About
My name is David Worsley. I studied Fine Art in Cornwall (Falmouth) and London (Royal College of Art) during the 1990s before moving to Saltaire, Yorkshire, in 2002. In 2007, I founded an art and textile festival here in Saltaire, which I left at the end of 2010 to concentrate on making.
I trade under the name Dove Street Pottery.
I am a potter making wheel-thrown ceramic tableware, striving to create simple pots of formal beauty that with daily use enhance and enrich one’s life. My aim is to marry beauty with function to create a pot that is a pleasure to use. My pots are made by hand and wear that quality openly. My influences are potters who look to the east for inspiration. I love the elegance of this type of pottery, its quietness and simplicity.
My workshop is located at Dockfield Road studios, Q20 Theatre Creative Arts Hub, Dockfield Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD17 7AD.
E: david@dovestpottery.co.uk
T: 07425 132291
Hello i have just read your article in the NPA News and had to have a look at your wordpress site. I also am a newbie potter trying to find my way on the potters wheel of adventure. your pictures in the NPA are very similar to mine, very simple forms in white clay? your jug is just like one i made after a lot of effort on a stand up and beg kick wheel.
Hi Ged. I hope your adventure is as rewarding as mine. Good luck, practise and perseverance seems to be the key. Where is the wheel you are using? Are there any images of the pots you’ve been making?
Hello again. I hopefully will be getting my hands on a Hudson and Pudson wheel ( video on youtube)in a months time. I have been using a Wenger sit up and beg kick wheel and getting more of an success with my bowls than jugs at the time the pictures of my work went to press. Thanks for your encouragement on my journey in pottery, maybe if you have time you will comment on my blog. Thanks Ged
Hi Ged. I would love to look at your blog but I can’t seem to access it for some reason. WordPress says it is no longer available…
Hello bit of a scare that it might not be running the blog. Have checked it over and all is fine. Here is the site gedpotteryblog.wordpress.com, look forward to your comments on the site.
Ged
Hi David – when you get a chance would you tell me what kiln you’ve got? I’ve been musing over getting something more reliable. Email me if it’s easier julietmacleod@gmail.com. Thank you.
Great to find your blog.
Row
Thanks, Row…
Dear David,
What a lovely blog. I am also a pottery – from Scotland but living in Italy. I have just started to sell at markets and fairs here in Tuscany. Reading yous words makes me smile as I have had many of the same experiences as you. I was wondering to what temperature you fire your pieces and if you use an electric kiln. I fire up to 1220° in an small electric kiln which isn’t great but will do for now. I am trying to focus on my throwing and dabble a bit in glaze making however with 3 children under the age of 8 i don’t have much time and have to stop and start a lot which doesn’t help the process of learning. Well David I wish you all the best and will read your blog on a regular basis now that I have found it.
Many thanks
Kirstie Mathieson
Hi Kirstie
It is really hard with a growing family that needs you. Perseverance, I think, is the key – keep going, keep learning, keep experimenting. I was firing to 1290 degrees but I have reduced it slightly as I am getting warping with my large mugs and I wonder whether it is because I am firing too high for the clay. So, I fire to 1240 degrees with a half hour soak.
Good luck – it’s a fantastic thing making pots.
David
Hi David,
Thank you for your reply. I wondered if you use the same base glaze for this lower temperature? My kiln gets up to 1240 max although I have never left it on soak before. I do 130° per hour up to 600° then full up to 1240°. In total it takes about 12 hours and then the same to cool down. How does this compare to your kiln? In Italy the houses only have 3kw of electricity so when I fire I have to turn off everything else.
Hope to hear from you and I’m glad to be part of this wonderful and generous group of people.
Take care.
Kirstie
Although i am a maker i am also studying Art in theory with the Open University and at 52 this is no easy task to acomplish but hope to compliment my craft knowledge !
I am also on the committee of the NPA and a volunteer for the York Museums Trust.
Enjoyed your Ceramics Review article… in particular the mirror idea. My problem is I have a shelf built into my wheel, where your mirror is. But I think I may be able to work round it. Certainly it would save all that getting up, reversing 5 yards, and ducking down to get a look at the pot from a distance. (BTW 30,000 pots is a bit over the top. Surely even Edmund De Waal hasn’t thrown that many. But then he does like to get a sort of mass production going for his installations).
The mirror has been a total god-send; I use it all the time, especially for turning. It’ll save your knees with all that ducking down… De Waal probably has thrown over 30,000 pots – he has been throwing since he was 5 or something…
Hey my name is scout worsley I am not sure if we are related Mabey distantly I love your work it is inspiring your great Mabey we could met up to talk about pottery?!
Hi David me again thank you for all the pots you made for me and my family.
(The Bromley family)
You are most welcome, young Scout… 🙂
Just received some mugs and plates from Toa st ….I love them, they give me a warm glow every time I drink my coffee.Thank you for the love you put into them …I know I can feel it.
XxLin
Thank you so much for your comment, Lin – I am really pleased that you like them. All good wishes to you.
Lovely pots, David. Great to see what you’re up to these days.
Martha