Serving dishes and flatware plates have become a pleasurable and large part of my making over the years. The clay acting as my canvass, and the language of mark making being a mixture of both traditional techniques and otherwise. Often with the use of a tin can, I work very quickly  building  layer upon layer of slip, wet into wet, pouring trailing and brushing. Working in this way with the fluid slip, I find i have sometimes only the smallest window of opportunity in which to capture a certain quality.

By the very nature of creating in this way….  it asks for there to be a great deal of control.  And a vast amount of time is spent practicing and reconsidering the marks and shapes, re-thought  and re worked before committing to the moment on the actual piece

Being open to moments of serendipity, blended with a desire for control seems fundamental to moving my work forward. A preconceived idea may become something else in the process of working, and a willingness to notice the unexpected , and not disregard ‘ a mistake’ has gone hand in hand in building up a fuller vocabulary of marks that gives a particular life to the slipware i want to make.

The layers of colour, shapes texture and palette for me relate to mood, emotion and a sense of place or familiarity or idea. This is in part my language.   However my ideas remain quite personal to me ,and i enjoy to keep it this way. Not just for the reasons of being a shy introvert but this connection is both personal to maker and then the user. Elements of suggestion, and  abstraction leave space for personal interpretation.  I want my pieces to connect with the user both visually and with the food served and shared from them. The desire that someone relates intimately to any pot i have made refills my heart with joy.  In that moment of captured expression in clay and its shared connection, the ‘art ‘non verbal communication is won. 

Pots in this section include butter dishes, covered serving pots, egg cups, cake plates and mixing bowls.

Most people select out a favourite mug for an occasion, time of day or beverage choice….. for one of those pleasurable and intimate punctuations in our busy days. Moved and guided by an undefinable sense of which mug fits the moment. I absolutely love to make mugs for this very reason. Mugs is as important to me as any item that i make in my range.

A rounded cup that nestles in the hand or the handled bowl that invites sipping and cupping and lifting with both hands. Each has its place.

The teapot has also been a constant in my making from my more experimental pebble and rocking teapots worked in  my student days, to my more recent altered squared teapots. The teapot is ever a challenge! – it  needs to function well, feels harmonious in its totality, and a pleasure to view when sat on the shelf waiting its next turn to serve.

I make screw threaded jars in both earthenware and porcelain…and also full bellied forms that invite filling up and a feel of plenty. A joy to do, and continuous challenge.

The screw threaded Jar has been a fantastic working challenge. The problem solving took me along an experimental path which led me to finding a slightly different approach, a side step away from the methods explained in Michael Cardew’s book. I made the tool he suggested in the book which creates the groove which then becomes the thread.

I discovered through many  trials … a new  ‘twist ‘ to solving the threaded lid.  

I throw the body of the jar anti-clockwise as is usual,  and then switching to a clockwise  motion for the threaded neck section.Using the groove making tool i gently ease the grooves in and lift the tool  from the base of the  top of the neck, so that the tool gradually bites into clay without ripping it. The thread then naturally follows upwards as the wheels  natural motion occurs. This in time becomes instinctive after much practice! and It is with utter delight that my kick wheel comes into its own for doing this process.  Alternating between throwing anti-clockwise and clockwise to create these screw threaded fixings on lidded jars and bottles couldn’t be more intuitive,  when using the kick wheel as opposed to the electric wheel.  Even with a reverse switch option, on an electric wheel it just isn’t quite the same the fluidity gets lost.  These threads are ‘thrown-in’ both lid and body. Taking careful measurements to secure a good final fit between the two. 

As opposed to  Cardews’ method, which  either suggests using a tap and die or the throwing of concentric rings into a collar of clay. This collar is either thrown with internal grooves or external grooves, which is then deftly  cut and dropped one grooves width down to meet the next lower groove,  this then creates the continuous spiral thread wrapping around the collar.  The Cardew method, to me seemed more of a fiddled and harder to keep a good cleanly thrown harmonious thread, without messing up the thread at the cutting,  and dropping or lifting process, depending on the desire for left or right-handed outcomes! And that is even before the collar is attached back onto the pot. My method everything is done wet and in harmony with the pots form.

I make a selection of thrown and altered baking dishes.  Various sizes of rectangular handled bakers and the wiggly flan dishes. The round bakers are made from decorated slabs of clay which get gently flopped over a hump mould. These pots also double up as serving dishes and they are all oven proof, made using a heavily groged  earthenware clay.

Here are my more sculptural pieces; vases in particular.  Altering their many thrown  sections, I manipulate by denting, pushing and leaning onto the form as i re assemble back to a whole. I want to achieve a fluid softness throughout with a sense of gentle movement and flow. The point of balance and my ability to retain this gentle lean is  a rewarding challenge.   Applied slip trailed motifs with vigorous  movement  emphasise these qualities further . Im very drawn to glass; clays a sister material. Particularly Roman glass…  the molten fluidity and point of its capture is so inviting.  

These images show my range of various jugs in earthenware and oil pourers and flip stopper bottles in porcelain.

Certain items call for one clay or another. Most of my teapots are in porcelain and my jugs in earthenware, the rightness of material to shape and purpose is an interesting and very personal choice.