Technique

Smoke and fire give my spherical ceramics their surface decoration.The pieces are burnished when leatherhard and bisque fired to around 960 C. Raku and smoke firing in a sawdust kiln, using organic materials and oxides, provide the surface decoration. The attraction for me of this type of firing lies in its primitive nature and its unpredictability.

Like many people, I began by attending evening classes. During one of these my tutor put on a raku workshop which was for me the highlight of this course and I became hooked. I also learnt a tremendous amount from other potters in particular Chris Dawes from Daventry who generously shared his time and expertise. Further valuable experience was gained while attending a five day workshop called “fire over the north”. During this I built and fired many different kinds of kiln including gas, wood, primitive mud kilns, pit and raku.

Over the past seven years I have developed my own styles and methods of working and now concentrate on raku and smoke firing with wood shavings. My new work is based on erosion, the wearing away of rock, wood and landscape by the forces of time, sea, weather and man.
The ceramics, hand-built from white stoneware are left to reach the leather hard stage, when they are altered, carved or decorated. A fine slip is painted onto the fossil and carefully burnished with a spoon until there is a smooth unblemished shiny surface. Biscuit firing to a low temperature of between 960-1000 degrees centigrade will retain the burnish, but give the work the strength to go through its second but more unpredictable firing. Smoke firing in a sawdust kiln using organic materials and oxides provide the more random effect of the surface decoration. Because this sort of firing cannot be totally controlled the results are unpredictable.

Low fired techniques offer spontaneous decoration that are particularly suited to her simple forms The ceramics, hand-built from white stoneware are left to reach the leather hard stage, when they are altered, carved or decorated. A fine slip is painted onto the fossil and carefully burnished with a spoon until there is a smooth unblemished shiny surface. Biscuit firing to a low temperature of between 960-1000 degrees centigrade will retain the burnish, but give the work the strength to go through its second but more unpredictable firing. stones of Callanish on the Isle of Lewis and the monuments at Kilmartin, Argyll have provided me with new ideas for my ceramics. For this second exhibition of Edges my work has developed from marked stoneware to include powdered slate, shale, vermiculite, brick dust or raw pigment which is pressed into the raw clay before the surface is textured and stretched.