Usual service is resumed after some health issues, I wasn’t allowed to do anything strenuous lifting or anything that strained my stomach, this also included washing up, hoovering, making tea or housework. I was told all these things by the surgeon, who failed to mention getting beaten about the head.
The workshop is a little bit chilly after a lot of very mild autumn days, first fire of the autumn/winter season.
the first one this season
I did a little bit of throwing, but found it hurt , so I made some plates using the moulds that I made pre op instead.
a shallow mould for a flatter p[ate
Luckily my pugger has a vacuum pump which takes the need for kneading out of the preparation . I decided to roll out slabs on the slab roller. Using machines to do the hard work is a basic human thing.
Beach slip over a green slip chattered on with wide brush green slip over beach slip chattered on with a wide brush wet to dry sowing the shrinkage
All the pots were taking ages to dry but did manage to fill a kiln for bisque.
I would like to finish by wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year .
This years trail is the biggest yet, 31 artists and crafts persons. Pick up a guide you will see them in Cafes, libraries, and of course on the trail pop into any venue just follow the signs.
Come and take a look, you will be very welcome .
Update on trail statistics; the trail as a whole attracted an increase in footfall of 40%,slaes overall were up 35%.
our visitor numbers were up from 114 in 2025 to 165 in 2025 an increase of 311 % . Most people were pleased we certainly enjoyed it.
Thank you to everyone who visited , see you next year
On holiday what do most people do, visit a pottery community of course.
Terracotta the upper way with old kilns
Essaouira is a coastal town 176 kilometers from Marrakesh and Safi is 121 kilometers north from there. The only way to get there was in a taxi, the road follows coast, miles of beautiful beach crying out for surfers, there was only one small resort for them oddly called Saouira.
pottery dog, dogs roam free in Morocco
We rode through the desert on a taxi with no name it felt good to be out of the rain and enjoying 20 something centigrade heat. After driving through a huge petrol refinery, we arrived in Safi a more workaday town than Essaouira .
Tagines and their chaffing dishes a sea of red clay
We walked through the main street with showrooms and workshops either side, when we were accosted by an older man who insisted we went with him to to his ‘ artisan’ workshop. We followed up some stairs and along one of the upper ways where he opened up his very small workshop, he was very nice and insisted that I had a go. Dentistry is not very good in Morocco for poor folk, his front teeth often fell out as he smiled so much, sadly I never did get his name. He showed us his two kilns the last firing of which for twenty years ago, they use electric ‘ ovens ‘ now.
The upper part of the kilninside the kiln with the flues at the bottominside looking up into the chimney flue probably covered in large shards The flues coming through the floor and a Moroccan footderelict kilnour man’s kilnnicely attired stoke hole
The kilns were very basic updraught type one stoke hole and many flues. they were rounded cones and had really big chimney flues. He gave me some clay to take home and I have made a slip with it. There were about 20 kilns in the area none of which is used.
wheel speed was very fast and he threw off the hump ,very small space
Moroccans use tagines a lot and still use charcoal chaffing dishes used since medieval times or before , and the market for unglazed wares was very busy everywhere we went, garden pots to cooking dishes with terrasig slips.
chaffing dish Tagine with terra sig slip coating Tiles depict how it was OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Looking across the valley it was easy to visualize how it would have been, when the ovens were working and with local people buying their pots for everyday usage before the days of metal and aluminium.
Planned 3 months ago, we were very lucky with the weather .
The firing was mainly to get some stuff ready for Bren’s Emsworth open studio weekends, though her venue had lost it’s roof to a fire the previous night.
Bren bought two people , one non combatant and another, ( Linda ) who was being a bit fishy.
I had made a top hat kiln especially to fire single larger pots for horse hair and feathers , it was amazingly quick to get it up to 800 which is the best temp for horse hair and feather, stinky business.
I can’t get hardwood sawdust anymore and the softwood chips were very smoky, note to self buy a good mask.
We had a very convivial lunch and had a very enjoyable day, although it felt like a hundred extra strong cigarettes, onto the next one in April.
Sadly i’m unable to volunteer at the Weald and Downland Museum any more . I have a number of pots that I would like to give away to anyone who wants them. I will have to charge postage or you can come and get them by arrangement. Telephone 07930356070. I am in possession of a functioning kettle and have some exotic leaves from Ceylon Sri Lanka that I can infuse into a hot beverage.
Planned for the Friday but cancelled due to weather, I decided the Saturday looked better in the forecast. The decision was a good one and Saturday turned out to be clear and very warm.
I wanted/ needed to do this solo to increase my knowledge of the kiln. I needed to finish the firing before darkness for safety reasons. The sparks and flames highlighted against a dark sky may have alarmed my neighbours. To make this happen I needed to start very early with the gas flame as quietly as possible, two Saturn rockets going off at 4 am tends to annoy them, a moderate flame was the answer until a reasonable time, 9 am.
All went well and started to stoke wood at 10 am, there was hardly a breath of wind, the left hand firebox was reducing and needed large lumps the right hand box was getting the rise. It all went well until cone 9 went over with a slight bend on 10. Clammed up, firing over.
A very good firing with a very hot spot in the back left of the kiln, next time will be different of course as the conditions, packing, timber and weather will affect it
Some of the results
very 60’s like glaze light body underfired ?plenty of bottles in this firing to stock up.square oil bottles little and large hazel ash glaze celadon
Just as spring follows winter see( spring woodfiring ), summer follows spring, I bet that was a revelation to 0.009 % of you.
I had been making for this one since the spring, lots of bottles mugs, but nothing big. The middle of the kiln was filled with tiles needed to tile the wall behind the bin. Quite a bit of the ware had the local beach slip on them with a clear glaze. My new black slip was only used on one bottle, it was made with Knepp castle clay plus iron and manganese , I think it worked quite well.
kneppblack
The firing started easily with gas from the dregs of some cylinders, I hate exchanging cylinders that have gas in them, it is less noisy, less smokey and cleaner for the neighbours . I chose what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, on the safe side I was wearing long trews and long sleeves, just right for a hot day to be made hotter by a close encounter with the kiln of the wood firing type.
Wood was added at 700 and away we went, stoking with dead trees, mostly bought as waste wood from our local timber mill at Charlton in the south downs. Another visit soon .
All was going well until it reached 1100 when the thermo couple went on strike it laid down tools at 1150 and ceased work. Back to the cones, the colour didn’t look right either. After a few hours cone 8 started to indicate then 9 and 10 twitch, we rammed the fireboxes full and called it quits. Exhausted we jumped onto the barbeque to cool down.
I unpacked after 4 days when completely cool using an infrared gun to temperature check the pots through the spy holes, the thermo couple was still on strike for more money, £142 from Bath potters. Almost as expensive as my new filling in my tooth, 2nd molar upper left .
Next firing will be earthenware, which will be a challenge to stop it from reducing as you can see, the kiln likes to smoke .
little brown jugeven littlier brown jug bottle from the bag wallsquare extruded bottle square bottle squirt bottle
Whitecroft Pottery 