Green Disc Pot

Initial idea conceived on 11th April 2012...

Born today 30th May 2012 at high noon 12pm.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes.



Completed today (27th June 2012). A total of 5 hours and 20 minutes making. If I charge £25 an hour that works out at around £140. I will probably sell it for around £60.
But I do it for the love!!


26th Sept 2012

These are the pot finished the copper carbonate went brown coloured in the 1260C firing, it kind of resembles animal print. The gold lustre on the top finishes it.

I am not feeling the brown, my husband likes it, maybe it is too masculine for my pots. I love the gold, but I would like to move towards more subtle colours. Animal print is too jazzy for me, it detracts from the form. If I look at the surface in isolation and imagine it was not on my pot but on textured paper, or slowly eroding wall, it would be interesting and attractive. But in the pot it is too much.

Armadillo Pot

New pot started today, I will update This post with pictures of it as it grows.
Initial drawing....

One hour later.

3 hours and 40 minutes work...

7 hours


10 hours and 10 minutes. Ready to dry out and be bisque fired now.





18th of July

I spent an hour or so glazing this bad boy. Lots of layers of glazes in different shades of blue. I am sending him into the fire today for his second round with the flames!










26th September 2012. Death of a Pot!

Yuk, that is the first adjective that springs to mind. Melted volcanic glossy poo. No, no and no again, I feel no connection with this pot at all now, it is from another planet.

Just to seal its fate and to offend my even more the glaze ran off the pot and damaged the kiln shelf.

Considering how I felt about this pot when it came out of bisque, I am surprised at how disgusted I feel about it now. Like a deformed part of my own body that I am ashamed of. I made this monstrosity. But that is the nature of ceramics, some you win, many are lost. This one is lost.

What did I learn? There is always a learning point with any cock up. I learnt that dark toned glossy glazed suffocate the forms I have spent years developing. They remove any sense of elegance and femininity, and they do not fit in with my aesthetic. So there.

RIP Armadillo Pot

Hope I am not in trouble!

 Excerpts of one of my previous posts (click here to read it) has been published in the latest edition of Ceramic Review which landed on my door mat this morning. I said some pretty judgmental things about the legacy of Bernard Leach. But I shan't go back on my word! I stand by everything I said! Even though I am  but scared of some kind of potter backlash!..... I have already had a few (polite) comments on twitter. 

I have started an online group to open up the debate on ceramics and its future here where you can vote on how you think Bernard Leach has contributed to the development of Contemporary Ceramics, and leave comments. I will be interested to hear feed back of every kind. Even if you think i chat utter rubbish! I can take it!

Thank you

I've been busy.....

I have a few shows coming up this weekend Eastbourne Festival in an open house at an open house in Greys Road with Miranda Pennington and Gail McKay.

I am also showing a few bits at the Coach House Gallery in the picturesque village of Alfriston. The Coach House showcases contemporary artwork. It is a beautiful gallery with wooden floors and large windows letting in lots of light and affording lovely views of the village and country side. It is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. The exhibits change every few weeks and there is always something new to see there.

Here are some pictures of my latest work which will be on show if you have time to come and have a look, please do!

National Ceramics Week

I would like to play a part, no matter how small in raising the profile of Ceramics in the UK, and further afield, which is a possibility with the internet (most of my readers are from the US).

We have ceramics festivals in the UK however they only reach 20-30,00 people. Not an awful lot when you consider the population of sleepy Eastbourne, my home town was at 98,673 in 2011. The population of the Uk stood at 62.2118 Million in 2010 thats means that ceramics festivals reach only 0.048% of the population. That is most certainly a niche market, possibly even an endangered species! 

I have heard about an event that started last year National Ceramics Week in the first week of May which sounds like a fantastic idea and a way to pull people together. You can list any even, no matter how small on the website. AND there is promotional material you can download from the site.

Many people say the way to get ceramics out there is to do it ourselves, from with in our communities. Eventually as time goes by it will become a staple event. Last year 200 potters took part. Could we double it this year? What about in the US is there an event like this? Could it become a global event?