A little taste of what I get up to at pottery...

I thought I'd introduce you to something that's been part of my life for as long as I can remember: pottery. I used to go up to my mum's friend's studio when I was a baby, and since then our house has gradually become filled with ceramics. Last summer I properly started going again, and I thought I'd show you a step-by-step coil pot I made. 

When I first started making this, the other ladies (mainly middle aged) were asking what I was making and they all laughed at me when I said a pot for my hairbrushes. The main question being "how many do you have!?" As you can see from the final pictures: it's definitely needed!

Step-by-step Coil Pot

1. I started by preparing my coils. We have this awesome tool that's basically a huge garlic press. You put clay in, you push down the handle and coils come out. Simples. I call it the pushy thing or sausage maker but apparently it's technical term is an extruder.

2. I rolled out a flat bit of clay to make the bottom of the pot. You can do this by coiling your coils but I'm lazy.

3. Next I attached my coils. I had to scour the coils and the bottom of the pot so the slip (wet clay) can grip at attach them securely.

4. Once I'd built up the walls of my pot I smoothed the insdide with a wooden tool to make sure the coils are really stuck together and give a smooth finish. I left the outside because I like the texture of the coils.

 

5. Once the pot had dried a bit I smoothed off the edges and tidied it up. Then I let it dry a bit more so it could be fired in the kiln - in what's called a biscuit firing. (Sadly no biscuits are involved) This is what it's like after being fired: your classic terracotta pot:

6. But a plain pot is boring, right? I glazed the inside with a plain white glaze and the outside with Clover on the top and Green Reflections on the bottom.

7. Then that had to be fired again (at a higher temperature this time) to bring out the colour and shineyness of the glaze.

8. The finished product. As you can see there's a huge difference in colour once the glaze has been fired. The finish isn't as great as I'd have liked because it was so awkward to apply the glaze evenly between the coils!

Aaaand here's the pot fulfilling it's purpose. My hairbrushes really did need a home!

Ta-da! 

What do you think? Has anyone else tried pottery?