What is a Saggar?

What is a Saggar?

I make these saggars on the wheel but I have also made them using formers in the past. Using formers means rolling out slaps rather than wrestling large amounts of clay into one place. I made one recently that was the size of my kiln interior by wrapping clay slabs around a bucket wrapped in paper.

Rocks have Lids?

Rocks have Lids?

Or how something I created due to injury became of of my favourite ceramic creations. In 2018 I was preparing for Earth and Fire in Nottinghamshire and working as a Design Technology Technician (wood, metal and plastics) as a day job, I was using a bandsaw which was something I did most days as I was generally using the laser cutter and supervising classes at the same time. Our bandsaw wasn’t the best, it was in all likelihood bought by the school long before I was born and it was in constant need of TLC. Regardless, as I made a…

Wave Marks in the Sand, or…

Wave Marks in the Sand, or…

Wave Marks in the Sand, or Soap Dishes? The answer is soap dishes, I’m making these to take to the Green Loop Eco Makers Market in Lytham St Annes at the end of April. They will be glazed in a wood ash glaze, which is waste from wood stoves, plus a powdered clay and the calcinated seashells from my saggar firings, once they have been used to stop pots sticking together in that firing they turn to powder which can then be used to help flux the glaze. As well as these I will also be making the tools that…

Pottery For Preston

I was recently commissioned to make pottery for the Harris Museum in Preston, the pottery will be available for sale through the Harris Museum. There are six pots each has a section of the views of Preston, so each covers about 60 degrees of the view, which is carved through white slip on terracotta. The windows also have white gold lustre to make them stand out further. It was an amazing job to work on, it unfortunately came up in the middle of my youngest being diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic, but that’s a completely different story.

More Saggars

So this week I made some prototype saggar formers and saggars, I mixed my own clay with sawdust, grog from broken pots and some molochite for added strength.  Now if I didn’t have a deadline I would let them dry over two weeks, but I had a deadline so I force dried overnight and fired the next day so you will see some cracks in the larger saggar. Also if you want to make a saggar former don’t leave such big gaps as the clay can get stuck in them making the harder to remove.