I make a range of functional and decorative tin-glazed earthenware and commissioned lettered pieces for special occasions like weddings and births.
Tin-glazed earthenware - Maiolica - is a historical technique which in its time aimed to imitate the blue and white porcelain that came from China. It found its own expression in Holland as Delft and in England as Lambeth Ware. Colourful versions are still produced now in Italy and Spain.
A buff or red earthenware clay is covered with a tin-glaze which provides a white background for decoration. Please scroll down the page for notes about the technique.
The GALLERY page showcases my work.
If you are interested in commissioning a piece, please go to the COMMISSIONS page, which gives details of how to commission a piece from me with many examples down the page. I make a range of bowls, plates and drinking vessels for lettered work. Prices start from £40.
On my SHOP page you will find pots that are ready to purchase. Upcoming shows are posted on my EVENTS page.
I also offer individual tuition in throwing on the wheel and decorating with brushes; if you are interested get in touch via email to book a suitable time for you.
Image credit: Rebecca Welland
Technique:
I throw most of the shapes that I make on the potter's wheel and refine them to the right shape and weight by turning at the leather-hard stage. I often turn a foot especially on bowls which lifts the shape off the ground and lends it visual lightness.
Any shapes that are not round are made by press-moulding.
I use a red earthenware clay from Stoke on Trent which I mix with a buff clay from in Italy. The reason why I mix these two clays is, that the Italian clay significantly improves the throwing properties of the red clay.
After the first firing - the bisque firing - I glaze the pots by dipping and brush-paint my designs with oxide mixtures.
Pots are then glaze fired to around 1060c in an electric kiln.
Image credit: David McKibbin
I find it grounding to work with a multitude of manual processes and the skills that are involved in making tin-glazed earthenware pottery.
I am interested in making items for use that are tactile and visually satisfying by controlling the processes of making, painting and firing. The finish of the underneath and the foot of the pot is as important to me as the position of the design on the shape, the quality of the glaze and the richness of the fired oxides.
I explore form and painting with the aim that each informs the other. I think of my work as evolving using the finished work as a reference point by which to move on from.
I am influenced by painted ceramics from Persia, Spain and China; admiring their fluency and skill with the brush.
Read my full CV here.
Click on the logo of the Hampshire and Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen below; this will take you to the Guild website.
