So these were the original wonky pots that I made out of frustration of wanting to make the sort of work I wanted rather than being a production potter. The idea was to make them with plenty of chunky grog so fine details wouldn’t be possible. The slip was then dribbled down the pots and they were shock to encourage the slip to keep dripping
You may remember my post on Saggars and some of my results. I really want to talk a bit more how these wobbly pots are made.
It was when this wonky pot gained traction on instagram and ended up going to live in Portugal I decided it was time to make some more wonky pots.
Naked wobbly pots awaiting their decoration. They are made from a secret stoneware earthenware blend with some iron oxide added for effect. They were thrown loosely and then treated to a beating with a piece of 2 by 1 that was in the workshop.A stream of porcelain slip launched towards the wonky pots. I fill a cup of slip and fling it as hard and fast as I can.the impact of throwing the slip on the pottery sends it flying off in all directions. this is a different round of throwing slip to the video andthe splash is so violent there are still particles of slip in the air.Another batch of wonky pots all slipped and drying in the garden.Not all my wonky wobbly pots are saggar fired these days, this was fired next to the saggar and has gone to live with the amazing Lighthearts in Brum whom I owe a lot to.
I really love to make these, and I really want to make more, I don’t care about function with this form, I just want to create something different. In fact I want to make them more wobbly, wonky and uncontrolled.
I don’t make anything simply and I need more iron oxide and terracotta to make another batch of wonky pots.
I want to know as an audience if there is anything you want to see more off from my pottery videos or blog articles? Please just let me know in the comments below.
Or should that be thinking backwards. Recently I have been finding myself rediscovering older thinking and going back to earlier ideas. For a start I decided to go back to my original title for my research and for my thesis, I also found a business card on my desk that showed marks into the clay that I had recently tried and thought was a new idea for my work. The business card was from my final year at university and I stopped making the marks as a tutor told me it made the work “too busy”.
I am fascinated by numbers at 16 years old I used to say I loved working with numbers, but that was before I did double maths for my A-Levels. I was good at working with numbers, more so than reciting facts verbatim, in fact before I got my ceramics degree my only qualifications were mathematics and sciences. Sometimes I think like about the cost of making something, as the cost of often selling something is higher, due to other factors and the fact I don’t sell means working out that final cost doesn’t bother me. The following is a thought…
Watching Alex Shimwell throw on YouTube always reminds me of watching Kevin Millward. Kevin Millward was a visiting tutor during my final year of my Undergraduate degree, he only taught at the university one day a week for four weeks. By this point I had been watching YouTube videos for a year to help with my throwing and I was truly awful. Not only did I not know what I was doing, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had drawings of what I wanted to make which were far beyond my making abilities, so I just…
Patia Davies film on making buttons shows a real sense of rhythm to life and the processes she is going through. The video isn’t a video of a teacher standing in front of a class and doesn’t stop to explain. For someone with a background in making there is a lot she is teaching and a lot to learn. We see in this video there is efficiency to making buttons as they are a by-product of making platters.
Last night was the Nurph chat,thank you for everyone that came out live and watched. It was an amazing time talking to Adam Field, Paul Blais, Carole Epp and Michael Kline. There is a recording in the projects section of the website here. There will be another chat: Sunday 26th July at 9pm GMT, 5PM nurph.com/redfoxpottery The chat will be on “The Scale of Production” Guests are Amanda Barr, Corey Johnson, Joseph Travis. I hope you can come out and watch live and ask questions.
With my work I decided some time again that I wanted to make playful work especially as we has limited time, so why make something serious and stagnant. It’s about make pots that contain energy and liveliness, which can be difficult in a medium that becomes “set in stone”. I can’t just hand a customer a soft clay pot and touch the fresh clay and let them feel how alive it is, and how the slightest movement can change its form, but I want to leave that impression that it was touched with hands and not just mass made to…
