I’ve recently been to give a talk at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London . The title of the talk was

BERNARD LEACH, MY GRANDFATHER

 Part of the talk focused on his philosophy which he thought was intrinsic to the Artist Potter at the start of Arts and Craft movement in the 1920’s. The language for this philosophy was borne out of his close association with the Japanese Soetsu Yanagi [philosopher and collector] and Shoji Hamada  [master potter] which he had assimilated during his first long stay in Japan 1909-20.

It was interesting for me to find the ethos of the Prince’s School had arrived via a very different route to a very similar philosphy. I very much enjoyed my visit there and was impressed with the high level of work researching the patterns found in the tiled faiences found in the Middle East for example.

Bernard Leach self portrait etching 1914

Today is a sad day because we are leaving the Appledore Crafts Company. The ACC  with its 16 full time members efficiently run the ACC gallery in Bude street Appledore. Each member mans the gallery on a carefully organised rota. The reason we are leaving is time, we already have  a full time shop within our pottery and the extra commitment is tending to overstretch us. Part of the efficiency revolves around the monthly meeting in the convivial atmosphere of the Joiners Arms, Bideford.

We will miss the ACC as they are good company and produce some fine work . If you would like to know a little more about them check out their excellent website.

www.appledorecraftscompany.co.uk

The four individual tiles

No matter how many times a potter opens his kiln if the results are good its a real lift. The tiles have come through very well, the stencils have worked  and their sharpness works in contrast to the combed and trailed lines. I’m very pleased with the glaze quality.The excellent photographs were taken by Frannie.

I was having some trouble down loading my images and captions and this detail didn’t make it on to the Harvest Jug.

tiles now completely dry being placed in the kiln for the biscuit firing (1015c)

The fish tiles have been drying steadily for just over a week and are looking pretty flat – that’s good.

I have finally sorted out my blogroll so I’ve added Hannah Mcandrew today.

My dad's old clarinet

One of the curious things about selling your work is the extraordinary conversations you sometimes get into. For instance just over a year ago a lovely new neighbour Maya just popped in to check us out and as we chatted it came to light  that she was a Clarinet teacher. My father Michael had died quite a while ago in 1985 and had left his 2 clarinets and they have sat in a draw ever since. Before Maya had left she had not only persuaded me to get one out but also to produce a note!! Ever since I have slowly been trying to master the clarinet a rather slow learning curve. 

Rough sketch looking for a full form excentuated by a small foot

We are having an exhibition in the Corinium Museum, Cirencester in September this year. This came about by a chance connection, the assistant curator was a student of mine in the British School Teheran in 1973-4.

I’m thinking of some pieces glazed in what I call the Persian blue. This glaze is made with an alkaline frit and coloured with copper.

The domes of Iranian mosques have wonderfully full forms.

The domes are clad with an amazing faience of tiles

I am looking for a form to echo the dome and to carry the Persian Blue glaze

Thank you for the warm response!! I’m encouraged

Reg Lloyd jug for Tales on Tiles

There has been a strong tradition of adding drawings and writings to large jugs in North Devon. Quite often these jugs were requests but I’ve seen pieces particularly in the Reg Lloyd collection when the potter has witnessed an event like a shipwreck and recorded this on the jug. Present among today’s potters/artists such as Grayson Perry is using the ceramic form to carry social comment.  I think some of the old North Devon harvest jugs are quite fantastic . Locally Harry Juniper the Bideford potter has perpetuated the tradition for the last 40 years.

I’m drawn to this kind of work too and produce a Harvest Jug when I feel inspired. The Tales on Tiles project  was to celebrate the collection of Reg Lloyd 

[R J Lloyd a gifted and established painter and illustrator, with his shrewd eye and collector's instinct has amassed many fine examples of North Devon Slipware, richly decorated in Sgraffito some combing and trailing and then glazed in  lead  and a touch of iron to give the warm honey finish.]

I used a tile pattern worded’ TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF THE REG LLOYD COLLECTION’ around the jug with a drawing of a tile press on the front and dated and signed on the back. I was lucky enough to be able to glaze it in galena which reacted well to the woodfiring in the Bideford Kiln 

The other side of the jug

day2 test tile newspaper stencil removed showing blackslip underneath

This is a panel of tiles to go in a bathroom with four extras to be placed around the room in the white tiling. The tiles will be glazed in our alkaline blue [copper] glaze the origin of which is in the Middle East, this means the white slip comes through a turquoisy blue and the black slip dark almost inky. I’ve based the drawing of the fish loosely on the Salmon and its fry which I think gives the design more strength. Keeping tiles flat in the drying and the kiln, one tip is to make sure the clay is even and eliminating draughts helps. We have a sealed cupboard for this.

I’m totally new to this blogging but I’ve been quite inspired Doug Fitch’s blog . Doug is a very enthusiastic force in slipware pottery making spirited and exciting work. nOw how do I add his blogsite????

www.slipware.blogspot.com

Primary sketch, templates & stencils

Working with the placing of the larger fish

Working with the placing of the smaller fish

tile dipped in white slip with stencil underneath

I’ve been working on a tile order today. A combination of stencilling, combing and trailing. The tiles need to be 200mm square finished so we have made them at 216mm to allow for shrinkage. I used a slab roller and a square template to produce the tiles.

Back of tile showing scoring and Springfield Pottery seal