Innehållsförteckning för #76 från ClayCraft

Welcome

As I write this, on the last Bank Holiday in what seems to have been an inordinately long run of them, a cold wind is whistling around my windows. We’ve just enjoyed a run of hot, sunny weather, so this is a bit of a shock. The only up-side is that I’m not fretting quite so much about being inside at my desk and not outside dealing with my pitifully late sowings of veg seeds. While most of the country enjoys these long weekends, and can relish the time off if they have a 9-5 job, for anyone who works shifts, or has deadlines, they can be something of a nuisance. Everyone involved with ClayCraft has other job committments, and juggling everything around a series of four-day weeks has been…

1 min

ClayCraft|#76

LINDA BLOOMFIELD GLAZING

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) During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Chinese potters in the porcelain capital Jingdezhen painted underglaze blue using an impure cobalt oxide imported from Persia. The blue decoration was covered in a transparent glaze and fired to a high temperature to make blue and white porcelain. This blue decoration was copied widely in Europe, in Florence, Italy and in the Netherlands where it was known as Delftware, although this was made of coarse earthenware clay coated in a white tin glaze, as the Europeans didn’t work out how to make porcelain until the 18th century.…

2 min

ClayCraft|#76

The Accidental Studio

We are on a US-based Facebook group for pottery studio owners and operators. Naturally, the vast majority of the membership is from the US, but there are a few of us in the UK as well. It’s quite an eye-opener to read about the differences between the UK and the US as far as pottery studios and their clients are concerned. The first thing to note is how BIG most US studios are. Cheshire Clay Studio is considered to be a reasonably big studio with about 1,400 square feet of studio and kiln room space, with a further 1,000 square feet of outside firing space, plus storage. However, we are definitely teeny in comparison with US studios, which seem to start at our size. Seeing photos of studios with 3,000…

5 min

ClayCraft|#76

A SIMPLE RELIEF LINE TILE MOULD FROM A REPEAT DESIGN

You will need: ■ Acard template, 4cm wider than your design square ■ Clay – smooth variety but otherwise, any type ■ Rolling pin, roller guides (5mm), plastic sheet ■ Tools (including a pin) and ribs 1 Prepare a block of clay large enough to accommodate your template x 4 times. Working on the sheet of plastic, reduce the bulk of the clay by beating it with the side of your rolling pin. Work in measured, even strokes from one side of the clay to the other, to avoid making deep grooves in the surface. Roll out the clay between the 5mm-thick roller guides. You will find that periodically turning the slab will make rolling much easier and give you more control to achieve the approximate shape that you…

5 min

ClayCraft|#76

COURSES

SCOTLAND STEF BAXTER POTTERY Courses: Handbuilding & throwing day class drop-in. Night and weekend classes. 1-1 tuition & Raku classes. Suitable for all levels. Open access coming. Dates: see website Location; Govan, Glasgow stefbaxterpottery.com CLAY WORKS STUDIO Courses: All levels from beginners to intermediate. Taster courses, general pottery and throwing courses. Open access facility for more advanced makers coming soon Dates: See website Location: Dumfries & Galloway clayworksstudios.co.uk DUNDEE CERAMICS WORKSHOP Courses: Classes for all levels from beginner to intermediate, for individuals and groups. 1-1 tuition available. Open studio access and kiln hire for members Dates: Throughout the year (see website) Location: Dundee dundeeceramicsworkshop.com FORGAN ARTS CENTRE Courses: All levels and ages catered for in hand building, throwing & Raku 12 pottery classes per week plus specialist technique weekend workshops…

32 min

ClayCraft|#76

READERS’ MAKES

Louise Pickford Inspired by AJ’s Otter lamp during the 2022 season of The Great Pottery Throw Down, I joined a Haremaking workshop and made this ‘Edison’ the Hare lamp… it was my first pottery project. I’ve subsequently joined Poynton Pottery and LOVE my Monday evenings playing with clay. Roz Harvey This vase and plate are inspired by the coastal landscape and are hand-built in stoneware terracotta clay. They are glazed using Amaco Potters’ Choice brush-on glazes layered and overlapped to create the beach, sea, waves and night sky elements on the vessels. They were fired in an electric kiln to 1220°C with a five-minute hold, which improves the colours in the glazes. Sally Riddette-Page I go to a ceramics class at South Hill Park in Bracknell. I followed your Toad…

3 min

ClayCraft|#76

PINCHED TAPIR

You will need: ■ Clay – earthenware or stoneware, colour of choice ■ General tools and ribs ■ Decorating material of choice – coloured slip, underglaze or glaze Before you begin: You will find it helpful to have an image of a tapir for reference as you work, and you can find lots online – Pinterest is a great source. When you find one you like, print it off if possible or do a quick drawing in your sketchbook. 1 You can make the tapir to any size you like, but if the technique is new to you, we suggest you begin with a manageable 227g (½ lb) weight of well-prepared clay for each half of the body. Weigh out two equal amounts of clay and form…

6 min

ClayCraft|#76

MISHIMA PLATE

Mishima is a technique of inlaying colour into a drawn or impressed design on clay. There are two ways of working – one at the green stage using slip as the inlay, the other after bisque-firing, using underglaze. We demonstrate both approaches here, for you to decide which you prefer To begin, you will need: ■ Alarge sheet of paper ■ Ruler ■ Pencil ■ Craft knife ■ Awooden former – you can buy these from craft outlets in many shapes and sizes as mounts for artwork, but you could get someone handy with a saw to make you one We have chosen a rectangle measuring 25x17cm 1 Place the wooden former at the centre of the sheet of paper, then draw its outline in pencil. 2 Extend the size…

7 min

ClayCraft|#76

DOUG'S DIARY

May is my favourite month, chasing away the darkness, and with it, the last traces of my perennial winter depression, hurrah! The countryside is in full flower. Campion and bluebells line the lanes, under a canopy of umbelliferous cow parsley. The hawthorn bushes in the fields and hedgerows near our countryside home yield their bright, white blossom, providing a wonderful show that has continued for several weeks now. We’ve had no rain for ages, and it’s been lovely, as (when midgies allow) we’ve been able to eat outside at the garden table and enjoy the sight of the fresh green leaves of spring and the sound of the birds and the bees on the wing. The downside to this extended period of drought, however, is that our water supply, which…

7 min

ClayCraft|#76

TEAPOT PART 2 – TURNING AND ASSEMBLING THE PARTS

You will need: ■ Turning tools of choice ■ Sponge ■ Tool for making holes – afine drill bit is ideal THE LID – Trimming & adding a knob 1 With a damp finger, moisten the rim of the lid and the position on the wheel where it will sit. 2 Centre the lid using the concentric lines on the wheel head and press it down gently to secure it in place. 3 Using your turning tool of choice, begin to remove the clay from the topside of the lid, to create a domed shape with a small flat area at the centre, as shown. 4 Slip and score the flat top of the lid. 5 Form a small amount of clay into a cone shape and score the fat…

6 min

ClayCraft|#76

HREE INTERLOCKING PLANTERS

It’s that time of year again when we start to plant up our containers for summer colour, so we thought we would show you how to make something a little different this year – aplanter in three parts for a really eyecatching show YOU WILL NEED: ■ Paper, pencil, ruler and craft knife to make templates ■ Awhole bag of stoneware clay – craft crank would be good, or similar ■ Rolling pin, 10mm-thick roller guides, plastic sheet ■ General tools and ribs ■ Glaze of choice to decorate BEFORE YOU BEGIN: We’re working to quite a large scale for this project, but as always, the size of your planters must be calculated with kiln capacity in mind, so adjust the dimensions accordingly, remembering that the individual planters…

9 min

ClayCraft|#76

CLAY WORKS STUDIOS

I’m not sure how typical my experience was, but growing up half-Polish, half-British during the ‘70s and ‘80s, I had very little personal experience of Polish culture. The political landscape, the cost and some interesting family dynamics meant we didn’t visit Poland as a family until the 1990s, and my grandparents rarely visited us either, and, even when they did, as I had not learnt Polish as a child, I could not communicate with them. For that reason, I viewed them as an ‘exotic otherness’ that occasionally descended on my home and to whom I felt a limited connection. Add to this the oppressive government of the ‘communist’ state in the 1960s, which resulted in most family members of my mother’s generation leaving (or fleeing) to take up citizenship in…

8 min