With most crafts an array of the most wonderful words for technical processes and tools can be found, and pottery is no exception. We have things like ‘leatherhard’, ‘biscuit’, ‘chuck’ and many more. But this week I’ve been thinking about the word ‘slip’. Clay slip is clay mixed with a little water. It’s generally a lower viscosity than say, a lump of clay for throwing with, and can be used for slip casting - but in our studio we mainly use slip as a tool for joining components together, such as a handle to the body of a mug or a spout to a teapot.

Perhaps to the bystander, the pursuit of making and selling pots may seem blissful in its uncomplicated and straightforward nature. I mean, the potter must spend their days with hands in clay, at the wheel perhaps, or foraging for clay - I’m picturing a cinematic panning across the studio with ambient music, beautiful, aesthetically pleasing clay splatters and glaze spills and unloading the kiln with huge smiles on our faces.

To celebrate the launch of the Autumnus Vase for BATCH 1, we got in touch with our friend Vicki, founder of Uncut Stems, to see if she’d like to create something for us.. Luckily she said yes and it has been a joy to see how Vicki and her colleague Louisa decided to style the vase.

I’ll be frank, I’ve been short on time this month so this is a super concise edition of our monthly studio journal. School holidays, preparing for BATCH, consuming and preparing cheesecake. A massive shop update. Packing pots for days. It’s been a month!

A story about mugs - how we make them, which are our favourites. And about the love / hate relationship with handles.

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!