Innehållsförteckning för #86 från ClayCraft

For my last birthday, I was lucky to be given tickets to see Keith Brymer Jones on tour. I’ve heard many of his stories before, but the format of the show, in which he is prompted by his partner, Marj, was nicely different and teased out some new gems. As many of you will know, they have bought an old chapel in Wales and will be converting it into a studio space. The process will be documented by Channel 4, and as someone who has been renovating an old property for several years (more than a decade!), I’ll be watching with interest. And yes, it will undoubtedly take longer than expected and cost more than planned! What I hadn’t realised is that once it’s up and running, he is planning…

Gloop glazes are somewhere in between a clay and a glaze. They are applied very thickly, usually by mixing the glaze materials to a paste with a small amount of water and then drying out the glaze until it is a malleable solid like clay, then applying small balls of the mixture to the rim of the pot. If the glaze is thinned with water, it behaves more like a normal glossy glaze. During firing, the thickly applied glaze melts and runs down the pot, forming a fat, glossy drip. The high proportion of clay in the glaze (25-30%) ensures that it will have a high viscosity and will only run if applied very thickly. It is also possible to make a matt gloop glaze by adding magnesia, a glaze…

It’s been full-on for us in the studio for the past couple of years, and we are well aware that our focus has been entirely on the development of the business and our services to our clients. Inevitably, this has meant that taking time out to enjoy the work of other ceramicists has taken a back seat, and it’s surprising how this lack of contact with the outside world has inhibited much of our personal inspiration. We started to put this to rights when Lisa contacted equestrian artist Angela Sidwell, who makes wonderful sculptures of horses and other animals, to come and give her some personal training on how to create forms with paperclay and without formers or armatures. Angela is local to the studio, and it’s been wonderful to…

Well, how exciting! The spring equinox is only two days away. On the way to town, I’ve seen patches of leaves on hawthorn hedges, May blossom on the blackthorn, and lambs frolicking in the fields. Where we live and work, the spring is always a couple of weeks behind how it is in our nearest shopping town of Castle Douglas, but seeing it there is an affirmation that it’s coming our way before too long. I expect that any time soon, we’ll begin to hear the sound of the quad bike on the drive, and our neighbouring farmer will start to appear at the workshop door with some regularity, looking for help to deliver lambs. It can be particularly difficult for him, as he only has one arm, so we…

CERAMIC WALES AT BODRHYDDAN HALL – 15TH & 16TH JUNE – POTS, PLANTS & FOOD Jacqui Atkin reports… Each year, I catch up with Wendy Lawrence and Wayne Clarke to find out what Ceramic Wales will be doing differently this summer and if they have learnt anything from the previous year. From our conversation, I realised that organising an event like this is always a work in progress. The event began some years ago in 2016, the first location being in the arts school buildings of Glyndwr University, in Wrexham. While this was a charming and interesting old building, it was fraught with problems. To begin with, access was not easy for people with disability as the potters were located in different rooms on more than one level, which somehow…

DIFFICULTY RATING You will need: ■ Clay of choice – earthenware or stoneware■ General tools and ribs■ Tools for impressing details (old pen tube, wooden impressing tools – see TIP at step 26)■ Glaze/s of choice (or other preferred surface treatment) Before you begin: Our creature is roughly inspired by the shape of a hedgehog, but you can start from any animal, adapting the shape and details as far as your imagination allows. 1 Begin by forming two equal amounts of clay into balls; the weight of each depends on the amount you feel capable of pinching and the size of the creature you want to make. 2 Holding the first ball in one hand, press down into its centre with the thumb of your other hand until you can…

DIFFICULTY RATING You will need: ■ Paper to make a basic template■ Blown vinyl wallpaper, lace, fabric or silicone texture mat■ Craft knife, pencil, ruler■ Clay of choice – earthenware or stoneware■ Rolling pin, 2-3mm thick roller guides, plastic sheet■ Glaze to decorate (or other surface treatment – slip, underglaze, etc) Before you begin: We are making four darts in our cup to square the base shape while keeping the rim round. You can add more darts to keep the base round if you want to. The construction method will be the same, but the foot slab will obviously be round instead of square. 1 Begin by measuring the plain sheet of paper to the dimensions you would like your cup to be, such as circumference, height, etc. Maybe measure…

DIFFICULTY RATING Before you begin: This form is a tall cylinder and is best thrown on a batt unless you are confident about lifting work off the wheel head. If you don’t have a quick-fit mechanism for your wheel, you will need to throw a pad to secure the batt onto A note to prevent wordy repetition Always compress the clay at the rim after each lift – pinch the rim gently between your fingers and thumb, at the same time resting the forefinger of your other hand on the rim and applying gentle pressure You will need: ■ Clay of choice – earthenware or stoneware – 1.8kg (4lb) plus extra to throw a pad for a batt if you don’t have a quick-fit mechanism■ Tools to throw – water…

DIFFICULTY RATING BEFORE YOU BEGIN: The shape of our vessel is a hybrid, roughly inspired by the ceramics made by Native Americans mixed with some African features. However, the surface decoration is entirely individual. We suggest you do a little research before you begin, to find forms you like. Look at ancient ceramics from the Americas or Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Greek or Roman, to name just a few sources – there are plenty to look at. This will also inform your mark-making or surface treatment. YOU WILL NEED: ■ Choose a clay with some grog content like Craft Crank, Ashraf Hanna body, or mix a body of your own – try wedging T-Material with porcelain as we are doing here, in the ratio of 2 to 1. (Other…

Saying goodbye: Steven Steven showed he had embraced past comments about the rigidity of his work. He got in plenty of fluid lines in his dandelion-decorated lavatory, but the judges felt the decoration wasn’t quite strong enough and Steven was the last potter to leave. When did you start pottery? I took up pottery when I was 27. After studying Art at university, I fell out of love with the art world and decided that pottery was the perfect creative outlet that could also serve a function in everybody’s lives. Which piece of your work stands out, and are any memories attached to it? I think the best piece of pottery I have ever made was for my friend, Jo. She had recently lost her mum, and I wanted to…