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The workshop at the end of the garden.
Pots are thrown and turned on an electric wheel.
Some pots are finished off by turning on a treadle wheel.
Once thrown, turned and handles added they need to dry before being fired for the first time. The biscuit fire.
When dry, the pots are stacked in the electric kiln and fired to 1000°C to turn them into pottery.
The electric kiln firing takes 16 hours to get up to temperature and even longer to cool down before opening.
Biscuit fired pottery from the electric kiln.
Pottery waiting for glaze to be applied.
The glazes are made from raw ingredients and stored in buckets.
Pots are often simply dipped into the glaze material.
Sometimes one glaze is applied over another.
Once dry the pots are ready to load into the gas kiln for the glaze firing.
The pots are then fired for a second time in one of the self-built gas kilns to cone 10 (1260 °C ).
This process takes up to 12 hours and needs to be constantly monitored, then a further day or so to cool down before the kiln is ready to be opened.
You never know what to expect when you open the kiln.
There are lots of highs but also some great disappointments.
It is very satisfying when it goes well.
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