Whilst generally the first half of December leaves little time to think and is just a mad rush to get everything done, those jumbled in between days between Christmas and new year, sometimes leave a little too much time to think and can leave you in a confusing state of overwhelm. So many ideas and intentions yet very little energy. Matt and I are getting started on a sizeable tableware commission (thankyou pottery gods, all potters love a post Christmas commission!) and so these days are spent dividing family festivities with making, mornings at the wheel, afternoons building den forts out of cardboard. For me though this is the best time to think, alone in the studio with my thoughts, busy hands, I don’t get so overwhelmed because I am being productive. 

November has been a month of slightly unhinged making, of playing shopkeepers in our workshop and celebrating the fact that our studio now has some form of heating.

Throughout November and December we are opening our workshop doors to the public, which feels at once terrifying and exciting. I love having guests in the studio, especially when we’ve had time to tidy up and make everything look beautiful. Think beautiful pots, homewares, lots of greenery and perhaps a glass or two of something mulled.

When I put together our monthly studio journals it is almost impossible to not begin with the weather. Is it because I’m British and we live in a constantly shifting climate? Or perhaps it is because our new workshop doesn’t yet have heating installed and so we are feeling the onset of autumn a little more keenly than before…. Whatever the reason, I feel it is my duty to comment upon the most exquisite colours of the falling leaves this month, and also to say that yes, beeswax candles have been extremely popular, in fact we’ve almost sold out! A new delivery from Moorlands is imminent.

As potters go, Matt and I seem to have a thing for making jars.

Jars, boxes, vases with flower frog lids, storage jars, urns, sourdough starter jars, a place for tea and coffee, sugar dishes, jewellery jars - the list goes on for the different ways people use them. Our jars make lovely gifts too, something to consider as we head into the ‘gifting season’

September has been the first proper month of making in our new workshop. Phase 1 of the studio move is finally complete! That is, we are moved in, things have found their general places and we are functional. We are back to making and back to a bit of teaching too.