Teaching Results

I have been so busy trying to get organised and into a new routine, working when I used to go down to the studio was easy, I opened at 10am every day tried to get organised, made some pots, packaged up what had to be brought home to the kiln.  In the evenings I used to fill the kiln and then set it going the next morning and let my wife kiln sit which would just be coming to the upper end as I got home from work.

Now things are different, I kiln sit myself but I don't have as many new pieces coming through at the moment.

Commissions are open and we are available to come and do parties, groups and Schools.  I am preparing information packs to be sent out to various organisations and to request one just email joseph(at)redfoxpottery(dot)com.

Here is the work from two of my adult students from the summer school Course.

Ben's Pots, Iron Stripes, cobalt and copper spots

Ben's Pots(2), Iron Stripes, cobalt spots

Michelle's Pots with Iron Details

Michelle and Ben's bugs cobalt, iron, copper and transparent glaze

Pumpkin Pie

This week the dresser moved in as we cleared the shop.  The walls have been plastered now and I am going to paint come Monday morning in the hopes that I can get the keys handed over to the landlord at the end of the month.  Talking to my barber I need to try and claim back my business rates from the council.  I also went for a job interview this week, hence the reason for going to the barber.

Made a pumpkin pie today, I have a pumpkin and walnut bread in the oven, and I made a little bit of bread just in case, it hasn't been baked yet but never mind.  I have two big bowls of pumpkin purée in my fridge, I guess I will be having soup in the next day or so.

So Long and Thanks for all the fish.

At 4pm Saturday 15th October 2011 with the help of two friends we finished packing all the pottery into boxes, took the opening times down and closed our doors for the last time.  Red Fox Pottery will no longer trade from Unit 9 Marsh Mill Village, though we will still be trading just working from home, as I still have all my equipment.

There are still quite a few jobs to do before I had the keys over to my landlord but they will get done this week.

We would like to thank all those that supported us over the last year and we hope you will continue to enjoy your pottery, for its lifetime.

For those still wanting to buy Pottery, there is pottery to be viewed from Oxheys Mill Studios in Preston and if there is anything you like on any of the blog posts just contact us and we will see what we can do the email address is joseph at redfoxpottery dot com.

Looking for some work on the side and over the winter will also be working on painting and drawing both traditionally and digitally.  I want to finally learn some graphic design skills so I can at least work on my own branding.

We are also available for bookings, for youth groups, scouting groups, school groups, Christmas and Birthday parties, as long as you have somewhere we can come.  We can do hand building, throwing or a combination of the two, once again email for details.

Only a few days left

I only have a few days left at the shop before I empty it, I wish I was leaving on better terms.  I will review the entire time once the shop is empty and maybe repainted.  I am both looking forward to and dreading losing the studio.  It has been my own personal space to work in and if it hadn't cost me so much I would have stayed but it is too expensive.

People keep asking where we are moving to and at the moment I am not even looking because I have enough money to even think of renting elsewhere.  I am applying for lots of jobs in the hopes I can get something to earn some money.

I am a potter in my heart and soul and not having a workspace already feels tough, I wish money didn't have to be a worry as I just love to pot, I find it is all I ever want to do and I am most relaxed and happy when I am throwing.  I just want to keep improving and getting better.  I know I think to much but the only time my mind rests is when I am throwing, and I am already finding myself bored, unfocused and disconnected from the world.

Second half of the Fleetwood Mural

I have been struggling to get this 2nd half done, I haven't found the determination to get it done.  I can't find the solution to what buildings I want on it.

My shelves still very full

It has changed since this photograph as I have sold a few pieces including the big pot at the bottom.

My wheel

This is my first wheel and since April it has been a shelf, I cleared it off and I have thrown a few bits on it, I forgot what life was like before my Shimpo Whisper T and I prefer this wheel, it has more character to the way it moves, to the way it turns, the Shimpo just seems so electrical and smooth opposed to what is a mechanical beast where you can feel and hear all the parts whirling.  The foot pedal is so much nicer to press on than the Shimpo's too, not it doesn't stop in one place to throw big pots, but for smaller pots this is what I prefer.

3 Weeks Left

Another week doneI ended up with 140 bud vases thrown in the end, there is very little space left at the moment.  Despite having a big "TO LET" sign outside the studio people still seem a little shocked that we have a closing down sale.  The sale itself will run from the studio until October 15th when all the furniture is due to leave.

The more time goes on the more mixed feelings I have about losing my first proper studio, but I can't afford it and it has caused me far too much stress.

I have been waiting for some new supplies and they finally turned up on Friday, so I can now do a commission that has been waiting in my book.  I have started it but ran out of the coloured slip I needed to finish.  I have the other half of my mural to do too so that's how the week will start.

When I came back from Holidays there was this giant addition to my store front

Getting very full on my main storage

Secondary Storage area full too.

I want to get my big wheel cleaned off soon so then I can throw on it again before I leave.  This is the wheel I bought off of Ebay when I was a first year Ceramics Student 5 years ago, it has character when it throws, but can't hold steady when I am making bigger pots, which is why it ended up getting used for storage in April.

A good pottery holiday

So this week I have been in the South West of England, across the three counties of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset.  There was lots of travelling because there isn't much in the way of civilisation between all the potteries, but that is nice in some ways, very much unspoilt rolling hills and winding lanes.


Wednesday

Mike Dodd's show room, this is just the smallest of the three walls covered in pots.  Mike Dodd was the first potter we visited, as we wanted to visit on a day he said he was open.

One of his big pots that I would have brought home with me if I actually had any money.

Mike Dodd's Kiln was the first I saw all week and it is just a bit bigger than the gas kiln I used to fire in at University and he complained it wasn't big enough.  I really got kiln envy this week, with my little Eco 45.

On Wednesday we also visited Lisa Hammond at Kigbeare Pottery which was about 3 miles from where we were staying in Okehampton, and when I mentioned I was a potter I got the grand tour by her latest apprentice Bethan Jones.  The pottery is better equipped than my university and I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay there and throw.

Thursday

We started Thursday by driving all the way down to Land's End in Cornwall, we got there and the fog was so thick that we couldn't see a thing, the tourist centre wasn't open as we arrived before 10am.  not wanting to wait we headed back towards St. Ives the fog was quite thick until we came around the coast and the bay opened up before us, it was amazing in St Ives and was so much nicer than the town here in Cleveleys which is also a seaside tourist town.

After spending the morning in St Ives we took the bus to the Leach Pottery (in hindsight if I knew it was that close I wouldn't have bothered with the bus).  We took the tour of the pottery and watched the video, the guide on the tour quickly picked up I was a potter and started talking about bits she didn't know.

After the tour and looking in the old kilns, I went out to the car park to find the Apprentices packing the soda kiln ready for a firing the next day as stock was running low and they had a scheduled opening on Saturday which they invited us to but we knew we would be at John Leach's Pottery that day.

I put my camera back in the car and waited for Jack Doherty to come back to the Pottery and he gave me a personal guided tour of his studio in Bernard's old studio upstairs which was full of just fired pots and then through to the production pottery and showed me the hidden wheels.  It is an amazing space and wish I had taken my camera on the tour.

I honestly didn't want to leave St Ives and would of happily spent the rest of the week there, especially if I could have worked in the pottery, it seemed a peaceful friendly place to work.

Friday

We started Friday looking for Svend Bayer's Pottery outside Sheepwash, we got to a crossroad's where we couldn't work out which was it was and as the was a van behind us we ended up going and seeing Clive Bowen's Shebbear Pottery first (No pictures from there) though panicking about a show that is 4 weeks earlier than he anticipated he took time out to show us round his pottery and showed us his big bottle kilns, I can't even imagine having enough work to fill it ever.

After lunch we visited Svend Bayer at his Pottery it is very quiet there and he is next to the woods, you wouldn't spot it if it weren't for the chimney and the wood pile.

This is one of his Anagama kilns, this is the bigger one, the smaller one he recently took down citing that the brick were failing and was rebuilding from the ground up.  There is chopped wood every where.

Some of Svend's big pots. they just seem so flawless, they are very different to the work of Nic Collins who makes pots to have imperfections.  I asked Svend if they were hard to put in the kiln, I got a single yes.  After having a good look around I picked out a mug, paid and left him to his peace.

We knew we had found Hollyford Pottery when we saw a lone chimney as we came up the lane, potter's chimneys are hard to miss.

This is Doug Fitch's Hollyford Pottery, it seems very tranquil in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farm land. He showed me round his pottery which is the smallest of the week, but no less impressive.  He even took me down to the stream and I brought home a ball of clay with me, it is so close to such a brilliant natural resource and it is a nice colour too not like the clay I found the near my house which goes putrid green when slaked down.

Doug hard at work decorating his jug, it is still fascinating watching other potters at work and I think I always will no matter how good I get at making pottery. I had to be dragged away from  Doug's studio as I was having a good chat with him while my fellow travellers sat in the car.

Saturday

We went to the Kiln opening at John Leach's Muchelney Pottery and John Leach did some amazing demo's.  He even gave me a one to one demo on pulling handles off of a pot the pot in question was a spoon rest which he said was the strangest piece of work he has ever put a handle on.  He is so warm and friendly, and teaches like a caring grandfather when it comes to giving criticism.

This is the middle of three chambers in John Leach's Kiln, with the front part already emptied read for everyone turning up.  By the time we left the table of seconds was empty and quite a number of the signed pieces had been bought too.  Everything seemed to be selling well and it is definately a well marketed event.  Nick Rees told me about the kilns and about the various work that they do.

The last potter on our trip was Paul the Potter, just 15 minutes away from Muchelney Pottery at Barrington Court, once again I forgot my camera.  I loved talking to Paul and looking around the pottery and  at the buildings he was in, we don't have those sorts of barns up here in Lancashire not with proper tiles etc. He has some amazing plans for the future and another potter I will definately visit again.

Thanks to Doug Fitch, Paul Jessop, Mike Dodd, Lisa Hammond, Svend Bayer, Clive Bowen, Jack Doherty, John Leach, Nick Rees and all the apprentices (and a few other potteries I can't remember the names of) Thank you for letting me in and looking around, I just wish I had taken a few more photographs, but I always feel awkward taking photos of people especially when my young brother is a photographer and was with me.

After this week though, I want to be part of something big, something that is more than one man, I want to look for an apprenticeship again.  I would love to work in the Leach Pottery but without being able to drive it is a long way from here in Lancashire.

I have lots to do this week, hopefully going to pick up some supplies from Pilling this week, to rush make some things for Christmas.

The end is in sight

The end may be in sight be there is still so much to do. Today I have been working on my presentation, doing the presentation doesn't both me, just preparing it makes me nervous.

This Half of the Mural is almost finished, a few details to add and then I will do the second half after my Holiday.

This tray went into the kiln this morning as well as two other trays, so just one more biscuit firing to do but still lots and lots of glazing that needs doing, I think 3 firings should cover everything.