Hello again! I thought
for this blog post I would share with you a typical day for me at the pottery.
I have been with Andrew as his apprentice for a little over two years now, and, although every day is different, there is always some sense of rhythm and strategy
to what we do.
The kiln at the
pottery is relatively large, with about 9 cubic ft of packing space. It takes 250-300
pots (including small ones) to fill, and usually 2-3 months is needed to create
the volume and variety of pots required for a glaze firing. A variety of shapes and sizes is
important, both to get a ‘good pack’ that will force the flames to work their
way around the kiln, and to ensure we have a good selection of pots to put in
the shop in the end.
I am responsible for
making the smaller items; espresso cups, mugs, bowls, little vases, etc. Andrew
was keen that I learn all parts of the process, so I throw, turn, bisque fire
and glaze all of the work I do. Any work I make for the pottery gets marked
with the pottery stamp, Andrew’s work is marked with his own and I have a stamp
my personal work too.
The day usually begins
for me at 9am, and usually ends around 6 or 7pm. There is coffee at 11am, lunch at 1:30, tea at 4pm - cake,
always. On this day, I began with
turning some espresso-cup saucers. We don’t usually make these but somebody had
asked especially for them, and it became a good opportunity for me to learn a
new trick or two.
Pictured below is one
of the saucers in a shallow inverse chuck (support) that enabled me to turn
away the foot rings quickly and without damaging the rim. Andrew had suggested
that I also make a regular chuck for cutting away the cup indent. I forgot to
do this but managed to use the first chuck again successfully, with just a
little soft clay to support it. Andrew saw this and said nothing - which
usually means he doesn’t entirely approve, but is willing to let me go ahead, and if I mess it up I wont forget the lesson. Learning from your own mistakes
is very important!
Foot ring ready to turn in the chuck
Finished foot ring
Cutting away the cup seat in the same chuck
After coffee and
before lunch there was time to make a quick dash to see Mark Griffiths who has
a pottery a few miles away in Culmington. He was firing his new wood kiln and
had invited us over to see it in action. I had never seen a wood firing and was
very impressed and intrigued, I would really like to fire with wood in the
future and have been reading up about it recently.
Mark's wood kiln
After lunch, it was
glazing time. I left the saucers to dry in the shade (of which there is plenty
in the beautiful garden), and headed to the kiln shed to make up some of my
first ever glaze tests. I have focused on making, and learning about form and
throwing until now, and have only really just felt ready to start looking at
coming up with my own direction for colour and glazes. It was a very timid
start, but a start at least!
Saucers and vases drying in the shade.
My first glaze test at The Marches Pottery
Tea was had at 4, and then I
set about the final task for the day; making sense of the great number of
bisque fired pots that were waiting to be glazed. I needed to sort out which of
my pots needed to take which of the 10 or so glazes we use, and make sure each
of those glazes were made up and of the right consistency to use.
Bisque fired pots, ready to be sorted and glazed.
With that job completed, I had just enough energy left to climb out of my overalls, and another day was done :).
