A Devonshire Pottery

Love Daddy Rock

2012-02-12T22:46:00.003Z

Hello folks
Well I haven't got to Scotland yet as there was a slight change of plan, so I'm back in Devon now after a lovely visit to my parents' place over the weekend. I'm heading off early tomorrow morning to Alex's house, then on from there to Hannah's. I'll have covered a few miles by the time I get home on Thursday.

Here's something not related to pottery, but to another major vent of expression which is really important in my life, my band The Love Daddies.

My son Joe just stitched this video together. He's a bit of a whizz on computers, (although he was unable to make any of us look any prettier I'm sorry to say). I'm always left baffled when I see the way youngsters can find their way round these machines.

We're trying to get a gig in Exeter, supporting the singer songwriter Graham Coxon. I'd be really grateful if you'd follow this link and then click the 'Like' button or Tweet button to help our cause. Of course we'll remember you all in our wills when we become an internationally renowned rock stars. Hmm, that might take a while, so in the meantime, I won't give up the day job. Thank you :-)

Back soon with blogging from across the border - how exciting.

Bye for now

Friday

2012-02-10T19:39:00.004Z

Hello folks

I'm writing this blog from the comfort of my parents' house in Bedford, which is my first port of call, during a week of travelling about the country. It's a journey that will culminate in an adventure across the border to visit a certain red haired potter, with whom I'm sure most of you are very familiar. See clue below.....

On Sunday I'll head off from here to Bolton, to stay with Hil's family for a night, then across to Alex' house on Monday morning and we'll travel up to Scotland together from there. Note Hannah clutching a hot water bottle, it's a lot colder up there - I've packed my thermals!

It'll be great to see Alex and Hannah, I haven't seen either of them for a while. We're going to fire Hannah's wood kiln on Wednesday, which will be very exciting.

So I got everything finished off in the workshop this morning before we left - actually these particular ones were decorated yesterday as the video below will show.
Here are some I made earlier.

So on to the video.

I walked to work yesterday as Hil's car was in for repair and so she had mine. It was a bright, cold, winter's day, but absolutely beautiful. I need to walk more often. The Devon countryside is such an inspiration, whatever the weather.

Well that's all for now, I expect my next blog will be from the frozen north.

Happy weekend everybody.

Thursday

2012-02-09T08:55:00.004Z

Morning all
Koichiro, the owner of the Gallery St Ives in Tokyo asked for some photographs of the inside of the workshop for use in some of the publicity. My camera is so full of dust these days, that everything has a soft focus.
More bowls, thrown off the hump on the kickwheel.

Fingerwiped decoration.

Yesterday's video is much the same as the the ones from last couple of days(but with a much more abrasive soundtrack) - more turning of footrings on even more bowls - there would have been other stuff, but my batteries went flat.

There will be even more bowls to turn today, but not until after an invigorating walk to work through the cold Devon countryside. Hil's car is having some work done today, so she has my car and I have my feet. Well I'd better get out on those lanes and see what excitement lies in store for me on my journey. I consider myself so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

Happy Thursday to you all

Bowls, jugs, slip etc etc etc

2012-02-08T08:27:00.006Z

This is a brief post as I have to get going in a minute and as ever, I'm running late. I'm going away on Friday for a week, so lots of stuff to finish off - more about that later.

An 8lb jug.
and some more which I decorated yesterday.
These are some bowls which I threw off the hump yesterday. They're bigger than the ones I made earlier in the week. I really enjoy doing them - I'd like to have fifty of them in my next wood firing.

The bowls I made on Monday, with turned feet.

This evening Marky Mark's coming by and we'll work on in to the night. Well I must fly now, lots to do today.

Hollis, please give my love to Janet and Betty and all at the coffee shop, I wish we lived closer.

Have a good day everybody, bye for now

Monday

2012-02-07T07:41:00.003Z

Hello everybody
Well I've had a few frustrating days since my last post. The tail end of last week I felt dreadful and so took some time off to get myself better. I feel fine now, I think I needed to recharge and shake off the man flu.

Yesterday I tried again to make more of the large harvest jugs that were causing me struggles last week and yet again, failed. I realized after several attempts and much pugging, kneading and cursing, that my difficulties were due to the new tonne of clay that I recently took delivery of. Whenever I get a new batch of clay, it's sticky and lacking in strength, as it needs time to 'sour'.

I don't turn any of my jugs, they're 'thrown to finish' and so the clay needs to be absolutely right in order to be thrown to the optimum thickness - this stuff is puddingy and flops too readily. So for the time being, I've decided I can waste no more time trying to make these big fat jugs.

The little film shows a batch of bowls that I threw 'off the hump' before I went home last night. I enjoyed making these, and it felt liberating to throw this way, after a day of struggling trying to make something of a specific size, from a specific weight of clay.

Today I'm going to carry on making lots of small stuff to send Japan - it won't fill the kiln as quickly as the big jugs, so I'm just going to have to make a lot of it - I'd better get busy.

Have a good Tuesday everybody

Big jug

2012-02-02T21:54:00.002Z

Well I was really rough yesterday, waking in the morning with not only man flu, but a migraine too. I treated the migraine and went back to bed to sleep it off. I did get to work, but not until 3.30 in the afternoon. I was keen to see Marky Mark for our weekly workshop night. As it turned out, I just slept on the workshop sofa, but it was good to get there, to talk some rubbish and light the fire to keep the harsh frost away.

This morning the roads were so icy, that I got stuck half way up a hill. Fortunately one of the locals with a big truck was there to tow me to the top of the hill. The little lanes don't get gritted round here any more.

I only managed this one big pot today - I lost another four. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. I'll try again tomorrow - I still feel quite exhausted from the migraine, so a good night's sleep will help no doubt.

Here's a little film from today
Goodnight all

Tuesday

2012-01-31T20:32:00.005Z

Today I carried on from yesterday, decorating drinking bowls. It seems to be taking forever to make a kiln load of pots this time around - everything is small or flat. I still have a lot of small pots to make to send to Japan, but I'm stressing about getting a kiln full of pots in time for the firing deadline. Here's a link to an album of pictures of this month's production.
I decided I should take a bit of pressure off and make some bigger pots. I felt back in my comfort zone today with these 8lb jugs. I'll make some more tomorrow, or maybe some bigger jugs if I feel well enough. Man flu is coming over me this evening, so I'm feeling sorry for myself. A hot bath and an early night is called for I think.

Here's a short film from today

Goodnight all

It's behind me

2012-01-30T08:34:00.004Z

Happy Monday everybody

I went to work on Saturday morning. Marky Mark came over and we spent a few hours sipping tea, talking rubbish and decorating pots. These are some basins that I fingerwiped.
And some shiny, dribbly slip on a jug.
Saturday night was the final performance of the pantomime, Cinderella. I enjoyed it all very much this year, nevertheless, it'll be good to have my evenings back again now that it's all over. It's a huge commitment, with at least two rehearsals a week for several months. I played the part of a baron, although I look a bit like an ancient member of some dodgy re-formed, '80's New Romantic band!

Here's a little film, showing Saturday's workshop activity and the 'it's behind you' scene from the panto. I wonder how much sense it will make to you folks across The Pond. We're very easily pleased, we Brits!

Have a lovely day all, I'm off to work to make some big fat jugs, woohoo!

Keith Maskell

2012-01-27T13:24:00.003Z

I took Luke to his college interview yesterday. During the day I was remembering back to when I was his age and my Dad took me to my interview in Derby.

I recall being very nervous, but was soon put at ease by Keith Maskell, who was the head of the course. He chatted about the poorly-made, lumpy pots that I had taken with me, in the kind, encouraging manner, for which I grew to know him, before offering me a place. I was greatly saddened when I got home last night, to receive the news that he has just passed away.

He was a sweet, gentle man and a fine and ever-enthusiastic teacher. He profoundly affected my life and the lives of the many others who studied under him during his lengthy teaching career.

Thank you Keith for everything.

Wednesday

2012-01-26T00:46:00.002Z

A day of turning and decorating today. Tomorrow I'll not be in the workshop as I have to drive Luke to Winchester for a college interview. Here's a short snippet of today's action.

Back soon

Tuesday's pictures, Wednesday's words

2012-01-25T10:11:00.003Z

Hello all

I should have been at work ages ago, but here I am blogging instead. I'm tired today, Marky Mark came up last night and we worked late. Here's what's been going on.

I've been busily making domestic wares for the exhibitions in Tokyo. These are some basins, which I'll be slipping today. I haven't made pots for food in a long time. I'm missing making big jugs - that'll be next week's task.

These are drinking bowls that I made yesterday. I'll go through them today and eliminate the dodgy ones. It was fun making these as they were thrown 'off the hump', rather than weighing out individual lumps of clay, which is how I usually work. I will be sending mugs to Tokyo too, but somebody told me a while ago that my mugs will be too big for general use in Japanese daily life and although I'll make some smaller ones, it seems relevant to me to be sending some drinking bowls. I wouldn't go so far as to us the 'c' word with all it's connotations - these are simply little bowls that can be used for drinking from.
Here are dishes, decorated in a sloppy slippy fashion with green, white and orange slip, over a black slip ground. The orange is made from the clay from the stream near the workshop an looks great on a black background. My trailing style is unashamedly squirty. I find the broken line more interesting that a continuous one - when it comes to circular stuff, nothing quite joins up, so you have a line with a beginning, a middle and an end - three for the price of one!
The dishes in the foreground will have white slip fingerwiped decoration today.

And here's the moving version.

I need to go to work, bye for now

Friday

2012-01-21T00:42:00.004Z

Just in from the pub after the opening night of the panto, which went really well. Same again tomorrow night.

Here's a video of some stuff that happened today, which I'm pleased to say does not include any footage of this evening's performance, with my solo rendition of this

It does however show Different Dave wiring in my new lights in the 'showroom' - now I can sell pots after dark. It also shows my friend Heather decorating a wassail pot that she's made during the last week.

Bedtime for me now. Happy weekends everybody.

Wednesday and Thursday

2012-01-20T08:57:00.005Z

I'm running a bit behind with these videos.

Here's what happened on Wednesday.......

and Thursday.

Happy Friday everybody!

Pots by Ray and friends

2012-01-19T22:31:00.005Z

I knew Ray Finch through his pots and in that respect, I knew him very well indeed - I've lived with them since I was eighteen. I thought you might like to see a couple of the treasures that I own.

This teapot was made by Ray at his son Joe's pottery in Wales, in the 1990's. It is unusual as it is a slipware pot - Ray had made the transition to stoneware in the 1960's, but revisited the materials and techniques, I would guess, for a bit of fun. His are the most fantastic teapots.

This tankard was made in the 1950's. I think this is really clever potting, as it stays true to its traditional roots, but also has a clear sense of the style of that era in design.

The next two pictures are pots that were made by dear friends of mine who worked with Ray at Winchcombe Pottery in the 1970's. This small dish was made by Alex McErlain in the 1980's....

and this tankard was made by Dan Finnegan last year. He gave it to me when Hannah and I visited Virginia back in the Spring. An example of the Finch influence, spread across the Globe.

I'm not saying this very well, but the point I'm trying to make is that I connect with these chaps because we understand the certain kind of pottery that Ray made - they are pots that are a part of each of us. I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't have been for Ray, that we would never have met. I have a lot to be thankful to him for.

Ray Finch

2012-01-19T00:32:00.004Z

Ray Finch passed away today, peacefully at home aged 97.

I met Ray a good few times over the years, but regrettably I never had the chance to really get to know him well - I wish I'd had more opportunity.

I know a lot about him though, through close friends whose lives he has touched. He was a greatly loved and respected man.

He was an exceptional craftsman and I owe a huge debt to him. It was after a visit to Winchcombe Pottery many years ago, that I decided I wanted to become a potter. There's a bit of him in every pot that I make.

His spirit will live on through the hands and minds of the many, many people whose lives he has enriched.

Tuesday

2012-01-17T21:34:00.003Z

Marky Mark came up to the workshop at the weekend and helped me build a new bench between two of the wheels. I've been struggling to get going since I made all those jugs a couple of weeks ago - I feel like I've been falling over myself, so I decided to invest the time in organizing the workshop so that it flows properly. It's been through so many transitions in the past few years, changing when new equipment arrives or a new shed is built. This is the best it's ever been.

I have Adam Field coming over from the States to stay and make pots in a couple of months and the space needs to be sorted so that we can work together. I'll write more about Adam's visit later, it's exciting.

I think there are still a couple of places left for the demo weekend that I'm doing with Adam and Nic Collins in April - more details...... here

It was a delight to be able to go in to my clean and tidy workplace this morning. I got started making a few mugs, then a jug for a student who came to take some photographs and then a small dish, which I'll be making more of tomorrow. I need to start cranking out some pots now.

Life is busy at the moment. I've a rare night off tonight from pantomime rehearsals. Dress rehearsal tomorrow night, final rehearsal on Thursday, then opening night on Friday - I still don't know my lines, eek. Performances this weekend and next weekend, then after that..... well it'll be behind me :)

My day today

2012-01-12T22:41:00.001Z

My day yesterday

2012-01-12T08:47:00.001Z

Today in my shed

2012-01-10T19:45:00.000Z

Monday

2012-01-09T23:54:00.005Z

Happy Monday everybody.

I've been catching up with decorating the little jugs that I made this time last week....

and also some small tapered jugs that I made on, I think, Wednesday.

I'm a reluctant decorator, so they've been tightly wrapped under polythene since last week, until I could leave them no longer and had to get on with them before they dried out too much.

These were made from 1.5lbs of clay and are about 6" tall at a guess.

This morning I delivered my car to the local garage, about a mile and a half along the lane from the workshop. It needed an MOT test. The walk to the workshop was inspirational, I love living in the countryside. There's a sense of the season moving along now, with the flora enjoying the mildness of this year's winter. I shot a short film of today's exploits, I'll post it on here later once it's uploaded. Oh, the car passed by the way, which is pretty good, as it only cost me £100 a few months ago.

The next couple of weeks are going to be hectic. I'm taking part in the village pantomime again, which opens a week on Friday, so most evenings will be rehearsals. I still haven't learned my lines, so I'll be practicing tomorrow in the workshop - I hope I don't alarm too many passers-by!

Ah, here's the video it's just uploaded.

Handled

2012-01-05T11:41:00.001Z

It's a New Year!

2012-01-03T23:41:00.003Z

Hello boys and girls and a Happy New Year to you all! I wish you all a wonderful 2012.

I got back to work today after a lovely Christmas break. It was just what I needed, I was feeling pretty burned out at the end of last year and it was a welcome rest. So today, I was back in the saddle/swivel chair and making pots again for what seems like the first time in weeks. Usually I'd start off a fresh making session by throwing my favourite thing, 8lb jugs, but I already have some of those made, so instead I got started with a couple of dozen 1.5 lb, dinky little jugs.

I struggle with small stuff, it uses different skills which I rarely practice, but by the last few, things seemed to be going along nicely. I have to send fifty pieces to Japan, for exhibitions at Art Fair Tokyo and Gallery St Ives, also in Tokyo. It costs a fortune to ship these pots round the world, so I can't imagine I'll be sending any of my big heavy pieces. I need to make a lot of small pots in the forthcoming weeks.

It's been crazy weather today, gale force wind and torrential rain. This winter we've only had a few frosts and none of those have been particularly hard. The flowers in the garden seem very confused by it all. I'm glad of it though, last year at this time I was unable to get to the workshop because we were snowed in.

Here's a little film I shot today at the workshop.

Late night working with Marky Mark tomorrow, I'm looking forward to that. Bye for now.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T20:20:00.003Z

Here we are approaching the end of another year. Thank you all for tuning in to my sporadic blog posts. I haven't made many pots in recent weeks, so my blogging has been a bit lax, but I promise that I intend to start the new year with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. I have to, because I have a lot of commitments in next year's calendar already.

It's been a wonderful year, not least because I've had the opportunity to meet so many of my virtual friends in the flesh during the past twelve months. You are special people.

Thank you so much to all those who have done so much for me. A special mention for Dan, Hollis and Ron in the States; Marky Mark, Matt, Alex, Hannah, Frank, Different Dave, Nic, PY over here. I am blessed with having the very best of friends without whom I am nothing. And big thanks of course to those of you who have encouraged me and bought my pots.

The boys have gone out to the pub with their friends this evening. I miss them being little kiddies and remember with warm affection those Christmas Eves, when they couldn't sleep with the excitement of it all. I too would lie awake in anticipation of their smiley little faces. Hil's here wrapping gifts for their stockings - maybe they're still children, just briefly, once a year.

So now a few days of family time. Tomorrow we visit my brother, then later in the week, my parents and my sister. It will be fantastic to see everybody and to relax for a while with the people I love.

I Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and send every best wish for a healthy and prosperous 2012.

Check this out!!!!

2011-12-12T18:09:00.003Z

I received an email this morning from Alex, with a link to this amazing piece of film. It's a British Pathe film, shot in 1930, of 'A man kneading some clay outside a brick building'.

This is so exciting for me. Helen Walsh, curator at York Museum, identified this unnamed potter as none other than my great hero, Michael Cardew, making pots at Winchcombe Pottery and sent it to Alex.

The slipware pots Cardew made in Winchcombe were in my opinion, his finest works and to see him as a young man, making and decorating them is incredibly moving. I've never seen this footage before, I can't think that many people have in recent times. Thank you Helen and Alex.

Enjoy this piece of lost pottery history everybody

(ONE GOOD TURN)

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Teabowls in Tokyo

2011-12-10T22:41:00.002Z

A while ago, I had a visit to my workshop from Koichiro Isaka, who is the owner of Gallery St Ives, Tokyo. He asked me if I would make some teabowls for an exhibition in his gallery.

The particular type of teabowls he asked for were Chawan. Of course I've never made such things, as I take my inspiration from the English tradition, rather than looking towards the East, so I proceeded to make them with some trepidation.Here are some of them. They're a very English interpretation of a Japanese form, I decided I had to just make, what I know how to make.

The exhibition opened last night. These photographs were taken by Koichiro in the gallery yesterday. There are about 80 Chawan in the show from some amazing makers.

There are pots by UK potters

And from Japan,

Tsubusa Kato Ryotaro Kato

Takuro Kuwata

Tomoo Hamada

Ken Matsuzaki.

You can download the pdf catalogue here

Slippy jugs

2011-12-08T09:13:00.003Z

Hello all

I've been having a bit of a struggle to get back in to making lately. I was exhausted after all the crazy hours of hard work leading up to the show and wound up feeling somewhat burned out and lacking inspiration. I don't know why, the show was great and I came home full of enthusiasm, but it's been difficult to get started again.

Yesterday I unplugged the phone and turned up the rock and roll and got stuck in to making some big fat jugs. I'm going to do the same again today. I'll post some pictures later.These 8lb jugs have been under polythene for a couple of weeks, waiting for a coat of slip, which they were given yesterday.

This leafy jug has a green slip.
Winter is upon us now, although down here in the softy South West, we've had very few frosts, just lots of rain with sunny bits and the resulting rainbows.

Well I must get to work, back soon

Bye for now

Here we go again.

2011-11-24T00:41:00.004Z

I've been working a long day today. Marky Mark came by and we worked into the evening. I know I need to start keeping sensible hours again, but I'm anxious to get some wet pots on the shelves. Getting started is always difficult, but it's easier this time, coming off the back of three great firings and a successful show. The show is still open until Sunday.

I started this batch of pots, with making my favorite things, six 8lb jugs. It's good to get the cycle going again. Although they're similar in form, I haven't tried to make them the same. They'll get handles tomorrow, then they'll be decorated using a variety decorative techniques, adopting whichever suits the curves of the particular pot the best. I'm excited about the pots I'm going to be making in the forthcoming weeks, I've got lots of ideas I want to try.

A big thank to my friend James, who shot this film at my show at the weekend. He asked me to apologize for it's shaky nature as it was his first iphone film, but I don't think he needs to do so, it's great record for me, of how it was on the day.

Demo weekend on Dartmoor

2011-11-22T19:02:00.000Z

Next April, I'm going to be giving a workshop demo at my good chum Nic's place on Dartmoor, along with the great man himself and an amazing potter from the USA, Adam Field.

As you can see from the videos below, it promises to be a really interesting weekend. Spaces are limited, so it would pay to book early via Nic's website, right here

Nic

Adam

The show

2011-11-21T22:12:00.009Z

I just had a wonderful weekend in chilly Nottinghamshire.
The opening was a great success. Here is an old friend of mine, Strav, who came along. We studied together on an Art Foundation course twenty seven years ago, before going off on our separate paths - we hadn't seen each other since. It was lovely to meet up again, we'll stay in touch now via the wonderful world of Facebook.
Here are some pictures of the show. Thank you to Jon and James who took these pictures, I didn't get a chance to take any, so it's great to have them.

It was a brilliant day. Hil and I arrived at the gallery after an early start and a five hour drive, to see what a fabulous job David and Steve had made of arranging the pots, it was quite overwealming. Throughout the day, David, his wife Ausma and Steve were fantastic, rearranging the display as pots were purchased and wrapped, so that the show looked fresh the whole day long. I felt really well looked after.
And a lot of pots went to new homes too, which was way beyond my expectations. It was such a great day, chatting with so many lovely people.

I'm excited about these pressed dishes - I want to develop them in the forthcoming weeks.
I want to make more bowls and thrown dishes too - I'm always short of flatware, it's not something I've invested enough time in
A big thank you to everybody who came and to all the people who bought my pots. There have been some very kind comments made about the work, which is a huge confidence booster and will help me to take things to the next stage.

We stayed with some friends in a beautiful, ancient house, dating back to the 1600's, full of wonderful pots. After a lovely meal, we headed out to Geoff and Pat Fuller's pub which is situated nearby.

It's a sweet little pub - no TV and a ban on mobile phones - how refreshing that is. And of course there was plenty Geoff and Pat's splendid pottery to look at, particularly the kitchen.

On Sunday we headed back home, Hil at the wheel and me with the inevitable migraine in the passenger seat. I was exhausted. It's been a very hard few months, but it's been so worth it.

Today I had a much calmer day, thinking a lot, while tidying up the workshop garden which has been badly neglected this year. I'm preparing myself ready to make the next pots. I'm very excited about them, greatly encouraged by the weekend's events - I feel I know where I'm going at last.

Well that's all for now. Back soon with muddy wet pots to show you, bye for now.

It's showtime

2011-11-18T21:21:00.006Z

On Wednesday, my chum Frank, Murphy the dog and I, went on the long journey to Thoresby Hall, to deliver the pots for the exhibition. It's a fantastic space. Hil and I will be making the journey again tomorrow morning, in time for the opening of the show, which starts at midday.
Before I took them away, my friend Jonathan took these photographs of some of the pots that are in the exhibition.

There are over seventy pieces in the show - I'm looking forward to seeing it all set out. I'll make sure I get some photos of the show and if anybody out there can make it, it will be great to see you there.

Here's a short video of the sgrafitto jug from my previous post, fired and finished. This pot will be in the exhibition.

Well I've a really early start in the morning, so I'll bid you goodnight. I'll report back soon. Goodnight!

Nearly all done!

2011-11-13T22:15:00.003Z

Hi there boys and girls.

Well I've got nearly all my pots together now, ready for the opening of my exhibition, next weekend.

It's been hard toil, working every day, every weekend for I don't know how long. They've been long days too, often way into the night and I'm absolutely exhausted. I think it's been worthwhile - next Saturday will tell, when I get to see the pots displayed in the beautiful surroundings of Thoresby Hall. Things look so different, when they're given space, it's difficult to see the pots clearly in the workshop surroundings. I've never seen so much of my own work, in the same place at one time.

Here's Different Dave, fixing a Hazel handle to my hedgerow teapot - it worked a treat, I'll post a picture of the teapot later.

The last three firings have been fantastic which has made so much difference to my state of mind. I used to have too many losses and starting again after a bad firing was so difficult. I'm still very aware of the shortfalls in what I do - I need to expand my range so that I don't predominantly make jugs............I do love making jugs(pitchers) though.

I actually have some flatware in this show - not as much as I would have liked, but some pieces at least. I'm pleased with them and I'm desperate to make some more.

It feels like things are at last starting to fall in to place, after a lot of hard work building this place up from scratch over the last eight years on a shoestring budget. That's how long ago it is I think since Marky Mark and I began building the workshop inside the shell of an old cattle shed - maybe it's seven, I can't remember. I will have been in there full time for six years this January - or maybe it's five -it's a blur.

Whatever it is, I'm still making really stupid mistakes - I managed to crack a good number of my bigger pots by not drying them carefully enough, or by glazing them too dry, but that's because I was stretching my skills and knowedge - disappointing, but now I've learned a few lessons the hard way and next time I'll get it right.

Well enough rambling on. Thank you to everybody who has continued to drop by on this neglected blog, I always appreciate your support and comments and I know I'm very bad at responding, but I really do appreciate it, I've just been getting home too late to get on here.

I decided not to post pictures of finished work until the show opens, but I will share a short video with you of a sgrafitto jug that will be in the show. It's taken many, many hours of scratching.

Well there's lots of other stuff I need to blog about, so I'll be back soon with, among other things, some details about an exciting weekend event that's coming up.

Tomorrow, selecting and packing of pots, ready to deliver them to Nottinghamshire on Wednesday. I'll be glad to get them there.

Goodnight all

I'm still here!

2011-11-01T00:02:00.005Z

I'm still here! It's been a manic few weeks, with really long days and late nights and I've had to drop out of the virtual world for a while. I just had the best firing that I ever had - it's so good to have the kiln working properly at last. These pots are for my solo show that opens in just over two weeks in Thoresby Hall.
I'll post better pictures when I get them, but if you would like to see the pots in more detail and can make it along, it would be great to see you at the private view, on the 19th November.

There's a picture of this jug before it was fired, at the end of this post.
These pictures are in a jumble, but I'm too tired to sort them out. Here are Alex and Hannah, two thirds of my fantastic firing crew, visiting the Burton Art Gallery, the day after the firing.
And here's the other fine stoker, my old buddy Andrew Frank' Grundon. Marky Mark's away in Mexico at the moment, so he missed this one.
Ah, slippy dishes, we're going back in time here

Drinking bowls for an exhibition in Japan.
The tall jug, pictured earlier in this post, before it was fired.

Well that was brief, but at least you know I'm still alive. Back soon with some better pics, bye for now.

New pots

2011-10-01T16:24:00.010+01:00

Evening all

I managed to get my camera working again!!

Earlier in the week Alex called by. It was great to see him as always. It was also great to have him cast his critical eye, over the pots from the recent firing, as he really knows his stuff. Here we were discussing which pots to send for the publicity material for the forthcoming show. The two baluster jugs on the left were sent.

I hope to get some better pictures of the pots soon, but here are some snapshots of some of the pieces from the firing.

5lb jugs

8 pounders, with the big raw jug in behind
another 8lb jug
After the firing, looking as knackered as we were feeling
An 8lb jug and two 5lb jugs
3lb tapered jug
3lb tapered jug. You can see lots more by following this link here.
3lb jars for the next firing, slipped last week. These are now completed, as are 6lb versions. There will be lots of jars in the next firing, which will add variety to the jugs from the last one. Today I made big pots for the bottom of the chamber.

I'm tired - I've been working some very long days recently and I'm really behind with a lot of my virtual stuff. My apologies if you're waiting for an email, I'll get caught up soon.

Tomorrow I head off back to Cornwall as I'm doing a demo on Saturday for the Cornwall Pottery and Glass Group. The last demo I did was in North Carolina with Hannah - it'll be weird to be doing it on my own this time.

Honest Pots finishes this weekend. Thousands of people have been to see it, it's been an amazing show, if you're near York and haven't seen it yet, time's running out!

Bye for now

Woohoo

2011-09-27T22:40:00.003+01:00

Evening all

I'd love to share some pictures of the firing with you, but unfortunately my camera finally bit the dust today, so I've none to show you.

Anyway, it was a great firing, with some pots that I'm very happy to have made. There are a few that I wish I hadn't made too and of course, they're the ones that I always see first.

There are lots and lots of jugs in all shapes and sizes. The large raw jug came out of the kiln just as I'd hoped and the tile frieze worked beautifully.

I'm away for a couple of days now in Cornwall, but I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.

What a relief!

Bye for now

Tiles

2011-09-26T22:53:00.003+01:00

I went to the workshop today and tidied up ready to unload the kiln tomorrow. I really hope it's all okay - I'm in big trouble if it isn't, as time's ticking away towards the exhibition in November and there isn't time to re-make stuff. Oh well, I'll know tomorrow.

Here are some photos I was sent today, of some of the tiles I made recently, in their new home.

Thank you Dave and Sue

Done!

2011-09-23T22:29:00.003+01:00

Well I managed to leave my bag(containing my camera) in Marky Mark's car last night after a brain-frying, fifteen hour firing, so I've been unable to upload pictures from the firing, but here are few from before the event. The tall jug at the top is one of the raw pieces. I could see it throughout the firing and it was still standing at the end. I don't know why I worry so much about raw firing, I used to do all my firings this way when I started out and I know huge amount more about firing the kiln now, than I did then.
This tile frieze is in the kiln, I'm really looking forward to seeing this come out. This is the one for the seventeenth century manor house and the leaves that I used, all come from the site. The varying temperature/flame/gasses through the chamber will hopefully give them a range of tones, the same glaze being lighter or darker according to its position in the kiln.
These are some 3lb jars that I made last week - they'll be in the next firing. Three more sizes to make of these, 6lb, 10lb and mega lbs if my arms will take the strain. I need some big pots to fill the bottom of the next firing, so I fancy making some very large jars.
Pots glazed, waiting to be packed. Most of these went in, but I do still have a good number left over, so it's reassuring to know that the next kiln load is well underway.

It was such a tiring day yesterday. I had a gig on Saturday night too, so I didn't get to bed until 1am, then set my alarm clock wrong and got up yesterday at 6am, thinking it was 7am.

We lit the kiln just before eight and fired through the day until about 11pm, before clamming up and heading home at about midnight, tired, blackened and stinking like a bonfire.

I got up this morning to head off to work, but then decided to go back to bed for couple of hours. I've stacks to do t the workshop, but I'm not going to feel too guilty about getting there late today. I'll head off shortly.

I hope this is a good firing. Everything seemed to go really well, but it's always risky, bathing ones pots in the naked flame and it won't be clear until the door's unbricked. I should know for sure tomorrow. I'll let you know what happened, either with a woohoo, or an aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggghhhhhhhhhhhh.

Time to get to work

Bye for now

Four days to go

2011-09-21T22:40:00.003+01:00

These are the 1lb jars from earlier in the week. Most of them have been decorated now and some will make the firing. I made the 3lb version today - I'd love to get the 6lb ones made tomorrow, but I can't see that happening.
All these pots have to be glazed tomorrow......
....as do these and also a big tile frieze which is going in this firing.

I mixed up lots of glaze tonight, so a sieving session in the morning, then on with the job in hand. I gave the workshop a really good clean up before I left, so it should be a fairly straightforward job tomorrow.

Marky Mark's coming up during the late afternoon and we'll start the pack.

I successfully managed to get the glaze on to the big jug that's going in raw, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that comes out of the firing. If it's good, I'll be making some real biggies for the next kiln load. I still have to get it dry enough to fire, but the forecast is good tomorrow which will help. In fact there are several raw pots going in to this firing, so it'll be interesting to see how they fire.

I had a good fire in the kiln all day today, to make sure it's completely dry for the firing.

Four days to the big burn up.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeep

Back soon

Bye

The movie

2011-09-18T14:08:00.000+01:00

Slippedy do da

2011-09-16T09:26:00.002+01:00

A blog post at last!!.Pictures mostly.

I've been putting in ridiculously long hours lately, until 11pm some nights this week. I'm trying to get on top of orders and also I'm making pots for a solo exhibiton with Oakwood Ceramics, at The Thoresby Gallery in Notts, which opens on November 11th. I need about seventy five, top quality pieces for the show, so the pressure's really on. I have about fifteen pieces already. Here are some of the things I've been making.

This is one of the big jugs from my previous post, freshly slipped and decorated today.
An 8lb jug with applied decoration - these take ages.
Some more applied decoration. The jug in the foreground is about 12" tall.

More crazy leaf inspired, stuck on stuff.
This jug is too tall for the bisc kiln, so will be raw glazed, which is something I haven't done for a long time. I hope it works, I want to make some really big floor-standing pots which, because of their scale, will demand raw glazing. I used to once-fire all my pots when I first started, then for one reason and another, started to bisc fire everything.
3lb jugs, fat and tapered
1lb jars. I still need to make these in 3lb, 5lb and 10lb, plus some big ones too.
A big bottle. I slipped this today with a single cinquefoil leaf-resist on the front, and a small one beneath the handle.

Firing day is next Sunday, after which I hope to be a very happy and relieved man. It's stressful, working flat out, to produce all this stuff, then to stick it in the kiln and allow the naked flames to do their work. I really need this to be a great firing.

A lot of the pots that I'm making now will go in the subsequent firing, scheduled for a few weeks time - there are busy days and nights ahead.

It took a while to get back in to the groove. Sometimes I never want to make another pot, and sometimes it's the best thing in the World, sometimes my confidence is on the floor, sometimes I'm full of energy and inspiration - I'm glad to be feeling good about it right now.

I'm going to try and upload a short video later, to show you what's been going on, the big jug being decorated and some of the beautiful roses in the workshop garden.

That's it for now, happy weekend all

Tuesday

2011-08-29T18:59:00.004+01:00

A few words and some pictures, I'm tired and dirty and need a bath then bed.
I threw a couple of these tall harvest jugs today. They'll have scroll handles tomorrow. I want to make six of these.
And I made some 5lb jugs - an unusual size for me, I usually make 3lb and 8lb jugs, but I seem to make too much stuff the same size, so I thought these would make a change.
The crazy jug from earlier in the week is no more. Slipped when too soft - silly me :(

The following are pictures from yesterday. It was a Bank Holiday here, so Marky Mark had the day off work and chose to spend it at the workshop, which was great. And the sun shone!
We tidied up the corridor between the workshop and my friend Matt's workshop. This area is going to be used for clay prep and will house drying troughs and a large vertical pug mill. It's a pity that we're getting to the wrong time of year to dry clay, but it'll be good to have it set up at last. The blunger is going to be installed tomorrow evening - it weighs a tonne, so I've enlisted the help of a local farmer with his tractor.
The cider apples are being taken from the orchard, this trailer had a wonderful appley aroma as I followed it along the lane on the way home. Cider, mmmmmmmmm
Sprigged mugs
Marky Mark at the wheel
I've been working on a number of tile orders in recent times, these are a few of the finished tiles. I have a big pile ready for glaze firing. I still need to make a few more which I'll fit in around pot making in the next few days. The workshop has been full of them, they take up a lot of shelf space and it got to the stage were it was impossible to work. I'm really enjoying making tall stuff again, I thought I'd forgotten how to do it!

Well that's all, bath and bed and bye for now

Nancy and Tim

2011-08-28T17:19:00.000+01:00

Hi folks

Last week we had a visit from some friends from across the pond, Nancy Gallagher and her husband Tim. I met Nancy at the workshop Hannah and I gave in Virginia, back in the Spring, so when I heard that they were coming over to visit British potters, we invited them to come and stay. It was great to spend time with them, we had a lot of good fun. They're high in the sky on their way home as I type this blog.

I'm afraid the pictures are a bit blurry, my camera is on its way out - too much clay dust. Here they are in my local pub, The Half Moon Inn......

....which boasts a fine skittle alley, typically found in Devon country pubs - it's a bit like ten pin bowling - but it's free and must be played with a belly full of cider.

We toured round various potters, I didn't get pictures of all of them. Here's Hil at Svend Bayer's pottery - she liked this big pot - we have one at home, but at the moment it lives in our garage as it's too huge to fit in our tiny house.

Svend's a great master, his forms are wonderful irrespective of scale, the hugest of jars like these, or the smallest of jugs, they're always bang on. What a great way to display big pots.

This is Nancy making a selection at Clive Bowen's pottery. I used to spend a lot of time at Clive's place, he's been a great influence on what I do.

And here with Harry Juniper, a slipware potter from Bideford, who specializes in making commemorative harvest jugs.

Also while in Bideford, we went to the Burton Art Gallery, which is full of many beautiful, old traditional West Country pots. This is a wonderful museum and has to be one of my favorite places.

Digging clay from the stream at Hollyford. Some of this lump of muddy Devon has gone back with Nancy to the States.

I'm back to work now, trying to get back into the swing. It always takes me a while to get going again, so I started with mugs....

and this crazy 9lb jug. The next firing is going to be contain a number of very large pieces, so I'm going to have to warm up my skills quickly this week and build up to making them.

That's all for now, back soon

England

2011-08-09T19:57:00.002+01:00

Dutch pots

2011-08-08T20:58:00.008+01:00

I bought this little old pot in Delft, photographed here in our holiday cabin - it's really sweet. The following pictures are of pots that were on display in cabinets in a multi-storey car park in Delft, cool eh?

Home

2011-08-07T19:39:00.005+01:00

Hello all

We're home again after a great holiday in the Netherlands and a 1200 mile drive. What a beautiful place Holland is. A couple of highlights, watching Spoonbills and Herons on the canals and a trip to the Van Gough Museum in Amsterdam, which was amaaaaazing. Saw some fab pots too - I'll stick some pictures on later.

A sign on the wall in Amsterdam - is that Paul Young or Paul Jessop?
This was our home while we were away. The wheelbarrow contains logs for the campfire. We went with our friends Phil and Heather and their kids. Their two are the same age as ours and have grown up together, so are like extended family. Not that they're really kids any more.
Back in the workshop, the tiles I made before I went away have dried ready for firing.
I've got two big orders for these type of tile and they're nearly all made now, so lots of glazing and firing to do to finish them. I need to make a few more spares this week.

This tall jug was made before we went away, kept soft under polythene, then decorated yesterday.

These three pictures were taken at Kigbeare Manor, just before we left, at the private view of the Potters Tea Party Exhibition. Here are some of my teapots and 'drinking cups' that are in the show. You can see better pictures of the pots by all the makers in the gallery section of the Kigbeare web site, here.
This is the beautiful manor house
Lunch in the sunshine. That's Clive Bowen far left and Nic talking to Hil on the right. It was a lovely day, thank you Maddy and Lisa and thank you to the people who bought my pots too.

Lots of things happening at the workshop at the moment, more about that soon. Many pots to make for my solo show at Thoresby Hall too, so I'll be back with lots of pictures.

Have a good Monday all.

Leafy tiles

2011-07-21T23:12:00.004+01:00

I've been decorating tiles for a commission. It's an entire leaf resist panel that is going to a beautiful 17th century manor house. The leaves are from the surrounding woodlands of the manor. It's going to look mighty pretty I think. I plan to fire the tiles in the wood kiln and I'll place them throughout the chamber, so that they get different amounts of flame and temperature and as a result, a variety of tones from the same glaze and slip.Here I am, sticking the leaves to the tiles.
Here are some of the tiles - sorry it's a blurred picture.
I'm off to Holland on Sunday for a ten day family holiday, so it's been a busy time, trying to get everything finished. Not just pottery, but also the demo we've been recording with The Love Daddies.

Take That have nothing on us eh girls? Hmm.

I have to record two bass parts tomorrow evening so that it can all be mixed down while I'm away.
The painter Lucien Freud died yesterday. He's my older boy Luke's great hero, so Luke's understandably sad. Freud was the first painter he studied - you might be able to see his influence in Luke's most recent self portrait.
And here's Luke.

And this is Joe dressed up for the school ball - he'll go crazy if he sees that I've posted this picture!

I'm very proud of my boys.

Joey the tile maker

2011-07-16T21:19:00.009+01:00

Joe's been helping me out in the workshop today. I'm trying to teach him some stuff and it's given him a chance to earn a few quid.

The boys used to come to the workshop and make stuff when they were little, but in recent times, there's been little attraction for them to spend time in a shed in the middle of nowhere.

A while ago, our village bus service was cut (by bureaucrats who have probably never caught a bus in their lives), so it's impossible for the boys to get work outside of the village. It works well for them to earn some money doing jobs at the workshop, and it's been really helpful for me to have Joe there today, blending and pugging my clay.

Today we went down to the stream and dug out some more native clay for Matt's tiles and he learned how to remove all the rubbish and then knead it into a usable condition. I want to start training him up on the wheel soon, so this is a good starting point.

Today, he also learned how to make tiles in the Wenford tile mold.Here he is packing the mold
and wiring off the excess
pushing out the tile
and trimming the edges
Completed tiles, toughening up in readiness for decorating next week.

Tiles

2011-07-15T23:05:00.004+01:00

I've been making tiles for a couple of orders all week, pressed out in an old tile mold that I got from Wenford Bridge.

This new toy arrived today - here's Matt checking it out. He's making floor tiles from the clay in the field for some work he's doing in his house.

So Matt, Marky Mark and I have been digging clay from the riverbank. I've been processing it by hand - digging out the worst of the stones and twigs, which are surprisingly few and far between, then lots of kneading.

It looks like this when it's dug out

And this is what it looks like when it's sliced................
.....and then kneaded.

This weekend Matt's going to help get the blunger up and running. I have many tonnes of clay in a big pile in the field and the equipment that just needs installing. The blunger weighs over a tonne, so it's not all that straightforward, but Matt has a forklift which he's going to get running tomorrow, so if all goes to plan, I should be self sufficient in beautiful, plastic, musty, native clay, by the end of the summer. That will be amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!

Happy weekend all

Sunday

2011-07-10T09:02:00.007+01:00

Here are some pictures taken during the past few days - I'm afraid they're in no particular order.
The village play finished last night. I thought you may enjoy seeing this picture. I played the part of a policeman, who winds up playing the role of a cat in a very badly staged pantomime - all very confusing - it was a very funny play. Here's a synopsis I pinched off the web.

'Out of Focus' is set in the annexe of a church hall. An unfortunate over-booking results in a gathering of a wonderful mix of local characters, ranging from the Vicar's wife to a man intent on delivering a talk on steam locomotives to anyone who will listen! They eventually unite to try to produce a pantomime but, as rehearsals proceed, alliances are formed and switched as the opening night nears. Events culminate backstage after the final performance'

.So that's that now until panto rehearsals start in early autumn. Much as I love doing drama, it's a relief to have finished for a while, as it takes up two evenings a week with rehearsals plus all the extra time, desperately trying to learn lines. It's all been a bit much, but I'm pleased I did it, they're a good bunch of folk.

Here's my muddy wheel. I put this picture on specially for my friend Katrin, who will most certainly not approve of my filthiness. It's the way I like it though, sorry KM.
The workshop's pretty tidy at the moment though - by my standards anyway.
This is a view of one end of my 'showroom'.
and here's the other end.

Shiny slippy shiny stuff
Sweet, fragrant roses in the garden
My boy Joe pugging clay. He's been doing some work for me recently - it's great to have him prepping the clay as it means I can just get on with making the pots.
Another view in my showroom. The painting is by my friend Heather.
The latest shed addition. Luke's using this end of it as a painting studio for the summer - he's turning into a great painter. He left school a few weeks ago and is off to college to study an Art Foundation course in September.
More flowerbed stuff, outside the showroom.
Tidy kilnshed. The saggars came from Wenford Bridge and were made by Michael Cardew for the huge double chambered kiln there. I don't use them much as I have a square kiln, but one day I hope to build a round bottle kiln and then they'll be very useful. As it is, they're just lovely things to have around.
Tall baluster jugs, drying.
Marky Mark throwing yesterday, for once not clad in lime green
Sloppy slippy finger wipes

Flowers in the window

Slipedy slopedy slip
Dribbly slipedy slopedy
A row of them.

Congratulations to Hannah, who has just finished a sponsored cycle ride from Manchester to Blackpool. If you'd like to donate to her cause, you can find a link on her blog, here.

Right, off out for a spot of Thai cuisine with Hil and the boys. I haven't eaten Thai food since a long car journey to Virginia with Dan a couple of months ago. I wonder how Exeter's version will measure up.

Happy Sunday all, bye for now.

Phew!

2011-07-07T22:19:00.000+01:00

Phew!!!I need a beer!!!

A few pots from the last firing

2011-07-06T16:04:00.012+01:00

Two blogs in one day! Here are a few pics of pots before bedtime. I just got home after a terrible dressed rehearsal - tomorrow's going to be a disaster!This puzzle jug is the biggest one I've made and was decorated by my chum Frank. He even composed the rhyme.
It features an old fellow in a tavern, challenging two characters to try and drink from his puzzle jug
He has a beautifully drawn dog with him which unfortunately you can't see on these pictures
It's a great bit of work, there's no doubt about it - I'm looking forward to doing more collaborative work with Frank.
Here are mugs performing acrobatic feats
A chubby 8lb jug
An 8lb jug with an oak and ash design
This is a crazy pot - lots of stuff stuck on it, one of those you'll either like - or not
I was pleased with this one
and this - I don't make all that many tapered jugs, but five out of six of these came out pretty. I'll put more pictures up of the others on a later post.
This is a tall, slender baluster - I'll be making more of these for the next firing.

Well that's all for now, I need to go to bed and get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's, ready for tomorrow's opening night. Goodnight all

Rufford and stuff

2011-06-28T02:51:00.006+01:00

Back again. Since I last blogged, I've been away to Earth and Fire at Rufford. This is my favorite show of the year and this year it was the best that I've had. I think perhaps the pots have improved and I know for sure that the firing was really good. My friend Johnny photographed them before I left and I'll post them on here shortly. A lot of people who spoke, mentioned that they had visited the Honest Pots exhibition in York City Art Gallery. This show still runs until October and is well worth a trip if you are a lover of traditional pottery.

I managed to forget my camera, so I've cheekily pinched these images from my friend Jon's Facebook. My chum 'Frank' came with me. We've been doing a number of collaborative pieces in recent months, his beautiful illustrations on my pots. We took a couple of them with us which created quite a bit of interest and they both sold within the first couple of hours. I'm looking forward to doing more work with him.
We camped with Blogger Margaret
Paul Young
and Hannah, who I hadn't seen since our trip to the States. I think Frank's eyes glazed over on a few occasions as we talked of our adventures across the pond - there are still more tales to share on this blog about that trip and I'll share them in time. Blogger Paul and Marion came by too, It was good to see them. I met many lovely folk over the weekend, thank you to everybody who came to chat and to those who bought my pots.

Since I got home, life has continued to be hectic. On Monday I had a visit from the editor, and photographer of a very classy Japanese lifestyle magazine called Kateigaho, along with Koichiro Isaka, who owns the Gallery St Ives, in Tokyo. Koichiro is writing an article and a book about British potters in which I am to feature. We had a great day in the sunshine, taking photographs in and around the pottery and in the surrounding countryside. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, but I'll no doubt show the magazine when I get a copy. Koichiro has asked me to provide fifty pieces for an exhibition in Tokyo in January, which is very exciting.

My next show is at Kigbere Manor and is with a group of very distinguished potters with whom I'm proud to be associated. It's an exhibition of teabowls (or drinking cups)and teapots - I'll post some images of my pieces soon, they've come out very nicely thankfully.

This evening I will be taking part in the dress rehearsal for the village play which opens tomorrow - I still don't know my lines - eek!! I play the part of a policeman, so tomorrow the twice annual haircut has to happen, so bye bye crazy curly locks. After this weekend, I get my life back to some kind of normality. It's been too much really, so it'll be good to get back into a sensible pattern. I realize how much I love this blog on the rare occasion that I've had time to update it recently. Facebook is very easy - I can just upload my photos into albums without having to do too much writing, so it's quick, but it isn't the same as blogging. I'm always really happy to hear your comments, but rarely get a chance to reply to them, for which I feel very rude, please forgive me. The last few months have been hardcore, late nights, working every weekend since February, but now America is done, Rufford is done, village play is nearly done, soon I will have my evenings back and blogging will be back if anybody is still out there to read it.

Hello

2011-06-18T18:58:00.002+01:00

Hello - here's a voice from the past. I haven't blogged in a month. Life's been crazy. I've been working all hours, trying to catch up from the weeks away from the workshop while I was in the States. Throw in to the mix, rehearsals for the village play twice a week, the recording of a new demo with the Love Daddies, plus all the stuff that goes with family life and it's been hard to find the time and energy to focus on blogging. So there we are, excuses over.
I've made a lot of pots in the past few weeks and fired the kiln last week with Alex and Marky Mark

It was the best firing I've ever had
I'll be having some proper photographs taken this week by my photographer Johnny. I'll post them when I get them back.
These pots are for sale at Earth & Fire at Rufford next weekend.

There's lots more to write about, but I'm only just in from a long day's work, so that's it for now, back soon.

More from Cape Cod and stuff from today in the workshop.

2011-05-16T00:03:00.007+01:00

Howdy Folks, here's the next installment.
Here are Hannah and Hollis, enjoying a brew in Hollis' favorite coffee shop. We went there most mornings - it was a lovely way to start the day. Hollis would meet up with a few of his friends, before they all headed off to work for the day. What a civilized start to the day.
This is lovely Janet, who brought in the most beautiful baked goods...........and this stinky durian, a fruit, so pungent, it's banned from hotels and hospitals in Bangkok. I tasted better that it smelled - but that's not saying much!

We visited a number of local potters. This is Ron Geering's showroom. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet Ron as he was in the UK at the time, but it was great to see his pots.
This is Gail Turner who had much to do with organizing our trip to the US, thank you so much Gail
Tessa Morgan.

And this is Kimberly Sheerin Madeiros.

The workshop was held in the local High School. It was interesting to see inside an American school - I was reminded of a show my boys used to watch, called Saved by the Bell. We were absolutely terrified! We were presented with Falmouth High School sweatshirts which we're wearing in this photo.

So to the demo. We each showed short films about our lives at home, then a brief slideshow of historical pots and then on to the clay. This is a puzzle jug I made, blasted with a gas burner to make it tough enough to assemble, then blasted again to a stage where it could be decorated.

Hannah did her magic with the slip trailer, which wowed the folks at each of the workshops.

I think that the finished piece is to be auctioned to raise funds to help the potters of Japan who were affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

The Cape Cod Potters. These were lovely people, really good fun to be with.

And afterwards, on to an 'English' pub, which was quite authentic - it could almost have been beside the sea in Exmouth - there was even English beer. Hannah and I were both greatly relieved at this stage - we'd been terrified, but we'd done it! Beeeeer :-)

The birds were amazing - huge Ospreys, nesting on a platform beside a lake.
And some kind of strange wading bird.

So more pictures of the trip to follow in subsequent posts, but now on to current stuff that's happening in the workshop. I'm making pots now for Earth & Fire at Rufford and trying to catch up on a number of orders that I meant to get made before I went away, but ran out of time.

Oak and ash, leaf resist jug
Some jugs with applied decoration upturned to dry their bases.
I didn't quite get my timing right on this large harvest jug - oops, try again.
8.5lb low-bellied 'medieval' jug. It's curious, I wondered how the trip would influence the pots I make. I think rather than showing American influence, they're more 'English' than ever - perhaps I have a much stronger sense of my own identity?
A crazy experiment
This is a collaborative pot, made by me, then stunningly decorated by my friend Andrew Grundon.
It's going to an exhibition in the Imagine Gallery, Long Melford, Suffolk, the subject, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
We're enjoying doing these pieces together. This is a puzzle jug commemorating the recent Royal Wedding.
He's a clever boy.....
...with a sweet smile

He came up from Cornwall to deliver the pots on Thursday, then stayed for the day and we cracked on with finishing construction of the workshop.
Here's the latest addition, belted together with big nails and made entirely from salvaged materials. It looks a bit of a mess at the moment, but a lick of paint and it'll look sweet.
That's all for the moment - are you still awake?! More soon, bye for now

Back!

2011-05-10T00:14:00.007+01:00

Hello everybody

Well I made it home! It's been long time since I blogged, I've been feeling pretty odd since getting back to the UK and I've been laying low. I'm only just starting to get back into making pots again, it's a good feeling.

The States are amazing- so much space, so much beautiful countryside and so many great people that I didn't get to spend enough time with. I love the place and can't wait to go back there. I made some great friends out there, some of whom I've known for years in this virtual world, it was so cool to meet them for real. The USA was nothing like I'd imagined it would be - I grew up thinking that the whole of America was like it is on Starsky and Hutch - how wrong I was.

It's difficult to blog retrospectively, but I'll share a few pictures and see how it goes, starting at the very beginning

Here we are with Hollis and Dee,who were our first hosts in Cape Cod. It seems such a long time ago since we arrived there, tired and excited. Hollis introduced me to baseball and gave me his Boston Red Sox cap, so they are now my team. I try and follow them on the internet, although I don't entirely understand the game.
This is Hollis and Dee's house. Hollis' workshop is at the extreme left, my bedroom was above it. I'd forgotten how cold it was on the Cape when we arrived, the trees were bare and every night there was a frost. In the mornings I awoke early, to beautiful dawn chorus, the bird's songs, very different from those back at home. The unusual types of bird continued to be a fascination to me throughout the visit, Cardinals, Bluebirds and a Robin that is much, much bigger than ours. Dee is a great gardener, I was sorry not to see the garden in full bloom, it was still fairly dormant, a few shoots just beginning to show - maybe I'll get to see it next time.

This sweet little building is Hollis's showroom

And this is the inside

These are the pots that Hannah and I brought home. It was a brilliant time. Here's Hollis' account.

And this is back home. The lanes have filled out with wonderful spring flora.
The trees in the orchard are full of blossom
And the workshop is hidden behind roses and hollyhocks, which look like they're going to provide a wonderful display this year.

And some pots at long last.

A bit of a disjointed blog post, but it's a start and now I've got started again, I intend to carry on, so please don't give up on me and check back soon.

Bye for now

Home time

2011-04-28T12:31:00.003+01:00

We're heading home today. Thank you so much the wonderful people of the USA.

There's so much to write about, many pictures to show and stories to tell. I'll get them uploaded in the next day or two - we've been so busy living it all that there's been little time to write about it.

We head to the airport shortly and a long, long journey back to England. Ang left for Australia yesterday. We arrive back in London at 7.30 am tomorrow.

Our time here has been amazing, completely mind-blowing. Thank you to all the sweet people we have met on our travels, everybody has made us feel so welcome. It's all quite overwhelming.

Huge, immense, big-time thanks to our fantastic friends and hosts, Hollis and Dee, Dan, Ron and Sarah, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ang's video from Liberty Town

2011-04-23T05:33:00.000+01:00

Thanks Ang

A message from North Carolina

2011-04-20T17:54:00.010+01:00

Our great American adventure continues. We're in North Carolina now, sitting in the sunshine outside Ron's house. We didn't have internet access for a few days , so I'm only just getting caught up. Our Virginia experience was fantastic, with many sweet people, who made it a special time. Not least our wonderful host, Dan Finnegan, who looked after us so well. We're missing his company - hopefully he'll be in the UK in the summer and our paths will cross again. Thank you Dan, so much.

Here's Dan during our workshop, after we set him the challenge of making some red clay pots (the properties of the clay are very different from the stoneware body that he is used to throwing). I don't think we converted him.
These are some of the lovely group of people who were at the workshop, a number of whom are bloggers too. I'll put links to their blogs in a later post.
Dan drove us two hours further south east, along the blue ridge mountains of Virginia, to Kevin Crowe's pottery, nestled in the woods at Amherst.

Kevin makes beautiful pots.
Here we met up with Ron and after a tasty chowder, a tour and a pot swap, we said our sad farewells to Dan and headed onwards to a warm welcome at Meredith Heywood's home and pottery in Whynot, North Carolina, where a group of local potters were gathered for a social evening. It was another great pleasure to meet an old friend of blog and Facebook.

This is Meredith and her husband Mark. We stayed overnight, Ang and Hannah stayed with Meredith, Ron and myself with Ron's friend, potter and pizza maker, Tom Gray.

The next day, we were joined by blogger Tracey Broom(next to Ron) - it was a delight to meet her. This tour is full of wonderful surprises, meeting people for real, that we have communicated with for years in the virtual world through blog or Facebook - some people call it all a waste of time, but I think it's amazing that the internet creates the opportunity to meet so easily with like-minded people.

Tracey and Meredith took us on a tour of some of the many potters in North Carolina. There are hundreds, rows and rows of pottery shops, lining the roads. It was a great day. I'll post pictures later - I need to sleep now, as tomorrow morning we will be presenting our final workshop in Shelby, North Carolina. This blog post has taken several days to finish as we've been pretty busy - it started three days ago in the sunshine and now it's the middle of the night.
This is tomorrow's venue. We're nervous again tonight, it'll be good to get underway in the morning.

This poster made me laugh! I'm sorry to be missing it(click on the image to enlarge)

Goodnight all

A quick note from Virginia

2011-04-15T17:51:00.004+01:00

Hello there!!!!!

Well we made it to the States safe and well and we're having a wonderful time with fantastic, kind people.

It's been busy, busy, so I've had little time to blog and where we're staying now in Virginia has no internet, but I'll be sharing lots of pictures with you all in the forthcoming week or two. Here's

Our Cape Cod workshop went really well, in spite of our stressing and worrying. Hollis and Dee looked after us so well - they're lovely folks. we gave Hollis nightmares, literally, with all our flapping and worrying. I have some great pots that Hollis made that I'll share with you later.

You can read all about our adventures on Hollis's blog here

Here's Hannah's perspective on the events right here

We're staying in a beautiful farmhouse in Virginia for the next few days with Dan. Here's what he's saying right here

And here's a video that Ang made of the workshop at Cape Cod. You can see what Ang has to say right here

There's so much to tell, but I have to go now and prepare clay for tomorrow's workshop. We're showing short films about our lives this evening at the opening reception, so we're a little anxious right now. It'll be fine once we get going.

Our lovely hosts, Hollis and Dee
Hannah taking a paddle in Hollis and Dee's local 'pond'
The fantastic Cape Cod Potters

Hannah doing her thing
A picnic in Washington DC yesterday
The beautiful house where we're staying
Guy Wolff, who we visited on our way from Cape Cod to Virginia. It was great to meet him

Eeeeek! This is serious! I'd better go and pug that clay, bye for now, have a nice day y'all

Here we come

2011-04-05T01:12:00.002+01:00

Today London England...........................

tomorrow Boston USA!

On my way to the USofA

2011-04-01T11:31:00.007+01:00

Life has been crazy lately, hence my lack of blogging, with lots of very late nights and early mornings, trying to get everything done.

I'm sitting here waiting to be collected by my good friend Nic Collins. We head off this afternoon to Uppingham and the Goldmark Gallery, where Nic's exhibition opens tomorrow. It was a great privelige for me to be asked to write the essay for the catalogue, if you'd like to have look, click here. I saw the pots before they were dispatched, they're amazing.

My friend and fellow potter Paul Young wrote this of Nic in an email to me this morning, 'Nic is probably the finest potter of his generation, his work carries a strength and confidence far beyond the parameters of anything being made today.' He's absolutely right about that. I'll be meeting Paul there, it'll good to see him.

Here's an extract from the film that has been made to accompany the event.

From Uppingham, my journey continues, via my parents', to London, where I'll meet up with Hannah, then Heathrow and on to the USA. My bags are packed and I'm filled with excitement and trepidation. For a long time I've been putting it to the back of my mind. I spend my days alone in a shed in the middle of nowhere, so the prospect of being in front of a room full of people, doing what I do, is pretty scary.

I'm going to try and get back in the blogging groove and I'll share the journey. I've never been away from my family for a month before, it's going to be very strange, but thankfully the internet will help us to speak to each other, albeit virtually.

If you follow this link, you'll be able to see pictures of some of the stuff that's been happening in recent days. Check out the amazing sgrafitto harvest jug, decorated by the super talented, Andrew 'Frank' Grundon.

I have a couple of exhibitions in the UK while I'm away,

Slip at the Ruthin Craft Centre, 2nd April - 12th June

Artists of the South West, Long Room Gallery, Winchcombe, Gloucs, 9th - 17th April

Well I'm off to check that my passport is in my bag. I'll post some pictures from Nic's show soon.

Bye for now

An appeal message from The Leach Pottery, St Ives

2011-03-14T23:35:00.002Z

The trustees and staff of the Leach Pottery would like to express our great sadness at the recent catastrophe that has beset Japan. The Leach Pottery’s historic and current links to Japan, dating back over a century, are of great importance to us and the friendship we have received from the Japanese people over the years has been unwavering. We have not forgotten the support we received from the people of Mashiko pottery village and members of the Mingei Association in 2008 when individuals collectively donated over £40,000 towards rebuilding our pottery in St Ives and we would like to offer them back the hand of friendship now.

We are launching an appeal to raise funds for Mashiko which has been badly hit by the earthquake. Mashiko has over 400 studios and kilns, providing the main livelihood of the village, and the recent quake has caused considerable damage to both kilns and buildings. Mashiko’s two main museums, the Mashiko Ceramics Museum and the Hamada Reference Museum have also been badly hit.

Mashiko Town in Tochigi prefecture is located about 60 miles north of Tokyo. In 1923 Shoji Hamada, co-founder of the Leach Pottery in St Ives with Bernard Leach, returned to Japan following the Tokyo earthquake of 1923. He settled in Mashiko with his family where he set up his own pottery, now owned and run by his potter grandson Tomoo Hamada, who attended the reopening of the Leach Pottery following its restoration in March 2008. Shoji Hamada also established the Hamada Reference Museum in Mashiko to display his stunning and internationally acclaimed collection of crafts and ceramics.

MASHIKO EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

You can donate to the Leach Pottery’s Mashiko Earthquake Appeal in any of the following ways:
By phone – call with you credit or debit card details on 01736 799703

By post – send a cheque to the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust Ltd. (marking the back of the cheque ‘Mashiko Appeal’. Send to Mashiko Earthquake Appeal, The Leach Pottery, Higher Stennack, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 2HE

By internet – donate through your Paypal account julia@leachpottery.com – please add a note clearly stating ‘Mashiko Earthquake Appeal’

If you are a UK taxpayer you can Gift Aid your donation by including the following information: Your name, address and postcode and confirmation that you wish the Leach Pottery to treat your donation as a Gift Aid donation. This simple act will allow us to claim a further 25p for each £1 donated towards the appeal.

Films and pictures

2011-03-14T19:23:00.009Z

Well it's been a long time since a blog post, so here is a whole big lump of stuff all in one big one.

I went to my friend Jonny Thompson's photographic studio last week to have some shots taken of the pots from the recent firing. He's a very good photographer - he's taken my pictures for me for years, so if you need some great images and you're near enough to Exeter, you can get in touch with him via his web site here . This is a short film of him in action.

And here are some of the shots

Here's a little film I made a while ago of the pot beneath, being decorated.

These pots are all going to The Long Room Gallery in Winchcombe, for an exhibition in April. I'll post more about that soon.

I've been making these large press moulded dishes in recent days.

Crazy chickens

This one has yet to be placed over the mould.

Well that's all for now.

The news of Japan is so sad, I'll be posting soon about some fund raising events, so please be sure to check back.

Film of the kiln unpacking

2011-03-02T08:27:00.000Z

A proud dad moment

2011-03-01T08:10:00.003Z

My little baby Luke, born 1st March 1993...................

Now a young man.

Happy 18th birthday Luke

A few pots

2011-02-28T23:44:00.005Z

Well it's taking ages for the video to upload, so here are a few stills. My photography skills don't really do the glazes justice.

Video to follow

Glazed

2011-02-28T19:27:00.003Z

A film of the unpack to follow, in the meantime, here are some pictures from last week. This is me brushing glaze on to a baluster jug.
Mugs and jars awaiting glazing
A picnic in the field
The front of the kiln pack.

Back soon

New pots in the morning

2011-02-28T00:41:00.002Z

Lots to tell, but it's late, so for now, here's a bit of film of Hannah and Alex's visit and the firing at the weekend.

New pots in the morning, fingers crossed!

Walk to work

2011-02-21T11:03:00.001Z

Blog post!

2011-02-20T20:02:00.006Z

Hi there. I've been very bad at updating this blog recently, I apologise for that. Here's what's been happening.

I have some orders for a number of very large pots, so in recent days I've been learning a bit more about coil-throwing. It's a tricky technique, which I've done before, but never really mastered. I made a few big pots last week, but I'm still not happy with the shapes they've been turning out, so they've been scrapped and put back through the pug mill. The picture shows one in the making. This one went to about 2ft 6, before I scrapped it. By the time I made the last one, I felt I'd got much better at joining the coils and hiding the join, but the shape was still a bit unresolved - I need to do much more drawing, so that I'm aware of how I want the form to develop. Nevertheless, I made good progress and I'm confident that I'll get it right soon with a bit more practice. There are some important exhibitions coming up this year, so it'll be great to have some whoppers made for those.

I was helped greatly by this fantastic new book, which has been written by my good friend Nic Collins. I went to stay with Nic last week and left with a copy and the customary hangover.

It's a really good book, with lots of step-by-step photographs, showing various different ways of making larger pots - here's Nic doing his thing...

...and here's some other dodgy bloke throwing a jug. A really good 'how-to-do' guide, you can get it right here.

This pot was a bit of a weird shape, but I thought I'd see it through the process, just so that I could work out how to slip, decorate, glaze and raw fire such an object. As it turned out, I dropped it this afternoon when I was trying to slip it, so it wasn't to be.

One of the reasons for going to visit Nic was so we could have a talk about an essay that he's asked me to write, for the catalogue of his solo show at the Goldmark Gallery, which opens on 2nd April. It's a great honour to be writing such a thing for a prestigious exhibition. I got a sneak preview of the work that Nic's amassed for the show, saved from firings over the last two years - it's going to be a stunning exhibition, really spectacular. I'm supposed to be writing the essay right now, but blogging is long overdue so I thought I should do a bit of this first.
This is other stuff from the last week or so. An 8lb sprigged jug
Some baluster jugs. These are more slender than usual - they're such an anthropomorphic shape, maybe my recent Dame experience has made me consider more feminine curves :)
1lb jars.
Some jugs with applied decoration. The pot in the middle has a peculiar beak through which to pour. It's a funny looking thing, based upon one of the medieval jugs in York Museum. I dug up a rim shard from one of these in my garden a few years ago, with the pouring hole and a bit of the beak, so I was able to work out exactly how the beaks were joined.
Another baluster, black slip over white.

On Friday my old chum Andrew Grundon(aka Frank), signwriter, carver, writer and illustrator came to visit. He's an exceptional artist and with absolute ease and confidence, drew this sgrafitto design on to one of my little jugs for his daughter, Freya.

This pot will go into my wood firing, which happens on Saturday - woohoo!!

Alex and Hannah are coming down on Tuesday for the week, to help with the pack and the firing. It'll be great to see them and it'll give Hannah and me the opportunity to knock about a few ideas for things that we might include in our forthcoming workshops in the USA. I'm looking forward to new pots, warm from the kiln, this time next week - hurrah.

Well that's all for now, I've made a few videos in recent times, so I'll post some of those later. If you'd like to see more pictures of what's been happening this month, follow this link here

Happy Monday everybody, back soon

Goodnight

Advanced Pottery

2011-02-08T15:13:00.007Z

A couple of weeks ago a parcel arrived at the workshop.

When I opened it, inside I found a copy of this book, Advanced Pottery by Linda Bloomfield. What a lovely book it is, packed full of numerous photographs of wonderful pots, historical and contemporary, accompanied by a thoroughly well researched text.

Linda asked me a while ago for some images that she might include in the book, so I employed the fine skills of my photographer friend Johnny Thompson. John takes a lot of pictures for me and they're always top quality. Because of the high standard of his images, Linda was able to use quite a lot of them and it was a lovely surprise to see my pots and my working practices scattered throughout the book. On the left page, one of my puzzle jugs and on the right, slipping and decorating a large jug.

I remember this jug well, because it was the first pot I ever bisc fired in my new at the time, electric kiln and I blew it up into a million tiny pieces.

Here, demonstrating leaf resist, a traditional technique used by the country potters of North Devon.

A finished leaf resist jug and on the opposite page, Hannah demonstrating her great slip trailing skills.

The book shows a whole range of processes, handbuilding, slipcasting, throwing etc. with sequential photographs showing how it's all done by leading exponents of each discipline. It also has all the chemistry, maths and clever stuff, that usually brings me out in a cold sweat, explained in a way that even a simple potter like I can understand.

If you'd like to get your hands on a copy, you can buy it from Amazon, but it's cheaper and better to get it from Linda via her website

It's a great book, congratulations Linda.

I'm coming to the States

2011-01-31T10:54:00.010Z

Hi everybody. I've not blogged for a few days now, life's been rather hectic, with a tax return deadline and pantomime rehearsals and performances dominating my life. I haven't got a huge amount of pots made during the last week, hopefully this week will be more productive, although here I am at home, messing about on the computer when I should be at work, so not a great start.

I made a few of these 7lb tapered jugs the other day, here's one after it was freshly slipped.

This is a large jar, drying and awaiting bisc firing.

On Saturday I had a delivery of wood to the workshop. Marky Mark and I cut and stacked it in the woodshed in readiness for firings later in the year. I'm very fortunate, as I can get a regular supply of this softwood, which is delivered to me from a sawmill situated about five miles from the workshop. It's all the off-cuts and scrap that they can't use, but a lot of it's been very useful to me, not just for kiln fuel, also for building the various sheds that we've tacked on to the workshop in recent times. I've another load coming at the weekend, I plan to completely fill the new woodshed, floor to roof, so I'll have lovely dry wood for many firings to come.

Well, what do you think of the new look? Will I be allowed into the States looking like this do you think?

I've been involved in a production of Tom the Piper's Son and as you can see, I have the part of the delightful Dame Aubergine Sprightly.

It's been great fun doing this pantomime, although it's a lot of commitment - we've been rehearsing for months, two or more evenings a week. The show opened on Friday night, which was a somewhat chaotic performance(the first night always is), followed by a much slicker rendition on Saturday. I have a rehearsal on Wednesday evening this week, then performances on Friday and Saturday. I'll miss it when it's finished, I'll need to find something else to do with my evenings for a while.

One of the reasons I got involved with the drama group, was that I felt I needed to boost my confidence of talking in front of people. My life at the workshop is predominantly solitary, so I'm more accustomed to talking to myself. It used to terrify me whenever I got asked to do talks and demos at ceramics events, although in recent years, I've done a lot more of it and it has become much easier. My belief is however, that if I can stand on a stage in front of a full house, packed out with folks from the village and beyond and act the role of this fierce yet charming old hag, perform Sonny and Cher's duet 'I've got you babe', with my friend Sarah, pictured here above, who is acting the male role and my reluctant love interest, then surely the prospect of doing some pottery workshops in front of people must be less scary when I come over to the States with Hannah in April. My word, that was a long sentence. To be honest I am a lot less nervous about the forthcoming workshops now, so it has helped. Mind you, I might pack my frock and a backing tape when I go, just in case it all goes horribly wrong!

Here are the dates and venues of our US slipware tour:

Cape Cod courtesy of Hollis Engley, the weekend of 9th and 10th April,

Liberty Town in Fredricksburg courtesy of Dan Finnegan, the 16th and 17th April

Shelby, North Carolina, courtesy of Ron Philbeck, the 23rd April

It all seems a bit unreal at the moment. It will be great to meet some of my virtual friends, in the real world and to make some new ones too.

Well that's all for now, housework to do, then back to work tomorrow

Bye bye all

Decorating an 8lb jug

2011-01-20T10:12:00.001Z

Making a jug in two parts

2011-01-18T07:44:00.000Z

Big ol' harvest jugs

2011-01-17T22:11:00.003Z

Hello all

Here are some large harvest jugs that I made today. There's a video of one of these being made which will follow soon, when I can get it loaded up. They're made from 16lbs of clay, the body thrown first, then a part-thrown neck added and finished on the toughened pot.

Loads of slipping and decorating to do in the morning, then late night working with Marky Mark.

I haven't really blogged much about my forthcoming trip to the States in April with Hannah - I'm partly excited and partly terrified and I'll tell you all about it soon. Just now I'm concentrating on getting the pantomime out of the way and can't think any further than that. Opening night, a week on Friday and I still don't know my lines - eek!

Nighty night all

Three little videos

2011-01-16T21:11:00.001Z

Wednesday jugs

2011-01-12T21:57:00.002Z

Evening all
Here are a few pics of stuff that's been going on at the workshop over the past couple of days. The pictures are the wrong way round, as these are 8lb jugs that I made today, after warming myself up with 3lb jugs yesterday.
I like some better than others - I like the shape of this one - they'll all be ok with the right handle and decoration I hope.
This is one of the 3lb jugs I made yesterday. I threw them using reclaimed clay from my scrap buckets, which was very soft and extremely 'short' as you might be able to see from the little splits in the surface. These don't go right through and will pick up the slip nicely, later. You can't hang around when using clay in that condition, so it's something of a challenge. I have a number of really old country pots that have similar characteristics, where the potter has clearly had to make the pots very quickly before the clay became tired and collapsed.
More of the same. In all I have eighteen 3lb jugs and six 8lb jugs. I want to make another six 8lbs jugs before I move on to the next thing, which might well be some more jugs - big 'uns.

Here's a little film shot today of an 8lb jug in the making. Note the new Spring haircut - I'm regretting that one, it's not the weather for it.

Happy Thursday all.

Monday Mugs

2011-01-10T22:05:00.003Z

Happy Monday everybody

Here are the fifty mugs that I made lst week, all slipped and waiting for firing.
These are little stamps that I use for making the sprigs. Every time I fire the wood kiln, I try and get a few new ones in, with the date of the firing scratched in to the side of them. This form of embossed decoration was commonly used by the medieval potters of England.
Here's a mug with sprigs
And this one had marks, drawn through wet slip.

Well mugs aren't going to fill the kiln very quickly, so I need to get stuck in to making some bigger pots this week - maybe a few jugs?

Dan was asking about the pantomime after my previous post. Pantos usually run from before Christmas and in to the spring. The male lead us usually played by a woman and the female lead, or Dame, by a male. Guess who I am this year. Grayson, I'm hot on your heels :)

Blunger!

2011-01-08T10:31:00.003Z

Different Dave and I went on a road trip to Cornwall yesterday, to Peter Swanson's pottery, near Penzance. We went to pick up the huge blunger that Peter has kindly given me, that I'd attempted to collect just before Christmas. I hired a truck with a tail lift, because the machine is so incredibly heavy. Peter had managed to get the bolts undone that we'd struggled with last time, so we were able to get it out of the door on rollers and broken down into several heavy sections.
I was really anxious that because of the size and weight of the thing, that we still weren't going to be able to move it, but Different Dave, who has done a lot of shifting of heavy weights in his time, was brilliant and lead the operation. Much leverage, and shoving and shunting was required, before the huge machine, which weighed over a tonne, was loaded safely on to the truck in separate sections. Getting it off again when we got back to Hollyford, took a similar amount of brute force and cursing. It's going to be a while before it's all rebuilt and put into operation, but it's going to be a fantastic asset once it's working, thank you very much Peter.
Back in the workshop, lots of mugs with handles.

Next week, nose to the grindstone with full scale production, but not before the delights of tackling the dreaded tax return - groan.

Happy weekend all.

Wednesday

2011-01-06T00:16:00.003Z

Evening all

A really brief post this as I need to go to bed, but I wanted to check in first. Life's really hectic t the moment, with work, the band and two evenings a week taken up with rehearsals for the pantomime which opens in a couple of weeks.

Marky Mark came by and we worked into the evening. It was great to see him, he's been away in Mexico for a few weeks. It was good to reinstate our regular Wednesday evening session.

I made fifty mugs today, so lots of handles tomorrow.

That's all for now, beddybyes time for me

Goodnight

New year, old pictures

2010-12-31T14:20:00.008Z

Hello everybody.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I certainly have had a lovely time and have gained half a stone, so I need to get back to work soon to work it off.

I'm pleased to say, all our snow has gone, so I'll be able to get to the workshop with ease when I start back next week. I managed to get a lift up there on Boxing Day with a friend who has a Land Rover, which meant that I was able to retrieve my camera, so I have some out of date pictures to share with you.
This is a huge blunger which has been given to me by Peter Swanson, a fabulous potter who lives near Penzance, over the border in Cornwall. In the picture is my chum Frank.

A couple of weeks ago, we travelled down to Peter's place in Frank's van, to collect the blunger. What a nightmare, it had rusted up, so we couldn't get it apart. It was too tall to fit through Peter's door in one piece and mighty heavy too, so after much cursing, hammering, further cursing and harder hammering and harder cursing still, we had to abandon it. We'll go back and try again soon, with more muscle, bigger hammers and louder cursing.

I'm really looking forward to getting this fantastic machine back to Hollyford as I'll be putting my native clay processing system in place in the next few weeks. This blunger will mix half a tonne of clay into slip, enabling me to sieve out any debris, before drying it back out, into plastic clay. It is something really exciting, to be fully self sufficient in clay, from the field beside the workshop.
The next two pictures were taken at the group exhibition I was in, on the outskirts of Cambridge just before Christmas. On the left, painter Simon Jowitt and on the right, my big brother. These two have been friends nearly all their lives. I hardly took any photographs at the show.
Here's one of the big harvest jugs from the last firing that now has a new home.

Here are some shots of the fieldfare puzzle jug that I wrote about in a recent post, glazed and finished.
It is most certainly a winter pot, with just one leaf and one apple on the trees.

Well, that's almost it for now, new pots to come next week. I want to end by thanking a lot of special people.

A big thank you to everybody who has supported me in the past twelve months, through buying my pots. I hope the pots continue to give you pleasure.

Many thanks to those who have helped me develop the workshop, Different Dave, Croydon Tim, Marky Mark and Frank.

Big, big thanks to Matt and Alex, who own my workshop and allow me to do this at the end of their lane. Without them, none of this would be possible. And thank you to them too for the huge pile of clay dug from their field.

A special thank you and congratulations to Alex McErlain, who has done so much for me in the last year, taking me to Montpellier back in the spring and exhibiting my work in the ongoing Honest Pots exhibition in York City Art Gallery.

Alex has just retired from Manchester Metropolitan University. His kind of knowledge and experience will never be seen again in Higher Education and I know that he has had a profound influence on the lives of many people.

I'm really looking forward to Alex spending more time at Hollyford in months to come.

You may have seen this little film of Alex before, working on some collaborative pots he made with Alice Kettle, but I'll post it again. Congratulations Alex

And of course, last but not least, a big thank you to my family who have put up with the long hours I have to work and erratic income, associated with a career in pottery.

Happy New Year everybody, all the very best for 2011, hope it's a good one.

Right, it's party time!

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-24T23:47:00.002Z

Well it's been ages since I blogged. Since last I posted, I've had two exhibitions, finished the fieldfare puzzle jug and delivered it to its new owner and been snowed-in and unable to get to work. I left my camera at the workshop, so no pictures of any of that to share with you. Normal service will be resumed in the New Year, when I need to get stuck in to making big style.

As we've been snowed-in, there's been nothing for it, other than taking a relaxing break at home with the family, which has been a delight.

One minute until Christmas day. The boys are in bed, soon it will be time to fill their stockings with goodies. They're big now - too old for Santa, but not too old to hang their stockings up.

I hope you all have a very, very Merry Christmas

Frosty Monday and the Fieldfares in the orchards

2010-12-06T21:01:00.002Z

Well I made it to the workshop on Friday and it was indeed, as my friend's picture had shown it - bloomin' snowy and bloomin' slippy. In spite of the man flu, I bravely soldiered on and managed to get the pots wrapped and packed and into Exeter in time for the opening - just.

The drive back was precarious, it doesn't look much, but the lanes out in the sticks aren't gritted and as soon as you get to a hill, it becomes a game of stop, start, stop, reverse, run-up, go........ hope for the best.

Anyway, I made the opening in a somewhat unprepared fashion and chatted, through a fever of man flu, to the good folk who came on such a cold night. I didn't take any pictures, I'll get some later in the week.

This morning I walked to work. This is the frosty orchard.

The trees were full of Fieldfares, they always are at this time of year, they migrate in from Northern countries for the winter months.

It was chilly, but beautiful.

I have been waiting to get on to sgrafittoing this puzzle jug and the walk through the orchards inspired it's development today. Usually I pinch a traditional rhyme from old puzzle jugs, but this one has one of my own, written in a similar, folksy kind of way. It says:

Fill me full with cider sweet

From orchards where the fieldfares meet

And puzzle as I challenge you

To drink, not spill, my appley brew.

So far it has a number of birdies that look (very, very)vaguely like fieldfares- well they have speckles and two wings at least. They're hanging out on the bare, winter trees. I could make them look more realistic(yea right) if I were to copy them from a book, but I like the idea of drawing what I think they look like, as they would have done in the days before photography. I hope that they capture the naive essence of the old North Devon slipware jugs that I admire so much. Many hours of scratching still to go this pot.

Well that's all for now other than to invite once again, anybody who would like to come to:
The Exeter show
The Cambridge show

Or to browse the Great British Potters on-line show

Goodnight all

Snow

2010-12-02T22:18:00.003Z

First of all, thank you to everybody who left comments about my latest firing - I think it's one of the best I've ever had.

This is what the workshop looked like today, not that I got there. This picture as taken by a friend who lives at Hollyford. I was snowed in and crashed out on the sofa at home with a nasty dose of man flu. The boys have been off school today too as the school buses weren't running.

My pots, which need to be in an exhibition in Exeter tomorrow, are still snowed in in the workshop. I'm hoping I'll be able to get there tomorrow to get them, or I won't be able to have any pots in the show for the opening tomorrow evening.

I might even be too man-flued up to go - oh it's tough being a man with a cold.

Workshop movie

2010-11-30T23:57:00.000Z

Firing day movie

2010-11-30T23:55:00.000Z

A good firing, woohoo!!!

2010-11-30T18:45:00.006Z

Evening all

Well it was a great firing, hurrah! Pretty much everything came out well, with a few exceptions, but they were pots that I'd glazed badly, so I can't blame that on the kiln. What a relief. I have two exhibitions, one that opens on Friday in Exeter called Beautiful Pots, with six other potters and one the following Friday, in Cambridge, with a group of artists, including works by painter, Simon Jowitt, who I have known since infancy. More about these shows later. Here are some pictures of the pots.

A large harvest jug

A close up, showing the interesting tones in the glaze.

This little jug is the first pot that I made with the new blend of Hollyford clay and Almondsbury brick clay.

Small jar

The top of a moneybox
I made this 8lb jug when I had the visit from the Westcountry Potters Association a few weeks ago. It was dug straight from the banks of the stream, kneaded up, then thrown.

The decoration in close up.

Another 8lb jug

This is an interesting pot, inspired by some of the jugs that I saw in York Museum a few weeks ago.

I put the glaze on rather patchily, but I don't mind that at all - it makes it all the more reminiscent of its ancient ancestors.

This is quite a large jug made from 16lbs of clay.

This is one of my favourite pots from the firing, a large bottle of about 18" in height.

And here's a close up of its surface.

There are lots more, I'll post some more pictures later, but right now, it's time for bed. If you would like to see all the pictures that I've taken of workshop stuff in the last month, including more of the pots from the firing, follow this link
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=244299&id=696677129&l=155d44bd86

Goodnight all

Packed and fired

2010-11-27T21:01:00.005Z

Well since last I posted, Marky Mark and I have packed and fired the kiln.

Here are some pictures of the action.

Some glazed pots prior to packing.

Look at that, packing with a spirit level - what ever is my world coming to?!

We finished the pack just after midnight - it was hard work, out in the cold of the kilnshed - MM had been at work all day and I'd been flat out with glazing, so this was like doing another day's work on top. Deservedly, when we finished, we sat down on the newly installed 'sofa' beside the woodburner in the workshop and enjoyed a celebratory tin of lager - nice.

We'd decided to sleep up at the workshop, the thinking being that we wanted to make an early start and it would be easier to fall out of bed on-site rather than getting out of a comfortable bed at home to encounter Arctic conditions. It saved all of that scraping ice from the windscreen and suffering the prevailing, icy blast of the blower in the car on the drive to the workshop. So we stoked up the burner and made our beds up on the racks, then slept soundly until ten to six in the morning....

...when the alcohol was replaced with caffeine

It was really icy and all day long visitors would comment on how cold it was, but we were so well wrapped up in winter thermals and we were feeding a big box of fire, so didn't feel it at all. In fact it was a beautiful, sun bathed day to be firing, in spite of the fact that the temperature didn't rise above freezing and there were the occasional, short flurries of minute snow flakes on the North wind, which thankfully, came to anything.

The new chimney worked well again, helped by the light wind.

as did Marky Mark ;-)

Now the long wait in readiness for the excitement/despondency of the unpack and a collection of new work/landfill. Fingers crossed. Watch this space.

Happy weekend all

2 days to firing time

2010-11-26T00:25:00.002Z

Not long in from work and really tired so this is very brief
Biscware awaiting glazing. The jug that WPA decorated is there in the middle with leaves and birdies on.

Marky Mark glazing his pots

And me doing mine

Some glazed pots. There are a few more to do in the morning, then MM and I will pack the kiln tomorrow evening, preheat overnight wth a gas burner and start firing with wood early on Saturday morning. There was talk on the local radio of the possibiliy of snow this weekend - I really hope it doesn't - does that make me a miseryguts?

Back soon

Bye

PS Anon, I measured the 8lb jugs, they're 12" high

Goodnight

Happy Birthday Alex

2010-11-22T20:46:00.003Z

Today is my good friend Alex McErlain's birthday - it's a special one too.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Jugs

2010-11-20T18:05:00.004Z

This is the cover of a stunningly photographed calendar, featuring some of the beautiful mums who live in and around my home village, Cheriton Fitzpaine. They courageously bared all in all weathers, including snow, to raise money for local charities.

If you click on the photo, not only will you have the delightful pleasure of seeing these fair maidens in more detail, but you'll notice a number of my jugs that were strategically positioned during the photo shoot.

The calendar was shot by my very talented friend, photographer Dawn Hannemann , who cleverly, artistically and tastefully composed the images in various locatons in the neighbouring countryside. She used carefully positioned props to protect the ladies' modesty. It's a fundraiser aimed at providing money for the various charities in the village that benefit local children. There are further images from the calendar and a report from the newspaper right here. If you'd like to support the cause and purchase one, you can buy it right here.

My word, such excitement boys and girls, now back to the brown mud.

I went to work this morning with Marky Mark. These are the dishes I made last week - they're about 14" in diameter. I threw the footrings on to them yesterday. Today I handled and decorated mugs and worked on moneyboxes. I'm making all the last minute small stuff for the firing. This time next week, we'll be in full flame.
This sprigged mug will be green
this one, black and yellow
and this one black and amber. I've made two dozen mugs so far, each different. It's a great way to try out different decorative approaches, without risking making a mess of a large pot.
Here's a haystack and cockerel moneybox. I've made some other designs that I'll show you on a later post when they're finished. These are inspired by similar boxes made in the country potteries of England until the end of the nineteenth century. As they're supposed to be for saving money, in common with the old ones,they have no bung, so you have to fiddle around their slots with a knife, or smash them to get the money out.
Here's Marky Mark painting one of his pots. The orange slip is made from the stream clay - it's going to be interesting to see how his pots come out, because he uses the same materials as I do, but in a very different way.

That's all for now, off to my mate Clarkey's for home made pizzas - nice

Wet slip

2010-11-18T18:38:00.002Z

Yesterday's pictures

Stuff from yesterday

2010-11-18T00:35:00.006Z

Here are a couple of good lookin' boys - Marky Mark accompanied me for an interesting evening in the workshop of loud rock and roll and tea drinking.

7lb dishes

Big jugs

Big bottle

Drawing through wet slip.

Lots more decorating to do today, all after an inspiring three mile amble to work through the muddy lanes, in the rain. Oh well, I'd better go or I'll never get there, have a good day everybody, back later.

Tuesday on Wednesday

2010-11-17T00:40:00.003Z

Evening all

Well I loaded these pictures up last night and didn't have time to write a post, so here are yesterday's pictures, today. I may put up today's tomorrow

This fat 8lb jug will be green when it's fired
and this will be yellow

Mr Nuthatch who has been a daily visitor in recent times
Some big pots - these will fill the kiln up. I've got six of these jugs and three bottles, I doubt that I'll fit them all into this firing, but I'll be ahead of the game for the next.
This is my friend Barry who lives and works a bit further along the lane from Hollyford. He's a fantastic wood carver and makes beautiful Arks, check out his link. Here he's carving a camel for a nativity group.
Barry kindly let me sharpen up my wooden tools on his sanding belt. I don't use many tools, but I can't do a thing without one of these. They're made of beech wood and after a while, they lose their edge as my clay is very coarse and gritty.
Some frosty stuff on the walk to work yesterday
and some more. Pretty.
Well that's it for now, back soon, bye

Monday

2010-11-15T22:05:00.006Z

Hurrah, my camera is working again after the sugar mishap of last week. Here are some pictures from recent days - it'll only take sweet photos now, ha ha

Well maybe not
Slipped pots, drying in the workshop. I'm having real difficulty getting pots dry at the moment, in spite of the wood burner being cranked right up.
More of the same
A tall bottle, about 20" in height. It's more slender than some that I've made in the past. A couple more of these tomorrow.
Some big jugs - 18" in height. I've made five of these, I'll get the sixth made in the morning. These will fill the bottom of the kiln.
A frosty field along Hollyford lane this morning
Beech leaves, beautiful whatever the season
Frost. It was a stunning day today, warm sunshine this afternoon.
Firing a week on Saturday, then new pots, woohoo

Grrrrrr

2010-11-10T00:46:00.002Z

On Sunday our washing machine stopped working, today a bag of sugar leaked in my bag and destroyed my camera grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So no pictures tonight, and instead, a short video of what I'd love to do to our washing machine, if only the stupid thing would spin.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Monday

2010-11-08T22:35:00.004Z

It's been a bit frustrating since last time I blogged, as I had a really nasty migraine attack last week that knocked me out for a couple of days. It's taken a little while to regain the motivation and inspiration, but things are starting to take off again now thankfully. Here are some pictures of stuff that's been happening in recent days.

I made half a dozen of these tapered jugs, each a slightly different shape and with a variety of styles of rim. Here I'm giving the jug a good blast, prior to taking it off the wheel. The two small yellow jugs on the shelf, just above my lovely hat, were made by Michael Cardew at Winchcombe Pottery in the 1930's.

These are eight pound fat jugs

Some wet slip decoration on a jar

Here it is, middle front, dried out, alongside its siblings.

I made some big cider tankards last week, tall and softly thrown. Big Harvest Jugs to make tomorrow.
And to end tonight's brief trip to Hollyford Pottery, a picture of a tractor on Hollyford Lane, ooar ooar.

Speeeeeeeeeedy post

2010-11-02T17:20:00.002Z

Evening all. Well here are the lids that I made yesterday, turned and knobbed.
The place is starting to look like a proper pottery again, for what seems like the first time in ages with lots of wet pots on the shelves. After finishing off yesterday's pots, I made a batch of softly thrown tankards. I'll put pictures up once they're handled. Tomorrow will be a big decorating day and I'll be working late with Marky Mark, so I should get a load more making done too I hope. The firing date is 27th November, so I need to keep up the momentum.
A couple of autumnal pictures from the beautiful walk home, this is the top orchard
and the little bridge over Hollywater. It's mighty pretty out in the countryside at the moment.

Well I have to dash because it's pantomime rehearsal season again and I have to be bathed, fed and out of the house by 7.30. Bye for now

Happy Potting

2010-11-01T21:45:00.003Z

I got back in the groove today, using a blend that included the new, gritty brick clay. It took a while to get going which was really frustrating, because I was feeling greatly inspired after my museum visits of recent weeks. The clay was too soft for the 8lb jugs that I was trying to make. When the clay's too soft, it's impossible to throw it thinly enough(Apart from lids and footrings I don't turn my pots). The forms lack tension and the clay looks overworked. So I decided to prepare a pile of clay for use later in the week, which I've left on the bench to toughen up, then I cracked on with making some smaller stuff instead.

These are some 3lb lidded jars - I made six of these. The lids look a bit odd because they have yet to be turned and have the knobs thrown on - I'll do that tomorrow. You can see the gritty nature of the clay in this picture. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like under a thin slip.
This funny little jug is made from a blend of Hollyford field clay and brick clay. It's fantastic to throw with, beautifully plastic. I'm excited about getting this working for me. I hope to have a good percentage of the pots in the next firing made from this clay.
Here are some more 3lb jugs that I made on Saturday. I made a batch of tapered 3lb jugs today, but don't have a picture of them, I'll put one on here tomorrow along with a shot of the jars with the lids finished.

It's great to be making again, better still to be enjoying it. For a while I wasn't enjoying my potting at all. I guess that's the problem of doing the thing that I'm passionate about as a job - when it's good, it's really good, when it's bad, it's desperate. Sometimes it's hard to sustain and forcing it only makes for laboured pots that I'm dissatisfied with and that really, really gets me down. But things are feeling good right now. I like this time of year for making, the autumnal, earthenware tones in the countryside are stunning and when I light up the wood burner in the morning, it doesn't take long to get it toasty in the workshop. I even quite like the dark evenings now that the clocks have changed.

I've spent a lot of time building sheds and sorting out the workshop in recent months rather than making pots, which needed doing. It's been so worthwhile because it's a much easier space to work in now. I needed a break from making, but now I'm really happy to see wet pots on the shelves again and pots that I'm pleased with too. More lidded jars to make in the morning, woohoo!

Happy Tuesday all