open studios

Thank you to everyone who visited Julia and me at Bridport Open Studios last weekend (and the previous two saturdays). It was a great show, beautifully curated by Julia. Lots of really helpful feedback, useful comments and healthy sales too.

New glazed work was very well received and now that I make my glazes from scratch it has become something I enjoy - so lots more experimentation to come! A couple of people mentioned trying matte glazes... watch this space...

...And quite a few people asked about handles. I have always avoided them, mostly because I never use them (generally holding a cup or mug by its sides) and I like the ambiguity of a simple vessel - it can be whatever you want it to be. As soon as there is a handle, a use is suggested. However, I want to make pots that are useful and people love using so testing out handles is going to be my next step. Its going to be challenging as I have a few years practice at making vessels but none at making handles... creating a handle that is at the same skill level as the vessel might prove tricky... First step is lots of research.

glaze tests

chrome green and a kind of tenmoku

alkaline copper turquoise

open studios

Bridport's summer festival of culture is now in full swing!

We have had two Open Studios days and are getting ready for the big bank holiday opening. So far its gone really well, lots of very useful and interesting feedback and plenty of sales.

People definitely go for the brightly coloured work first and the copper green glaze has been very successful.... so much so that I am going to do some more glaze experiments and introduce some new colours and effects.

Casting in action... destined for some experiments with new glazes. With luck I might be able to get some new pieces into the show for the weekend - an ideal opportunity to test with potential customers

Don Pottery

Noticing a lot of similarities between my recent slip-casts which are based on modern food packaging and patterns from a victorian industrial pottery catalogue... Timeless designs? Supermarkets subliminally linking into our feelings of nostalgia and comfort?

A bit more info on the Don Pottery from http://www.rotherhamweb.co.uk

John and William Green owned the Don Pottery, established in 1801. John , had been a partner in both the Leeds and Swinton potteries, and the high quality wares were influenced by the Leeds pottery products. It was situated on the bank of the Don canal on the boundary between Swinton and Mexborough which gave good access. 

Around 1810 they experimented with porcelain, resulting in the production of some highly successful pieces, which are extremely rare. Don Pottery was exported to the Middle East, Russia, and South America.Business declined in the 1830s and the Greens were declared bankrupt in 1834 and the pottery advertised for sale. Many moulds and patterns were purchased by other local potteries and re-used. 

In 1839, Samuel Barker who owned the Mexborough Pottery, purchased Don Pottery, both potteries were run by him until 1848 when production was centred on the Don Pottery site. (Samuel Barker died at Mexborough House, aged 53 on 15 July 1856.) In 1882, it was rented out to other partners, although it still traded as Samuel Barker & Sons. The pottery closed in 1893 when all the stock was sold to pay overdue rent.