Art in Clay Hatfield 2013

I had a wonderful time at Hatfield yesterday with perfect weather this year :-). For those of you who have never been, it is a once a year ceramics fair in the grounds of Hatfield House, where the great potters from around the world come to show off their latest work and tempt you to buy!  And tempted I certainly was .......! Here are just a few photographs of the many stunning pieces of work on show.

Here is the Svend Bayer jug I was VERY tempted to buy!

First Stockist

Exciting news!  Some of my work is now on display at 3 Wishes Florist in Castle Ashby, Northants. I think Ali has made a brilliant job of displaying my creations.

Porcelain tealights

I recently made some small porcelain tealights, glazed them in a very pale cream glaze and then added decals made from my free machine embroidery.
I'm quite pleased with how they've come out.

Springtime in the garden
It's this time of year that we start to think about our gardens a bit more - well we would do if it was warm enough!  With this in mind, I have had a play with some earthenware clay and made some plant and seed labels with an impressed image of a plant at one end.  A pencil can be used to write the name of the plant or seed and then rubbed off again making them endlessly reusable!

 

 

I've also made a handy string holder to match.

Both of these items will soon be on sale at 3 Wishes Florist . 

First Commission !

A friend of mine saw my porcelain buttons and asked me to make some hearts without the holes and glaze for her daughter's wedding in August.  She is going to attach them to either end of ribbon around glass vases filled with flowers at her reception.  It's a lovely idea and I will post another photo of them in situ.

Porcelain hearts drying in the sun before the first of 2 firings

Porcelain buttons

A while ago I made some porcelain buttons from impressed clay.  I then coloured them using underglaze colours before having a clear glaze on top.  I love the way the colour is darker in the impressed parts of the clay as it gives them more of a tonal look.

Porcelain heart, flower and circle button

Porcelain heart buttons

Close up of buttons

I've made some more which are ready to go in the kiln - this time I'm going to leave them plain to see how they look.

Plant pots

Well I finally got out into my workshop today as the temperature rose to a balmy 9 degrees!  I've started work on some plant pots in stoneware for a friend of mine who owns a gorgeous florist shop in Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire (3 Wishes Florist). Hopefully I've got the sizes right and the potted plants will fit inside them nicely - fingers crossed..... The photo below is when they were literally just off the wheel so they will need to dry out, be biscuit fired, glazed and re-fired. 

It was certainly good to be getting my hands covered in clay again :-).

Plant pots just off the wheel

 

Wobage 2012

Last year I was lucky enough to go on 2 residential pottery workshops at Wobage Workshops near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire.  The workshop is based in a converted farm surrounded by gorgeous, peaceful countryside.  Superb homemade vegetarian food is provided as part of the course cost too, which made me feel very spoilt indeed!

Tea time at Wobage

The first course I went on was 'Throwing for Improvers' with the talented and ever patient Jeremy Steward who showed us how to improve our throwing skills with bowls, jugs and mugs.  We used stoneware clay and then slip decorated the pots before they were wood fired in Jeremy's kiln.  I love the effects of wood firing - sadly it isn't something I can do where I live at the moment.

 My woodfired stoneware bowls

The second course I went on was 'Throwing in Porcelain' with Patia Davis and Matthew Blakely as a guest potter.  Patia works in both earthenware as well as porcelain and the previous year I did a slip decorating course with her at Wobage as well which was brilliant. I love Patia's work and she is another excellent teacher and again extremely patient. Porcelain is a lot harder to throw with than stoneware or earthenware and I did find it more of a challenge! However, over the 5 days I think I did make progress - again I did some slip decorating before they were ash glazed and then fired in reduction kiln (again something I cannot do at home as I only have an electric kiln). 

My porcelain ash glazed and decorated with porcelain slip fired in a reduction kiln

 I thoroughly enjoyed myself on both courses - it is a different world where you have all the time to devote yourself to pottery.  I call it being in my 'pottery bubble' :-).  It is so peaceful (no phone signal!) and no traffic noise.  I met some lovely people on both courses with whom I still keep in contact with.  Needless to say I have booked for this year as well and shall be going on Patia's earthenware and slip decorating course in July 2013.  I can't wait !
     

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.
Aptly named 'The Garden Potter' - I am an aspiring potter who works in my converted shed.  I hope to share with you my journey towards becoming a potter as well as my many other interests and the inspiration for my work.