Our July Studio Journal
Here’s what we’ve been up to in the studio this month. We’ve welcomed a new team member, Natalie, who is helping us with a whole host of tasks from admin to marketing and all things in between, we’ve been working on our new project, BATCH, we’ve made many ramen bowls and lidded jars, and have had some beautiful images taken by India Hobson. I’ve been reading ‘Kenko and Chomei - Essays in Idleness and Hojoki’ and we’ve been listening in the studio to our Spotify playlists and to Sense and Sensibility. It’s been a rather hectic type of month, with the end of the school year and just so much to do in the pottery!
Friday 1st July
One of the quicker items to make, but not necessarily the simplest, are our faceted egg cups. They are thrown quite quickly, faceted at the wheel, and the next day trimmed. Today Luna has trimmed a batch and we shall get these through the kiln and glazed within a couple of weeks. Because they are small they don’t take so long to dry.
Luna trimming faceted egg cups
Sunday 3rd July
I just love the peachy pink of our clay at this stage- these have been ‘biscuit fired’ and will soon be glazed and fired again. Clay is quite recyclable - often times when loading a kiln for a bisque firing, if something doesn’t make the cut, it gets broken down and added to the reclaim bucket, then turned back into usable clay for throwing again. But once it’s been biscuit fired, which is 1030 degrees Celsius, this is no longer an option. Biscuit fired pieces aren’t functional though, they are still porous and relatively fragile, but they have entered a state of permanence. Like a sort of creative limbo - we’ve committed to these pieces but they’re not fully realised. I think this is why I enjoy having lots of biscuit ware pieces around in the studio, it suggests progress and opportunity and a sense of ambition.
“Something left not quite finished is very appealing, a gesture towards the future. Someone told me that even in the construction of the imperial palace, some part is always left uncompleted. ”
Thursday 7th July
Home time after a productive day in the studio. Being a shopkeeper / glazing / kiln loading x 2 / cookie eating. Matt trimmed side plates and Luna made a plaster mould. We are also binge listening to Sense and Sensibility. It’s just so scandalous!
Friday 15th July
There’s an air of anticipation as the studio prepares for a small shop update this evening. It’s been Natalie’s first week in the studio and she’s been thrown in at the deep-end with the preparation of this first update.
Meanwhile Luna has been working on a small batch of lidded jars in the pale clay, and trimming dinner bowls too. I am sanding bisque ware and multi-tasking on various tasks - feels like I’m doing too many things and not focussing on just one. Must slow down and focus a little more.
Friday 22nd July
Today we launched the first ‘wave’ of information about our new project BATCH. It’s been an idea we’ve been thinking about for ages, implementing for a while, and now ploughing ahead at full force. I was nervous about sending the email out to our customers - very little research has been conducted on our behalf about who might be interested in this project. It’s based upon a feeling, a yearning for creativity, and a desire to make some exciting things. I am so pleased with the response so far - lots and lots of names added to the waitlist already.
Monday 25th July
It is the summer holidays for the kids and so Matt and I are straddling childcare with studio work. It was my turn to be with the kids today but I did get a mid-morning phone call from the studio - I had applied a couple of glazes too thickly and they have run, all over our new kiln shelves. I am angry with myself for rushing my work at the moment, for not being systematic, for making a mistake I simply shouldn’t have.
Incidentally I have been reading, in spare moments, a fab little book called ‘POTTERS TIPS - Practical Ideas for Potters from Readers of Ceramic Review’, and I remembered one tip, which was to add sand to any glaze drips on the kiln shelves, re-fire, and then the glaze should be absorbed by the sand and come off relatively easily, without a hammer and chisel.
Wednesday 28th July
Natalie photographed these vases today and uploaded them to our online shop. They were thrown during a particularly intense period of production making - as a bit of fun. An antidote to our usual precision and control - a chance to throw and mark make freely.
We’ve been living with them for a little while and even sent a couple to India to photograph (the person, not the place!). Now we’ve decided to sell them. Sometimes it’s good to keep new pieces and ideas around for a while before releasing them into the wild.