College pot
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1965-1968 The Westmister College ceramics department was quite small, even
allowing for selective amnesia. As I remember it the main workshop
had three wheels and four benches, so could hold only a small number
of students. There were also a couple of front-loading electric kilns,
around 10 and 12 cubic feet capacity, so oxidised atmospheres only. I started
with handbuilding but rapidly progressed to throwing. The year after I left
the department was moved to far superior accommodation. C'est la vie. I still
have one piece from that era which looks thrown - a couple of us used to make
large coil pots and then put fake throwing rings in them to make them look
thrown - we dubbed this throiling....
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Coldstone breakfast bowl
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1967-1968 The Coldstone Pottery, Ascott-under-Wychwood near Woodstock, is where I
really learned to make pots in production sequences. The clay was
2 parts St Thomas's and one part local yellow clay which gave the fired
pieces a mellow pink body colour rather than the stark terracotta of Stoke
red clays. It was all slipware so there was a high attrition rate through
collapse of greenware. Coldstone was characterised by crossed-wheatear
decoration and what Chris Harries used to call "matchstick" as on this bowl.
Both difficult to do well. The glazes were lead-bisilicate transparent and
Chris kept his recipes in a safe!! Coldstone was an idyllic place and something
to which I aspired. It was watching the thrower, Dieter Kunzemann, who preceded
my time there which turned me on to wanting to be a potter.
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Wineset circa 1971
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1968-1972 Chedzoy Pottery - hardly a pottery at all given the miniscule
size of the workshop and showroom - was situated on Sedgemoor, near Bridgwater. From early on I started to move away from the slipware which I knew to high-fired
earthenware with interesting glaze overlays. The firings were oxidised in top
loader electric kilns and I was experimenting heavily with different bodies and
glaze materials. Hardly anything survives from this period - this is the only
photograph - although I suspect other pieces are still in boxes in attics waiting
for the inevitable house clearance operatives.....
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A typical Whitnell jug
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1972-1984 Whitnell was the place where everything started to happen
on a big scale. To start with I was firing two of three top-loading Bricesco
kilns every day before accepting a crafts Council loan which allowed me to
purchasetwo large electric front-loading kilns. I also moved completely into
stoneware firing to cone 8/9 and developing a range of glazes, some of which
I still use today. I was heavily involved with both Bridgwater Arts centre and
the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen - Taunton Museum bought two large pieces at one
Guild exhibition. The standard production ware was characterised by green and
white glazes with a reed pattern inspired by the reed mace which grew in
profusion along the coastal area near Hinkley Point. I still have customers from this period requesting replacements for broken pieces......
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Evercreech breadcrocks
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1984-1991 Evercreech pottery was almost a step back to the Chedzoy days in
that space was incredibly limited - difficult to accept after the open spaces
of Whitnell. But at least it moved me in to firing with gas in a 10 cubic foot
top load kiln using three Ray Scott burners. This, of course, meant redesigning
my glazes to work in a reducing atmosphere, but it was all exciting work. For most of this period I tended to stay with glaze effects which were safe - firings were
not so frequent and I wanted every firing to be as near perfect as possible.
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Pennard 16" bowl
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1991-the present Pennard Pottery - once again a property of the size
appropriate to the scale of work I prefer. Since building the (gas) kiln in 1993
I did over 300 firings by June 2005, abandoning the Ray Scott burners for
ceramic burners of my own design. With the help of Paul Stubbs I re-built the kiln
in the summer of 2005, at 15 cu ft slightly larger. I am still using the dough mixer I sourced
back in '72 and the electric wheel of the same age and am returning, once more, to
glaze experimentation. This is particulary necessary as I am making more and
more large, individual pots. I do very little brushwork these days using pigments;
rather most pieces are double or triple glazed with wax resist patterning. I fire
to cone 9 down, reducing from about 950c and the last half hour is an oxidising
soak at temperature.
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