Behind the bench
Seven stages, about three weeks
People are often surprised how long a single mug takes from clay to cupboard. Here's the whole route, start to finish, the way it runs in the studio on Merchants Barton.
Wedging
Every batch starts by wedging the clay by hand — a few minutes of kneading to push out air pockets and line up the particles so it throws evenly. Skip this and pots crack or spiral off-centre.
Throwing
I throw in sittings of a dozen or so of the same form, weighing each ball of clay so a set matches. A dinner plate takes about four minutes on the wheel; a tall jug closer to ten.
Trimming
A day later, when the clay is leather-hard, each piece goes back on the wheel upside down to have its foot ring carved. This is where the weight and balance of a pot are really decided.
Decorating
Facets are cut, slip is trailed, ferns are pressed. Most of the surface decisions happen now, on raw clay, and cannot be undone once the piece is made.
Bisque firing
The first firing takes the kiln to 1000°C over about eight hours and turns fragile dried clay into hard, porous bisqueware that can be handled and glazed without falling apart.
Glazing
Glazes are mixed from raw powders — feldspar, whiting, clay, oxides — and sieved twice. Pieces are dipped, poured or brushed, then the bases are wiped clean so they do not stick to the shelf.
Glaze firing
The final firing reaches 1260–1280°C. The kiln takes a full day to fire and two more to cool enough to open. That moment — cracking the lid on a still-warm kiln — never gets old.
The once-a-year wood firing
Every autumn a few of us pack the anagama kiln near Nunney and stoke it with cordwood for four days straight, in shifts, through the night. The ash settles on the pots as they fire and melts into a glaze no bucket can reproduce. Those pieces are marked wood-fired in the shop.