21.05.12

Thanks to Karen Griffiths I have just been reading a beautifully written and inspiring book, called The Road through Miyama by Leila Philip. It is a book about Philip’s two year sojourn as a potter’s apprentice in Miyama, a small pottery village on the southernmost tip of Japan, in the 1980s. It is so much more, though, than a book about her apprenticeship, which is what the book hangs on. It is a finely studied travelogue, a coming together of two very different cultures, the experiences of a young American ‘gaijin’ (foreigner) in traditional Japanese society.

As it says on the front of the book, it is a ‘gentle and generous portrait of the village’ written with poetic turns on every page. “Outside, tatters of afternoon sun filter through the clouds, warming my spot for the remaining two hours of daylight.” Philip delights in the life of the village and writes memorably about her apprenticeship, her teacher and his wife, traditional customs and the planting and harvesting of the rice paddies.

One line hidden amongst the pages helped me enormously last week. Philip needs to finish turning the rice bowl she is making and writes that she was needing the bowls to ring when tapped rather than have a dull thud. So, I tried this when I was turning my bowls. As the bowls sat on my wheel I tapped them and there was a definite change of pitch between a hollow echo when the right thickness and a thud when too thick. I had to listen carefully but it was there. I used the hollow echo as my guide and sure enough, if I trusted the sound (a difficult thing to do, as I was putting my faith, and the welfare of the bowl, in the hands of the sound), when I had finished the turning was smooth and even. It was a little revelation, another step on my learning curve.

 

 

 

 

17.05.12

Just a little postscript to the post about weighing out glazes for consistency between batches – I should have said weigh out 500ml of glaze in grams not ounces. Thank you, Dianne, for the correction.

16.05.12

The Bradford Open for Art will take place during the first weekend in June, 2nd – 5th. It is the first year the event has been put on and I think it is very exciting for Bradford to get a Bradford-wide event that will showcase the city in a positive light. Bradford doesn’t always get the best press but there is a lot going on and the creative community is vibrant and interesting. I am really pleased to be opening my workshop as part of the event.

There’s going to be exhibitions, fairs and open studios taking place all over Bradford and from what I can see there will also be plenty of demonstrations going on in the open studios. There’ll be lots to see and do…

Lis Holt will be showing some of her work in my workshop, too.

Image courtesy of the Mill Bridge Gallery

Lis’s sculptural ceramics are inspired by the dynamics of the natural environment, particularly the seaside. She coils builds her pots, then fires them up to stoneware temperatures. It will be interesting to have the sculptural and the functional together in the workshop for the event.

If you are in the area, come and see us; you’ll be sure of a warm welcome. The address of the workshop is: 2 Westgate, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3QT.

 

09.05.12

I have added a similar post onto the Dove Street Pottery facebook page, but I thought I’d add a quick post here, too, as I had believed the subject to be incredibly complicated and so have given it a wide berth. In fact, after a conversation at the Saltaire Arts Trail, it turns out that it is incredibly simple, far simpler than is widely imagined, so I thought I’d share it. The subject is the density of the glaze, the thickness or thinness of it, and I am grateful to the wonderful Dianne Cross for her time and experience over the weekend.

The way to achieve consistency over batches of the same glaze is to first achieve a batch with a consistency that you are happy with. Then, measure the weight of 500ml of the glaze and find out how much it weighs in ounces. To measure the weight, all you do is put a jug on the scales, recalibrate the scales back to zero, fill the jug with glaze up to 500ml, put it back on the scales and take the reading. You don’t have to use 500ml, you could use any amount as long as you keep it consistent across your batches. If, when you make up another batch, the glaze weighs more than the original batch just add water until it reaches the desired weight. If it weighs less, then wait for the glaze to settle and take away enough water from the top of the glaze until you have reached the desired weight. You may need to do this a couple of times, as you will need to mix the glaze up again to check the weight and, if it still weighs less, you will have to wait again for the glaze to settle before you can take any more water out.

It really is so brilliantly simple and easy to do. Linda Bloomfield posted this link onto my facebook page of Nan Rothwell talking about the same subject on Ceramic Arts Daily.

07.05.2012

What a fantastic event the Saltaire Arts Trail, which finished today, was! I was taking part for the first time as a maker, as part of the Makers’ Fair, and it was a well-run, well-attended event – approximately 6,500 people visited the Makers’ Fair over the three days. That’s a pretty healthy footfall…

I love doing craft fairs. I love the chat with the customers, and the camaraderie and networking with the other makers; and it is a little sad when the fair is over. It’s a cup of tea and a long bath tonight, then starting on an order of 48 bowls tomorrow. That’s the best thing of all, sitting at my wheel with a pile of carefully weighed out clay on my left hand side.

 

30.04.12

Before applying to the British Craft Trade Fair, I was told that it would be a very valuable experience, whether I received any orders or not: the experience of exhibiting at such an event, talking to buyers about my pots and the networking opportunities with other makers. Well, the advice proved to be well founded. Not only was it an extremely enjoyable three days and I took some orders (with a couple more arriving via my inbox), but it was great to be part of the community of makers. Everyone, without exception as far as I could see, was incredibly supportive with each other, chatting, buying things from other people and offering advice on any arising technical issues. It was a pleasure to be part of such a friendly, well-organised event.

I enjoyed talking to the other potters about matters ceramic and some of the things we spoke about have occupied my thoughts since. These thoughts coincide with my re-reading David Pye’s ‘The Nature and Art of Workmanship’. It may seem strange for someone endeavouring to make handmade things but when it comes to making my own pots I struggle with the handmade look. I don’t mean in terms of sloppy or unskilled workmanship, I mean the mark of the hand, the trace of the hand. I have an unblemished, ‘perfect’ template that comes from living with and using objects made by a machine. This is my benchmark and it is hard to shift. So, this was part of the conversations we had at the BCTF and I found it quite liberating talking with other makers and seeing and handling their work.

This is an image of a page taken from David Pye’s book. I find it to be an inspirational image, in the context of this conversation, because none of the carved lines that make up the ‘Owl’ are identical, each shows the marks of the chisel. And beautiful marks they are too. You can literally witness the movement of David Pye’s hand as he carves the wood, the surface of which is endlessly moving, stimulating the eye (and if you could touch it, the hand). I love this piece for the overall effect of movement and dynamism, on a macro and micro level.

Exactly the same thing can be said about this tiny guinomi by Phil Rogers (it’s about the size of an egg cup): there is something going on wherever you look or feel. The clay is grogged so as you hold it your fingertips are constantly stimulated; the marks that you see are not of a chisel but of a turning tool; the overall form is symmetrical but within that the nature of the turning has created asymmetry. I am very lucky, as I was given this guinomi today as a birthday present.

The chapter in David Pye’s book that interests me most at the moment is the one titled ‘Diversity’, and these two examples are very good illustrations of Pye’s concept. This relates to form and surface qualities, on both a macro and micro level. Neither of these pieces could have been made by a machine, the hand is visible all over them, and therein lies their beauty.

23.04.12

Today was my first full(-ish) day in the new workshop and what a joy it was to be working in there. Space, it is a wonderful thing. It is only being in the new workshop that I realise quite how cramped it was in the cellar.

I have put fabric up in the windows to create a little bit of privacy and in the two times that I have worked in there previously I left it up. Today I felt that it would be nice to have some natural light, so I lifted the fabric off one of the windows. My workshop is in the centre of Shipley, so the window looks right onto the street, which meant that passers-by could see me and watch me work.

At first, I was a bit reticent about being ‘exposed’ like that but immediately it was a fantastic experience. The first couple to walk by stopped and asked if they could come in. They were an elderly couple, who volunteered in the charity shop next door. We had a lovely chat. Then three women came in and asked if they could have a go. They also asked if I could make some bowls for them and said that they thought they might be better than the ones in Asda. So many people stopped at the window and every one was smiling. With a bit of lip-reading,  ‘Wow, look at that’ seemed to be a common refrain.

Things being made by hand is not part of most people’s lives, let alone seeing things actually being made. It is unusual to see the production of objects while you are going about doing your daily shopping. To me, this is tremendously exciting. It’s not object making as part of the tourist trail, as exotica, as a curiosity that you bring back from a holiday as a souvenir. This is object making experienced within one’s own community, within an urban community, and it is this visibility that appeals to me. It is the witnessing of the making process that takes away its mystique, that makes it ‘normal’, accessible, a part of people’s everyday lives.

There is the kernel of a plan there – urban workshops, visible workshops, workshops in the heart of the community.

18.04.12

This is another beautiful video from the Goldmark Gallery. I have posted it on the right in the ‘Video’ section. I love the whole feel of this film, the whiteness of it, the way she talks about pottery, her aesthetic. And I love her kitchen… She spent some time working at Phil Rogers’ pottery in Wales, a potter I admire very much.

14.04.12

Most of the day today was spent putting together the final touches for my stand at the British Craft Trade Fair and going over to Harrogate to set it up. I have borrowed the table and chairs that I am using from a fantastic second hand furniture shop just round the corner in Frizinghall, called Baildon Furniture.

This is my stand. Simple, but clear and clean, I hope.

It was busy with everyone putting their stands together and I had friendly people either side of my stand, so that was really calming.

It starts in earnest tomorrow. I’m looking forward to meeting trade customers and having good conversations. Some orders would be very nice, too…

 

 

 

10.04.12

It’s been a busy family time these past 10 days or so over Easter, therefore there hasn’t been much done in the workshop. Now, though, with the British Craft Trade Fair fast approaching and my new kiln arriving on Thursday, I need to crack on. So, today has been spent tidying up some details relating to the BCTF, such as organising signage, getting a rubber stamp made of my logo to go on promotional material, making sure that the furniture that I am going to display my pots on actually goes in the car (it does, which is a relief…). And beginning to move my workshop over into the new one.

I opened the door to the new workshop this morning, having not been into it for a week or two (it’s been lying empty while I wait for the kiln), and I couldn’t believe the amount of space. Having been working in a space that is 8′ x 8′ for the past year, to have a workshop space and a separate glazing room is certainly going to be a novelty.

This is what I’ve been in – in my cellar, mixing glazes on the shelf above the wheel and firing pots in the kiln that warms my left buttock. I’m now going to be in here.

I think I’ll take down the screen blocking the window to allow more natural light in. My wheel will go where the clay is in the second picture. And to the left of it will sit a kick wheel, which I have very kindly been offered. More about that when it arrives in a couple of weeks. My ware-shelves will go along the end wall and I need to think about where to put a kneading table. Down the stairs, on the left in the first picture, is going to be the glazing room – kiln to be situated in front of those cupboards.

A water source just there, struts ready to take shelves, surfaces to put pots on, space to stand back without tripping over a wheel or a kiln – I couldn’t be more delighted. And it is all thanks to East Street Arts to whom I am very grateful. They are a company based in Leeds that provide studio space and exhibition opportunities to artists. This space is a disused shop in Shipley and, as a charity, East Street Arts can take it on and instal an artist or maker in it at a much reduced rent. There are a number of disused shops in Shipley and it would be fantastic to have a creative person in each one – that would be an imaginative and dynamic use of the town centre.

So, more moving tomorrow, kiln arriving on Thursday and wheel in on Friday. It’s then head down and making for the Saltaire Arts Trail, which will only be a matter of days away.

If you are in the area and I’m in the workshop, please come and knock on the door; I’d be very happy to offer you a cup of tea. The address is 2 Westgate, Shipley, BD18 3QT.

And, by way of an addendum, thankfully, I seem to have resolved my air bubble issues. A little gentler, softer with the hands and more precision seems to have done the trick. Another reason to be grateful…