Innehållsförteckning för #74 från ClayCraft

I do like April, and this one is even more exciting than usual. If you don’t know, the ClayCraft editorial team is spread across the country, so we don’t often get the chance to meet up in person. I’m in East Sussex and Jacqui is in Shropshire. Simon Shaw travels to her studio from Liverpool every three months or so for a day’s shooting of the thrown projects, while photographer Phil Wilkins drives across the country from Cambridgeshire to Jacqui every month for four days’ shooting of her hand-building projects. It’s been over six years and I still haven’t met Simon or Phil! Jacqui and Kevin Millward were instrumental in the launch of ClayCraft, and I met them both, all those years ago, at the initial planning stage. Since then,…

You will need: ■ Stoneware clay of choice – amount depends on the size of ring you want to make – approximately 1.4kg (3lb) used here. (See ‘Before you begin’ for more information) ■ Tools for throwing – water bowl, sponge, ribs and wooden tools, cutting wire ■ Turning tools ■ Extra clay for additional parts ■ Glaze of choice 1 This form must be thrown on a batt because lifting it off the wheel head would be impossible. If you don’t have a quick-fit mechanism for your wheel, you’ll need to throw a pad to secure the batt onto – instruction for how to do this can last be found in issue 65, project 1 – ‘Pasta set’ but the first few images in this project show what it…

Florence, or ‘Flea’ as she’s known, burst onto the pottery scene as a contestant on the 2020 series of The Great Pottery Throw Down. She currently lives in the Bahamas, and here she shares a typical – idyllic! – day I tend to wake up naturally at 6am. I lie on my yoga mat and stretch out before my children begin to creep into our bedroom. We sit down for breakfast at 7am. My husband usually does the school run. I have some quiet time between 8-9am; I eat a piece of homemade sourdough covered in almond butter and jam and drink an oat-milk coffee before I head to my studio. The moment I enter my studio, I take a deep breath and pause to look around. A quick scan…

EPISODE 9: Matching basins and tiles, and a Moorcroft tube lining spot test POTTER OF THE WEEK EPISODE 9: LOÏS Loïs’ decoration of the tiles and her matching basins, plus first place in the spot test, won her this week’s title Saying goodbye: Caitlin A wobbly start with her inlaid tiles seemed to knock Caitlin’s confidence, and despite coming second in the spot test, she never really recovered and was the last potter to leave in the heats. Was the set as you thought it would be from seeing the previous series? Seeing the set with my own eyes made me realise how much smaller it appeared in real life compared to seeing it on TV in the previous series, yet at the same time, how much taller the desks…

I t’shalfway through March, and thankfully I’m feeling a lot more positive than I was this time last month. My apologies for that gloomy diary post, and thank you for the kindness that I’ve received in messages from readers of these ramblings. I’m coming out of the darkness now, both metaphorically and literally. We’ve had ice, snow and rain recently, but now there is a welcome mildness in the air that I haven’t felt for a good while. Daffodils in the garden have burst their buds, and the evenings are drawing out apace. It won’t be long until the trees turn green again, and the very thought of it excites me. It’s Mothering Sunday and the first without my wonderful mother. Her funeral was just four days ago, at the…

Before you begin: This project is essentially about the technique of sgraffito, but it’s good to have a surface to work on other than a tile, so we are including making a simple moulded plate. The mould we are using is a commercially bought one, but we have shown many methods for making plates over our many issues, any of which can be used as an alternative if you don’t have a suitable mould. You will need a selection of sgraffito tools with differentsized heads. (You don't need as many as shown – asmall selection will be enough – we want to show you a good range to choose from.) Look out for sets of dentist’s old tools; they are perfect for sgraffito, but your ceramic supplier should have a…

Worcestershire Open Studios, the well-loved free annual art event, where artists and creators across the county throw open their doors to the public, returns this year on 19-28th August, and is now open for entries, but you’ll have to be quick! The call for entries is open until 23rd April for anyone who lives or has a studio in Worcestershire. As in previous years, the event is looking to showcase the diverse range of creative talent there is across the county – painting, sculpture, printmaking, jewellery, ceramics, photography, textiles, furniture making and lots more. “For artists and creators it’s an amazing platform to increase their exposure, meet buyers, gain feedback and build experience, and it encourages artists to look at how they can develop and sell their artwork,” said Gillian…

Linda Bloomfield is a scientist turned potter. More glaze recipes can be found in her books, Special Effect Glazes (Herbert Press 2020), Colour in Glazes (Herbert Press 2019) and The Handbook of Glaze Recipes (Bloomsbury 2014) G rey is a popular neutral colour in interior design; the colour of slate and storm clouds. There are many shades of grey and certain paint colours have very descriptive names such as Pompeian Ash or Scree. Grey glazes can be made either using a grey glaze stain, or with mixtures of two or three oxides. Good combinations of oxides are cobalt and nickel or cobalt, nickel and manganese. These combinations can make blue-grey, brown-grey or purple-grey, depending on the glaze base and the proportions of each colouring oxide; cobalt gives blue, nickel brown…

As I write, it’s early March and pretty cold here in Dumfries – although it hasn’t yet snowed as it has in many other parts of the UK. This week we finished the first term of courses of the year, and the studio is winding down from teaching for a couple of weeks, giving me a chance to focus on rebuilding the kiln we recently acquired and for Lauren to focus on her own work. Since the beginning of the year, Lauren has been further developing her personal work, which she is showing at the end of May under the working name Gray’s Ceramics. The show, Spring Fling, is an open studios event showcasing artists and craftspeople from across Dumfries and Galloway and includes, among others, a certain pair of…

Six exciting artists have been selected to join the artist-curators Jemma Gowland and Jane Sarre for the inaugural Pathways Art Trail. Taking place in Hook Green Wood, Neills Road, Lamberhurst, the trail features figurative and abstract artworks responding to the Wealden woodland environment. The selected artworks are very diverse, and intentionally so. Each highlights a different aspect of the wood and offers a different perspective on this magical place. Such a diversity is fitting in a woodland now managed for the biodiversity that nature prefers. The exhibiting artists include Linda Bloomfield, Jack Durling, Jemma Gowland and Jane Sarre, who all work in clay. Wealden residents will be familiar with the area’s clay soils, but outdoor sculpture in ceramic is more surprising. Sarre’s work responds to the human stories of the…

IMPORTANT – Before you begin: I’m using a mug to measure my template from that I consider too large for my tastes – Ilike a small mug! The assumption is that if I make it to these dimensions, given that I know the clay I will use will shrink by 10%, it will be just right for me when fired up to stoneware temperature. It is unlikely that you will all share the same sentiments regarding your mugs – we all have different tastes – so if you have one you really like and that you consider to be just right, you will have to scale the size of your template up by the given percentage rate of shrinkage supplied by your clay manufacturer for your chosen clay. We talked…

S ometimes a problem or issue seems strangely unsolvable, and then inspiration strikes, and the problem becomes a wonderful opportunity. It was just like that with our bisque shelves. Liz and Lisa scratched their heads and grumbled for months and months about why our lovely class members – so enthusiastic in their making – would then leave their precious creations languishing on the bisque shelves for weeks and weeks. They would then be making yet more pieces, only for them to add to the ever-growing pile of bisqueware. “Why? Why?” we would cry despairingly as we fought to find more space on groaning shelves. We begged. We pleaded. We threatened. We lay on the studio floor and cried. But the shelves remained resolutely full to bursting, and we were just…

You will need: ■ Large sheet of paper, 15cm protractor if you have one, plus small flexible protractor ■ Pencil, craft knife ■ Pair of compasses (as an alternative to protractors) ■ Clay of choice – earthenware or stoneware ■ Rolling pin, roller guides (no thicker than 5mm), plastic sheet ■ Texture to impress the surface – could be a wooden printing block, vinyl wallpaper, lace or found objects ■ Small stamp in addition to the above ■ General tools and ribs ■ Glaze of choice Before you begin: We use different-sized protractors in many of our projects because they’re a handy tool for the potter. You can buy packs in several sizes online or from craft outlets, and we highly recommend you invest in some – they aren’t expensive.…