Skip to main content
20th Century British Studio Potters Marks (new edition- forthcoming)

One for the Pottery Nerds....

A nice chap called James Hazelwood got in touch a while ago to ask me to submit my very own stamp for consideration for the new updated version of the much respected-  above tome.

 I hasten to add I am still under consideration at this point, and with many varied talented fellow potters out there- there's only room for so many...so its not a "shoo-in"...But I was very pleased to be asked to send in my own "marks" and "stamps".

I guess I started by not signing any of my works- (not a good start really!) whilst at Uni- then progressed to using an old cylinder head block stamp set (courtesy of my Dad from his motor works- they still appear occasionally) then onto a variety carved plaster stamps. These are applied onto a small pad of clay- or impressed into the clay directly.  I also use an old co axial cable to impress a round ring mark- more a decorative touch really.

Well there you go- I took some photos- made some drawings and then submitted them off to James. Poor old James he has a tough job taking over from the late Eric Yates Owen and Robert Fournier. What a task  he's got on his hands....and where would you begin?










Comments

Post a Comment

Comments...

Popular posts from this blog

Making and firing Raku tiles

I have just had in one or two orders and enquiries concerning Raku tiles. Making them  can drive you to despair- what with their tendancy to warp, crack and shrink! It's amazing how something so simple is in actual fact so hard to make.  It's also very difficult to  lift a flat object out of the kiln with tongs from a red hot kiln. Well, with some prior experience,  I've developed a firing system for tiles now which is now working pretty well. Quite simply, I lay each tile on a flat bed of ceramic fibre. That way each tile is raised slightly off the kiln shelf- and it's then easy to grasp the tile with tongs and drop into your reduction chamber/smoking bin. I stack  two or three kiln shelves and can pack in  about 20 tiles in one batch - depending on size. I do let the kiln cool slightly before carefully removing each shelf of tiles. I back off the gas- get each shelf of tiles out- then power back up to temperature and repeat till they're all safely out of th
3 comments
Read more

Early days with volcanic and crater glaze part 2....

I glazed a couple of volcanic/crater glaze tapered bowls recently. They almost "half" work- but I'm still not convinced I've got it right- although it's promising. I layered combinations of glaze but I'm having a slight problem with the thick layers of silicon carbide glaze crawling. Sticky fingers maybe? Lots more to come over the next few months, probably with the next recipe- Pinnel Strontium Crater - with a variety of glaze stain additions . It's a pretty reliable recipe so fingers crossed.
Post a Comment
Read more

Some more Crater glaze test results

I've been blathering on about Crater and Lava Glaze recipes here and on Facebook too. I suddenly "got the bug" as well as a commission- (more on this later) so hence the rather manic activity testing out glazes and destroying kiln shelves in the process with runny, bubbling glazes. I tested 2 recipes- after first trying the usual recipes from the internet and in various books. As I suspected - few of them gave satisfactory results- either it was "pilot error" or the glaze authors just happen to neglect to tell you that vital missing  ingredient, kiln temperature or soak time etc! (Know the type of thing?) Anyway I resorted to testing 2 standard glaze recipes which I've had for years. A turquoise matte and a Lucy Rie white stoneware. The jury is still out on the turquoise variant- but the white is rather nice. A little suggestion from Potter Jan Lewin Cadogan  http://www.janlewin-cadogancontemporaryceramics.co.uk/ put me right by suggesting to mix the g
2 comments
Read more