About myself
Born (a very long time ago) in Wiltshire into a farming and gardening family. Plant scientist (Agricultural botanist) by education, mother and farmer/s wife by life. Mother and crafter by heart. I always have a project of some sort on the go, anything from papercraft, crochet, cold process soap making, to anything garden based. I love the combination of science and colour, and ceramics is just that!
A very long time ago!
How Lantern Cottage Pottery came about
Fate has a lot to do with it!
About 20 years ago I bought a second hand treadle wheel. There was a field on our farm called the Claypits. I had planned to learn to throw and fire pots from the farm clay….it never happened. Fast forward to the last three years and much has changed. No longer farming, children grown up and independent and I moved to a lovely village in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.
Here I introduce the fate element! At the same time, unbeknown to me, a couple had moved a few houses down the lane and set up a pottery studio. I had an afternoon taster session and that was it…I was hooked!
My vintage Wenger treadle wheel
My pottery so far
Run before I can walk has been said of me more than once! and if knowledge is earned from mistakes then I must be a near genius by now!! I was taught good basic techniques at the pottery studio and went home with a bag of clay. I retrieved my old treadle wheel out of storage, cleaned it up and I practised, and practised, and practised!
The great thing about pottery is that until the clay has been fired, it is infinitely recyclable. So I would throw pot after pot and throw it back into my ‘bucket of doom’ to be mashed down in water, then put on plaster batts to be re-wedged ready to go again.
Experimentation is my thing at the moment, different clays, different glazes and varying kiln firing temperatures. Each being tested to see if the combinations work; clay to glaze, clay to firing temperature, glaze to temperature, glaze combinations and I do lots and lots of test tiles.
I mix up most of my glazes from scratch using recipes available from books and the internet. Finding my ‘style’ has taken a long time but I am gradually narrowing down my preferences to a few glazes, shapes and techniques. Colours, shapes and textures in nature, using the clay to make contours that the glazes will react with and pool.
There is a lot of time, skill, tools and knowledge that goes into any piece of handmade ceramics, whether it’s wheel thrown or slab built. Even if two pieces are made on the same day, glazed with the same glaze and fired side by side in the kiln, there will always be slight differences. Each piece will have it’s own personality which makes handmade ceramics so interesting and desirable!
