ‘sausages’ of clay.
I use trimming tools while the wheel is turning to carve away excess clay add a foot-ring and generally refine the base.
Mugs, jugs and cups need their handles to be attached at this point - handles are fussy things and if the clay consistency isn’t just right they can flop or crack.
I have some videos on my social media showing how I make and attach handles - far easier to demonstrate than describe. See my Instagram for more.
Firing
Once made all pottery needs to dry very thoroughly. Bone dry is best. Then the kiln is filled and everything is fired to 900° C. This takes about 24 hours between heating and cooling cycles.
Glazing
Glazing is arguably the messiest part of the process… it’s quite impossible to avoid spilling some glaze.
I use a combination of dipping and brush on glazes and the process involves dipping pieces into large buckets of the stuff in just the right way. There are lots of small errors that can effect the finished item when glazing and once an error is made there can be little rectify it. I never glaze when I’m tired!
Once glazed, items are carefully loaded back into the kiln for a final firing. The firing temperature this tine is over 1200°C.
