Setting Up the New Studio

New Shelves (and Brackets!) in the Kiln Shed

It's been a busy few months setting up the new studio. In fact so much has been happening I'm not sure where to begin blogging about it! I also didn't document the process - or progress - very well, so I don't have many photos. But here's the short version of everything that's been happening.

I began setting up the studio in January. The most important thing was getting a new space for the kiln. My poor kiln was stored in the garden shed for three months wrapped in bubblewrap and tarpaulin to keep him warm and dry. Luckily the winter wasn't harsh, so in January a new kiln room could be built ready for the electrics to be installed. The Electrician was booked for the 15th of Feb, which meant Valentine's Day (the day before!) was spent preparing the new space and moving the kiln into situ.

By the way, I don't recommend spending Valentine's Day with just two of you trying to move a 17 stone kiln out of one shed into another over soft mud using improvised duckboards on a steep gradient! Luckily there was only one injury - me. I crushed the palm of my hand between the kiln and the door frame, leaving a lovely big bruise for a week. But at least the kiln was installed safe and sound!

The Kiln in its New Home - Pouring Bowl Sets Stacked for Bisque

Anyway, the kiln room is now officially up and running with some shelves/ware boards (or at least brackets for future shelves!). I also treated my kiln batts to a good clean and a fresh coat of batt wash (pictured drying out below) which I usually do once a year at the start of the new year.

Panorama of One Half of the Main Studio - Kiln Batts Drying Out

In the meantime I also made some pots of course. After being featured in Landscape Magazine, most of the pots I decided to make were custom order pouring bowl sets - as well as a few staple pots like modern pourers. This was ideal really, not only because it meant the kiln was earning its keep, but (as the forms are so well known to me) it also made it easier to get back into the flow of throwing after a break over Christmas.

Freshly Thrown Bowls on Batts - These Became Berry Bowls

In fact, it was a good idea all round to stick to familiar pots I knew how to make and I'd recommend it for a first firing in a new studio. It meant I could quickly plan how to pack the bisque kiln (which pots go where) as I've done it so many times before. It also helped with glazing too. Apart from one big bowl which I glazed in Aqua, I chose to make pots using just my white glaze so I only had to prepare two tubs - there's nothing worse than returning to an old glaze that's been quietly solidifying into an impossible cake at the bottom for three months! Also, the last thing I wanted to do was 'creative glazing' when I didn't even know if the kiln would work. So instead, I tried to keep things as simple and practical as possible.

Pouring Bowl Sets Drying

As for the rest of the studio, things are still 'ad hoc'. It's a work in progress. Things are currently 'in a place', but not necessarily in the ideal place. It's actually quite disorientating working in a new space - even when making familiar pots. Nothing is quite where you thought to remember to put it - if you get my meaning! I'd sit myself down at the wheel thinking I was ready to start when I'd realise I'd forgotten to get something basic - like water. Oh well, I'm sure it will all slot in to place eventually. But at the moment there is still so much to plan and do...

RESULTS...

By the end of March I fired the kiln for its first bisque and also its first glaze! I'm delighted to report that everything went perfectly! The bisque was perfect, the glazing all went well and the glaze firing was perfect too. It was such a relief. It had been on my mind for about a year since deciding to move house - worrying if the kiln would be OK...

Here's a few photos of the pots that came out - my first pots in my new studio.

Since then I've bought some new bags of clay and I'm ready to make more pots and fire more kilns! (Fingers crossed!)

Eclipse: Moon Bowls in Black Stoneware Clay

Today we had a solar eclipse. The plan was perfect. Fire the kiln on Thursday (yesterday) so this morning I could watch the eclipse in the garden while I waited for the kiln to cool down. Unfortunately a thick blanket of cloud obscured the entire event! And although it went quite dark around 9.30am (during which time we had a nice piece of carrot cake and a cup of tea) it mostly felt the same as if it was about to start raining. Oh well, never mind! Hopefully the bisque kiln will be fine though and I'll be able to crack it soon and start glazing some pots.

In the meantime - as it's topical - I thought I'd blog about my moon bowls. I've been experimenting with different stoneware clays in the past year or so. One of these clays is a deep black stoneware designed mostly for modelling or sculptural pieces. It can also be used as a throwing clay however - in small doses. It has a very high iron and grog content which makes it very coarse to handle when making. This is perfect for hand modelling but when it comes to throwing (with the wheel spinning round) it feels like your hands are being shredded by sandpaper! When I first used it I raised the roof and could only manage to make one small bowl before I gave up and plastered my poor hands in E45. (People who throw porcelain have no idea...!)

Since then I have modified the original black clay by adding in some of my usual stoneware to make throwing more comfortable. This produces a lovely deep chocolate brown colour when fired and left unglazed. So far I've only used a white glaze on this clay. My usual satin white glaze reacts differently on this clay body producing a really interesting pitting effect. This instantly reminded me of craters on the moon, especially when used on little round bowl shapes. Hence calling them moon bowls.

Would you believe it, as I type the sun is actually coming out?! Time for more tea (maybe another piece of carrot cake) and to check the kiln temperature I think. In the meantime, here's a picture of some more pots and ceramic spoons I've been making with my lovely black/chocolate brown stoneware clay. Enjoy!

Getting Inspired: Beach Finds

Pretty Pink Vases - with Glazing Tests

Sometimes I forget how spoilt I am living by the sea. My nearest beach is only a mile away and takes 15 or 20 minutes to walk there. Strangely this 'in between' distance (close but not really close...) feels far enough away to be more than 'just popping down to the beach' and requires at least an hour out of the day and a nice hot thermos of tea to properly appreciate. For this reason I probably don't pop down as often as I'd like to. But when I do go I usually find something to inspire me.

Getting inspiration from the seaside is nothing new of course. Artists are always doing it. And there can be a danger in just repeating what everyone else is doing. So when I look for things to inspire me, I try to look for the 'not-so-obvious'. 

My local beach is mostly shingle, and leans towards the 'small seaside-town/polite walk along the esplanade' side of things rather than remote and windy wilds. Nevertheless, even in a tiny narrow strip of civilised beach there's plenty of little pebbles, shells, driftwood and other shore finds to poke a warm boot at.

Pink Vase Detail - Seaweed and Shells

My latest vases are inspired by a choice of three colours found on my local beach. Pink isn't an obvious colour when you think of the seaside, but there's actually quite a lot of it on my beach. There's plenty of subtle shades of pink in the local shells: these look like a type of sea snail and range from the usual coral shades to unexpected deep maroons. Even some of the grey pebbles have a warm pink tone to them. But most of all there's lots of vibrant pinks and purples in the local seaweed which - once you start looking - pops up everywhere in little clusters. These can look like little pink flowers on the sand or miniature trees draped over the stones.

White is perhaps a more obvious colour to choose. White for the surf, white for the smooth insides of shells and white for chalk pebbles and clouds.

The last colour I chose was the beautiful pale frosted green found in sea-glass. I quite like the idea that pieces of sea-glass are ordinary manmade objects made beautiful by the sea: that being rolled around in the shingle and the waves for years gives them a quality that sets them apart. Part natural, part manmade. And of course being fragments of glass means they fit nicely with the idea of glazing on pots.

Sea-glass and Overlapping Edges

Once I had my three colours - pink, white and pale green - all I had to do was combine them in a design that complemented each other. I chose glaze recipes that were similar in tone (pale) and in texture (glossy and semi-opaque). This allowed them to work with each other as a range, as well as with my existing white glaze - a satin matte. 

I knew even when I was standing on the beach that I would be overlapping the pink and green glazes with the white: just at the edge where they meet. This always gives a small band of extra interest in glazing and fits perfectly with the idea of the shoreline. And then in terms of the form of the vases themselves, well that was easy: it came from the opposite shoreline...

The Other Shore

My new vases, both the Pale Pink and Sea-glass Green, are available for sale in my Folksy and Etsy shops.

New Beginnings and New Bud Vases

Yesterday I fired the first kiln load of the year! I've been busy since the beginning of January trying to make enough pots to fill a bisque kiln. It hasn't been easy, especially since the studio roof has been leaking (again!) in all this wet and windy weather. During one particularly heavy downpour, I even decided to wear my waterproofs indoors to avoid the drips... The general atmosphere has also been so damp, the pots have taken ages to dry. But, moaning about the weather aside and despite everything, I managed to get the kiln going yesterday for my first bisque - and so today (while I'm waiting for the kiln to cool down) I thought I'd blog about some new pots I've been making.

Before Christmas I started to throw a few new vase shapes. I wanted to make some small bud vases with a belly form and also some straight slim and narrow 'stem' vases. Above is a photo of the first small test batch I made before Christmas (shown in leatherhard stage and drying out). They're all hand-thrown as usual, but the straight narrow vases have been thrown in two parts: two thrown 'tubes' which are then spliced together when they're both leatherhard. This sort of making is called composite making, and it's something I've started to experiment with. It's especially useful for making taller pots and for making narrow forms (for when your fingers can't fit inside the pot during throwing).

I've started to list a couple of these finished pots in my Etsy and Folksy Shops - and hope to add the rest in the coming weeks. All being well, there should also be more narrow vases in the same style from this first bisque kiln - once I've glazed them and fired them again of course. But I'm very pleased with this first selection and I'm looking forward to developing the theme further this year. Hopefully it's going to be a great new year with lots of new pots!

Impression Vases

Impression vase - Birch Tree

I’ve been working on a new range of vases which I’ve called ‘Impression’ vases. The idea is quiet simple really – throw a vase shape and use objects to make impressions and marks in the clay while it’s still soft. These marks are then picked out and made a feature of in the design by using a combination of oxides and glazes brushed over the surface. So today I thought I’d show some photos of one particular vase during making.

Using a pebble to make marks

As you can see, I’ve the placed the vase upside-down on a wooden bat. The vase was thrown the day before this photo and the base lightly turned next day - so the clay is still quite wet. The wooden bat is resting on the wheelhead which I’m using as a banding wheel so I can see all around. And why is it upside-down? Well for some reason it’s easier to see what’s going on! I started making marks at the base of the pot and worked ‘down’ to the rim. This avoids the dangers of marks feeling ‘cramped’ at the base by running out of space and instead allows them to grow naturally ‘up’ the pot. And I’ve used a small beach pebble I’ve had for years. It’s always nice to use natural objects when making.

Oxide detail

I got the idea for this design back in November last year. I was doing a show at Quarr Abbey and in a coffee break I took some photos of the gardens and textures I found in the grounds (see post). The bark on a birch tree was particularly lovely and immediately suggested the idea to me. Of course the markings on birch bark are ‘raised’ rather than indented and the colours are much more subtle than I’ve used here: but I really like the results from this first vase and think I’d like to repeat the motif again on another piece. In the same making session I also decorated more vases using different impressions and marks, but using the same oxides and glazes. I’ve added two of these vases to my Etsy shop so far and will add more soon.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Inside vase showing indents

Wayzgoose Christmas Show 2011

I’ve just finished my last show of the year! Wayzgoose is an annual Christmas show held in a local art complex called Jubilee Stores based in Newport on the Isle of Wight. Every Christmas the artists-in-residence open their studios for a special two-day event. They invite about 20 artists to exhibit with them, which means there’s a wide range of different art and craft disciplines on show for people to choose from and enjoy.

This is the second year I’ve exhibited in the show (you can read last year’s post here). At first I was worried I might not have enough stock to put on my table. This is a common complaint among artist/makers in general it seems! However, luckily the kiln had been fired and was ready to open on the day of setting-up: so I had some lovely new vases to put out on my stand. In fact, they were so brand new they were still toasty and warm…

Unlike last year (when I forgot my camera) this year I remembered to take some photos. Here are just a few of them. I wanted to show off my new vases properly with a flower display, and had the idea of using a bunch of red tulips. I didn’t think I’d get tulips at this time of year, let alone red ones! But luckily my local florist had them in stock. They were perfect really because they had a red-and-green Christmas theme, but at the same time felt very fresh and cheerful. I think it must have worked because my vases did very well at the show! So overall it was an excellent weekend and a really positive way to end the year.

Photo Shoot - Small Vases

Recently I’ve been making a series of ‘one off’ vases - mostly ‘bud’ or ‘stem’ vases suitable for small table settings and little sprigs of wild flowers about the house. These are hand-thrown on the wheel in stoneware clay and measure about 10cm/12cm high. It’s actually been really enjoyable to throw ‘one off’ individual shapes for a change instead of repeating the same form in one throwing session. And so far I’ve been pleased with the results coming out of the kiln. I’ve kept the shapes simple (tubular or bottle-like) and mostly I’ve been using quite plain glazes to keep the pieces fresh looking. I’m hoping these will do well at my Open Studio (which is coming up very soon in July by the way!)

So yesterday I decided I needed to do a ‘lifestyle’ photo shoot to show off these pots ‘in action’. Luckily I have in my back garden a few pretty flowers: so I picked some lavender, some yellow cotton-lavender and a single bottlebrush bloom to use for dressing the vases. I also happened to have a couple of pears left in my fruit bowl and together with a wicker basket and some pieces of linen I went about trying to do some ‘mood’ shots. In the end I took about 400 photos, which means I should have plenty of images now for showing off these little vases! Here are just a few of those pictures - and also below I’ve added a picture of me on a day of throwing them…