Page 3 About the Pots

With the exception of an occasional press moulded or slab built dish all my work is wheel thrown. I currently use Scarva’s ‘Earthstone Original,’ an off-white firing stoneware clay. When they have dried, the newly made pots have their first, or biscuit firing to a temperature of 960c. They are then dipped into a vat containing a suspension of the glaze ingredients which are

Cornish Stone/Dolomite based, opacified with zirconium silicate. At this stage the raw glaze covers the pots in the form of a dried white powder. The painting is carried out on this rather delicate and friable surface . The decoration is applied in free brush strokes using various oxide and ceramic stain mixtures. The motifs and patterns I devise are reminders of the natural world and are designed to enhance, amplify and reflect the pot’s form and give pleasure to the user. The pieces can now have their second or glost firing, which is taken up to 1260c in electric kilns. This method of painting on an opacified unfired glaze coating is often referred to as the in-glaze or majolica technique and is traditionally associated with low fired tin-glazed earthenware. However, now that a whole spectrum of high firing ceramic colours are available to the potter I have elected to use the method at stoneware temperatures so as to avoid some of the problems, such as crazing and metal release, which can affect low fired wares. The pots are marked on the bottom with my signature mark and since 1987 have carried a year mark.