The "Umble Lill ol pot"

A board or two of classic affordable little pots for the "Better buy something before we go" custom.This ones for you 'Sculptrix'(Google blog'Clay Chronicles'Guess what they are?)Do you know what these are?,A simple little 12oz pot of many heights and diameter's. First one to let me know exactly what they are gets one,Gratis!

The necks make em a bit of a 'Pigaroo' to turn but throwing a suitably accommodating chuck from clay or sticking a found pot on the wheel head answers the problem.

My favourite tool for getting into tight corners without the actual tool itself impeding the operation is in fact the simplest .A 'Shim' of hardened steel,broken in half has a subtle curve allowing you to tuck it in & under the foot.

Having droned on in the past about 'Studio' pots,don't neglect the something for a few quid sale.Get it right by giving due thought to what is wanted,and multiples of small pots soon add up.

Best sellers this year were Citronella garden lights bonded to good quality canes. Quite often small items can be economically produced from some other make or process.I hate waste so if ever extruding die formed handles then the odd lengths get turned into lightweight 'Apron' hooks and off cut coils become simple 'mushroom' cane tops (stops you poking yer eye out!)

The ducks shown are one of the very few things i have ever 'slip cast'(pouring liquid clay in to a mould)These from the original.The very first ones were air brushed in multi real colours but were prohibitively expensive to market.

market place

Having been recognised as a tad alternative (weird if you like) I was once given a set of flying ducks.What a catalyst that proved to be.Moving on from'Naff Coronation street' to retro chic happened at lightening speed.Suddenly my downstairs sported some 150 ducks.Buying a set twenty tears ago for a then staggering sixty quid led most people to think I'd finally lost the plot!

"Does it pour?"

Seems like those lonely little goblets will need 'flagons'.Thrown with a tall graspable neck wide enough to accept a bung,seemed to be for me a more simple design that evolved from overly complex Handels lugs & other accouterments. Rather than go through the agonies of forming a chuck to 'upend' them and turn their bases( a chuck being a ball of clay thrown dry on the wheel to a 'bucket' or deep enough shape to accommodate your pot upside down,some times a found ready made pot will do!)I opted for bottom turning.Making the wheel tacky and bonding pot 'Rs' down is do able with care.A damp thumb pressed around the base will produce an adequate con caved foot ring.Don't think I would opt for stoppers myself but customers seem to go for them and I'm nout but pragmatic.

"Does it pour" (A point of view)

'Customers' bless em,skirt round asking this very question,and I'm not talking flagons now or even tea pots.I mean stuff that doesn't appear to have function.'Studio'pottery was originally a loose definition of non factory wares which contrary to industrial ware,underwent a lower first firing(bisque or biscuit)and then a second (glost or glaze)firing.A high first firing burnt much more of the 'gunge'(organics & gases)from the body(a mix of clays and other meaningful ingredients) It gives problems having a non porous body for glaze to 'suck' to but is largely overcome by spraying,hence its perfect but clinical look(bog pans & such!).

Lately 'Studio' has crept in to the lexicon to mean 'non functional',you know 'posh' pots that look good against a white wall with a spotlight on and conversely don't pour,hold your Wheatabix or go under the bed! Snobbery? not a bit of it.I've personally both welcomed and embraced it.If there is a trace of bias in me(& I'm a bit left of centre) it's because I'm a hardened trained thrower schooled in how to produce spouts at given angles & 'vortex'considerations,..It's loosen yer corset time!

What should turn it for you is whether you posses 'Artistry or not.You most certainly must engage the beast of 'Art' or die a boring potter. As a professional potter,the final realisation for me was survival.The first influx of indifferent cheap wares for the 'Tat' industry,suddenly woke up our fellow contemporary makers in foreign climes,namely China in particular."Competition!! excellent"(many better than I'll ever be) .

Studio ware for me was genuinely not exploitational but a wonderful opportunity to expres what I felt was my humble art in ceramic and more saliently,being able to ask a fair price for it without comparisons.I confess I'm a little cynical about those who indulge in studio as an excuse for an inability to throw or hand build a basic cylinder,but that could be my prejudice some might say arrogance,you know,that one should be a Rembrandt to have the sincerity to do a Picasso??Ergo,should it pour?-"Hell no"but if it has a spout,-"Too bloody right it should,and properly!

Market place

O.K.Another drone on for the 'anoraks'(blame the children remember).It strikes me when people see the piles of recycled clay on plaster blocks,there are two reactions.Stick yer finger in it & enquire as to what it is.( kids are convinced it's chocolate & edible!

Do you know what, i reckon we potters invented recycling! I do know of a commercial pottery who refuse to reclaim their scrap on the basis that employing someone to do actually do it was cost prohibitive! It is claimed the oriental potters of yore would prepare and pit store clay for the coming generations and consequently use clay prepared by previous generations. I have to say ,though I'm ready to 'poo poo'many a profundity this particular claim is based on fact.In my opinion the quality of aged & sweetened clay is unequivocal.I never throw fresh clay unless pushed,it just doesn't respond in the same way!

Thought I'd throw goblets to-day. I would never have attempted a one piece throw without scrutinising my 'Guru' the great Jim Creswell (i bow in admiration) who could throw a 10" cider goblet in two breaths!

I guess if you consider the task as two pots in one,you've got it ! Throw a 'conical' mound,divide it & create base and thick stem,develop bowl,return to stem,thin out bowl and so on.The finesse of the finished goblet is i think achieved at the turning.Set up a coned 'chuck' and turn out your stem and i create a simple con caved Base.I like enhancing the 'Knuckle' of the stem with an old broken fluting tool that moulds the knuckle into a neat ball. Before and after shots illustrate this.

Market place

'knobs & all'

The 'offspring' tell me i should impart more "doing pottery stuff".So how about the other days 'Knobs & All' exercise ? (must stop putting 'quotation marks' to everything !..and exclamations!).Knobs & all was gleaned from an American potter who used the delightful expression to describe throwing a lidded pot in one go.

Throw a cylinder(in this case 12oz)with just enough thickness in the rim to close it up as if it were a bottle then seal it totally.The captured air should now give you enough resistance to push down and develop a 'dome'.By now the heat from my 1,500 watt lamps (quite unnecessary,but helps!)has expanded the air giving extra oomph! The trick now is to arm yourself with a wooden tool or any squared off piece of wood,in this case about 1/4 " and gently press into the pot (wet) where there will be a division of pot and lid.Keeping up?..Usual procedures now to leather hard(us veggies prefer 'Cheese hard') Don't forget to put a pin hole in the dome to let the pressure out or POP!

Turning...make a suitable chuck,pot in Topsy turvey and turn your base foot ring.When completed,flip the pot over(right way up ),trim and with a needle,cut through on the lower part of the indent until both lid & base separate.If you're a cleaver Bunny you will have a flat gallery on the base and a clever inset flange on the lid that with a bit of 'tweeking' should make a satisfying fit in the pot,'Knob's & all ' !!