Fleetwood Library

Composite of Images from my Instagram Account.

For the whole of July all my new work is at Fleetwood Library.  I grew up in Fleetwood and I remember using the library there when it was brand new, and I am happy to have a show there.  Please go along and see the show, all of the new work is based on drawing and pictures I made in Fleetwood over the past few months.

Throwing Large Platters

Today I uploaded some pictures to Twitter as I threw some large platters.  I was feeling out of practice, I tried to throw the first one with throwing the whole lump at once.  I noticed I just don't have the strength after not throwing bigger pots over the winter, so to get round it I flattened the clay by pounding it with my fists as it slowly rotates, then as it forms a disc slap it and then use a rib to smooth it off.

I trimmed the base so then it was a completely round disc.  I coiled the sides on and then threw them up, trimmed the wonky top and then used a large piece of chamois leather to give it a nice strong edge.  I trimmed round the base to remove the excess then wired it off.

Rough Disc Formed

disc scratched and coil prepared.

We ended up with a spring shower just as I needed to roll out the slab so did it very roughly in the air and then just a quick roll on my paving slab so it didn't pick up too much water.

Sides thrown on and swirl added across the base.

I made two in total and both are now drying, I must find the rest of my amazing Doug Fitch bats for when I finally get shelves sorted.

Inspiration Part 2i - Developing an Earthenware Range

At this stage I am merely looking at Design, I have yet to make any products as I am not in a workspace.  I have a couple of ideas of forms I want to use but, will have to throw them and see, as I can't judge anything before it is made.  These are just my firs impressions of what I am doing and will be working on a bit more on development the next week or two in a sketchbook.

So the question some may ask is "If you are already making a range of stoneware with a design you like why design a new range of earthenware?" There are a few reasons and I know it can be risky to make two different ranges at once in case you get stretched out across two ranges but my reasons are as follows.

• To be creative and have a play around
• With Earthenware I could eventually source clay from lancashire
• I don't have masses of orders for 'Sea and Sand' as it stands
• With 'Sea and Sand' I want use gas firings, but with Earthenware I don't mind electric
• It is cheaper to fire in my Electric Kiln
• When teaching I often slip decorate on the stoneware (examples to follow)
• I already have some pre-made slips I can play around with.

Image from http://www.thrownclay.co.uk/wetheriggs.htm where it is for sale

Speaking with Gwynneth Rixon both here and on Facebook about Earthenware and slip decorating and the work of Isaac Button and Wetheriggs.  I have previously watched the Isaac button videos on  youtube but only whilst talking to her did I realise that I was born around 22 miles from where he worked, and Wetheriggs is the place where I first tried the pottery wheel as my wife wanted to try throwing during our first year.  (I tried to revisit Wetheriggs two years ago but it had become an animal Sanctuary)(Guy Wolff worked at Wetheriggs according to this post by Hannah McAndrew)

The Thing that then got me thinking about slip decoration was the following video:

For those that haven't seen it Jessica Fong making “Night Platter” video by Fetishghost

I know it is an old drawing but reduce reuse and recycle.

When I saw that video it made me think of my old ink drawings (which is how I got started on this project).  I had some that used red and green too,  and I fully intend to work on some new sheets for this project.

Skipping Step One of mind mapping it has already been done here.

Step Two - Mood Boards

I created the mood board digitally at https://www.moodshare.co/

From my Collections: Hannah McAndrew Mug and Doug Fitch Jug and Mug

I really should have kept a better record of what I have been looking at the last few months collecting all the images of different makers that I like that use slip decoration one way or another, I started going back through blogs but it was just taking too long, so I made a quick selection of what I liked from what was obvious and the names jumping out at me in my head.  I really want to play around with layers and textures, and the playfulness of slip that you see not long after the slip is applied.

(This blog has been sat very much unchanged for two weeks because I have been busy with other things and there are other things that need doing and I don't want the entry to get too long, so I will post it today and hopefully by next weekend I will have finished the other half.)

Some pictures from the last firing

I keep hoping I will get a chance at another firing soon but it is looking unlikely until I get my own studio. I have started remaking enquiries again and I am seeing the business advisor this week too. I have also finished all my applications for events in the fall, then in the fall I have to start making applications for next year, I should have more stock by then.

Twelve days left until the degree show opening, and I still haven't managed to get a hold of my old tutor yet. I do have a lead at finding him as one of my ex tutors lives around the corner from my parents but I have avoided asking him as it isn't the done thing. MY old tutor is retired 5 years now, he retired half way through my National diploma in Illustration.

Anyways here are a few pots from the last firing.

There were a lot of teacups and saucers but this was the only coffee cup and I have already had a few offers to buy, so I had to turn people down, will have to sell it after the degree show as it is tied up there until the 18th now.

This is my mark on the bottom of one my platters I really do like how it looks.
This is the largest of my platters and is about 40 cm in diameter, I can't really fit anything much bigger in the kiln as it would go over the edge of the shelf and melt like one of my other platters did.
This really was a firing for platters as I had so many, so many in fact that I still have some left over unglazed.
This is a tea set I made from "Porcelain White" Stoneware (from Valentine Clays) it is supposed to look like porcelain but isn't as translucent. I am hoping to try porcelain itself but I haven't had chance as one of our fellow students urgently needed a bag so we sold her ours. I did try and make tea cups but the handles split in half whilst drying. As a clay it is very different to what I am used to, it resisted being formed, it is like throwing wet plaster scraps. I do like the contrast it provides to my usual range.

If there is anything from the firing that anyone wants to see just ask.

In a day or two I will post some images of the jugs I made using different clays.

NPA- Northern Potters

I finally got around to joining the NPA and got my card through this week, hopefully this will help me along the way.





I have been busy making but none of it has reached the kiln for a bisque firing as the 1st and second years get priority over the kilns until they have finished so I just have to be patient and wait my turn, they leave this week I think then I have pretty much got to get all my glazing done, set out the show and then get back to making so then I can have enough stock s then I have a head start.

Anthea is on an Annie Peaker course yesterday and today, so I spent the day touring the Lake District and managed to get to 4 galleries and 4 potters studios. I really enjoyed talking to James Hake who is an amazing young potter from Cumbria who gave me some amazing advice, definitely someone I will visit again and when I have enough money I would buy some of his work for the studio.

Setting off again soon to see how much more we can see today

A new day a new Attittude

Sleep really does the mind good, I'm so glad that it does. As it is now technically my holidays I should be doing paperwork for the next two weeks, I do have a wheel at home but the kiln I have isn't connected to the electric supply so I can't even bisque my work. I will probably try and throw one day while I am off I only have a limited supply of clay right now, mainly terracotta which is a bit useless for a stoneware potter. hopefully I will find some time to paint whilst my little boy is at nursery one day, I have some new paints so there is no excuse, even if I just end up painting a picture of one of my bowls with lemons in



These are some close ups of my platters, I love how the iron speckles break apart the broad strokes.



This is the workshop I work in at University, as you can see it is quite cramped, especially when we have had up to 15 people working in here at any given time, so I tend to wedge together as much clay as I think I will need for the morning and then get on with it, same for the afternoon. I started making platters again last week as you can see here, as my mark finally arrived last Wednesday after many problems with Parcel Force who kept trying to deliver my order to a place in Poulton which is the next town over which has a similar street name but not the same post code or town name.


Here is an impression of my mark, it works much better on leather hard clay and forms a really crisp image, I love it. Anthea's stamp is a cute little fox which is the same as the logo on our website red fox pottery.

My Range As It Stands

Well I was told by my business studies tutor that I had to take pictures of all my range as it stands right now. I took the pictures with my wife's camera and without the black base, I'm not entirely happy with the results but I want to put them up to start getting everything in order for the degree show and starting the business.

My teacup, I made saucers for these yesterday I just need to trim and fire them(and make more teacups) the handle is just big enough for one finger to fit through, I really love these and can't wait to make more. About 250grams of clay
This is my Coffee cup it is quite narrow to drink out of, handle needs a little refinement. 300grams
This is much wider than the coffee cup and is about the size of a normal mug and is so known as my medium mug. 400grams
My big mug, 1 kilo of clay so is much bigger than the rest of the mugs and probably holds more than all concerned. This is the status of the mug after my tuition from Kevin Millward. Before the tuition the rim was just straight from the normal cup but he advised me that a rim like this was easier to drink from especially from such a large vessel. These size of mugs are most popular amongst students.


Tea light holds are only about 100grams of clay and are good at filling the gaps in a reduction kiln, I have plenty of them.

Soup Bowls with handles, these are 600grams, I have a lot of these as I thought they would be very commercially viable, my business studies tutor and head of course agree. Though I have been asked to make either a lid or a side plate for these, I will probably go with the side plate option as the bowls aren't all the same size so I would have to make a lot of various sizes and cross my fingers.

Other straight sided bowls, though this one is only slightly bigger than the soup bowl, it is actually 800gram of clay and has much thicker walls so then it could go in the oven.
Two of my bigger platters finally here for you to see, they are 2 kilos of clay and were made before Christmas, though I did throw some yesterday as my mark has finally come so I can stamp them and hope they are good enough for my show. My throwing of these has improved but yesterday I was throwing bigger ones from 6 kilos of clay and it was hard going with that much clay.
My first teapot, unfortunately I can't remember what weight went into this after seeing a demo on teapots, I prefer the top to be an in the pot as the lids for the sort with an internal gallery are easier to make the right size than the almost tea light holder that will have to go on top of this.

I have a few more different bits but then are either green or biscuit. I only have 5 working weeks to get everything done for the show, then 3 weeks where I have to furiously create so then I have enough stock for the summer and hopefully to buy a gas kiln from the proceeds (and some training to go with it. I need to take some measurements of these so then there is a little more idea of scale.

Finally the time is here

The time has finally come, today I unloaded the kiln, I underestimated how long this would take me, especially with taking lots of pictures added in to the mix.

The technician had already moved all the pieces that weren't mine from the top shelves which helped speed things up. But I basically emptied the kiln myself apart from the top level, it is really satisfying doing so much for this firing myself.


This is all a large portion of what came out as it was hard to get everything in one shot as there was so much. I had lots of questions as emptied, the most common of which was "what did you do to make the different colours?" Well the blue is Cobalt Carbonate and the red/brown is Iron oxide, the speckles are because of the lack of oxygen in the kiln as it fires.

I had three ruined pots today, two were because of clay/bat wash falling into the bowl such as this above, it has fused with the glaze and the pot itself.


The third pot that was broken had split through the base, I have been told that there wasn't enough compression when I was forming the base, but that bit has already been covered in my latest tuition. For such a large kiln I don't think a failure of 3 pots is so bad at my stage, as I had a firing last year where I lost every pot places in the kiln.

One of my soup bowls and large mugs, this was my favourite large mug from the firing, and I did it after tuition from Kevin Millward, I just need to go back to the wheel and make a good couple of dozen of these so then I have some to choose from for my final show, still need more practice with the handles.


Some of the different size mugs/teacups I have been working on over the last few weeks, still trying to decide which size I want for my farmers market range.


Looking for some concept shots to go on my business cards / on various design sites that I am planning on joining over the next few weeks such as Design Initiatives.


Just trying to create some interesting shapes, colours and tones

These are what the tea light holders look like right now, all grouped together showing that scale that sometimes pots need an object to show scale.
This is my favourite item from the firing, it has just the right blue to green ratio on the cobalt and the textures just seem to have run slightly, it is such an interesting pot up close. I have actually brought it home to show people as an example of my work.


I have a slight oversight on the platters I forgot to take some overall shots of them and I only have detailed shots, so I will get some more photos on Thursday. I do have plenty more photos to upload and talk about later.

Joseph