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www.anglianpotters.org.uk

NewsletterAutumn 2012

In this issue:Pam SchombergStep-by-Step GuideFireWorksSummer ShowPottery in the Shires Svend BayerClay DumpSerious Stuff

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Chairman’s report

editor’s notesAs usual, I have to thank all the contributors to this issue of the Newsletter – I am very grateful to all of you and do encourage members to continue sending me interesting articles. If you have a technique which could form part of the Step-by-Step series, and can take a set of photos to illustrate it, that would be great.Having heard such depressing stories of events during June and July having been washed out by rain, mired in mud or blown away by high winds, it’s a relief that our traditional good luck with the weather held for potters’ camp. I am looking forward to making a selection

aGmThe AGM in May was so well attended that we had to meet in the large hall. Thank you all who attended, as this is so encouraging for me and your Committee. As is so often the case, the whole Committee was re-elected.

FireWorks, BlaCkthorpe Barn

Anglian Potters was well represented at this new event at Rougham in May. I counted �� members with individual stands in addition to the AP display organized by Anton Todd and a team of supporters. Congratulations to all for a good show.

potters’ Camp

This year’s camp was blessed with glorious weather. A wide range of activities and firings was on offer, and there was something for everyone to gain satisfaction and enjoyment from. Thanks go to the sub-committee and all who contributed time, skills and enthusiasm, especially our host Jerry Finlayson.

memBership seCretary

While at Camp, Mary Wyatt indicated to me that she will stand down at the AGM next year. This notice gives us some time to look for a replacement in this very important role. A volunteer could ‘shadow’ Mary in the coming months to facilitate a smooth hand-over. Please give this some serious consideration, and contact me if you are interested.Victor

Cover: work on display at the AP Summer Show, Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Figures by June Gentle, vase by Jackie Watson. Photo: Carolyn Postgate

from the many great photos you have all taken at camp, to accompany the report in the next Newsletter.Don’t forget to email me news of your forthcoming shows, and news of courses you have been on or potteries you have visited over the summer!Carolyn

Christine Withal at Emmanuel

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anGlian potters neWsletter autumn 2012

ContentsPage � Chairman’s Report|Editor’s Notes|CommitteePage � Potters’ Camp Preview|SOS|All Saints’ �0��Page 4 Pam Schomberg at the AGMPage 6 FireWorks at Blackthorpe Barn Page 7 In the Wet – Norfolk Open StudiosPage 9 A Rendezvous at the Clay Dump Page �� Step-by-Step: Paper Cay PatchesPage �� Summer Exhibition at Emmanuel College Page �� AP Accounts|Members’ Shows|Members’ WebsitesPage �4 Pottery in the ShiresPage �5 Ceramic Helpline Page �7 Serious StuffPage �8 Throwing Large with Svend BayerPage �9 AP Clay StoresPage �0 For Sale|Diary|Membership Fees|Advertising Rates work by Jeremy Nichols, John Masterton and

Desa Philippi in the Summer Show at Emmanuel

sos – host needed!Can you host John Pollux? He needs accommodation and evening meal in an animal and pet-free environment on Saturday 8 September, the night before his demonstration day on Sunday 9 September. If you can help, and live relatively close to Mundford, please contact me as soon as possible. If you might be interested in hosting other visiting demonstrators in future, let me know.Margaret Gardiner0��79 6540�5info@maggygardiner.com

ap Christmas shoW at all saints’ 2012Entry forms will be sent out by email (or by post if you haven’t given us your email address) to all Anglian Potters current members around the beginning of October. If you haven’t received it by the end of the first week in October, get in touch with me right away. Jackie Watson0�60� �6�95�jackie@wolvercott.co.uk

potters’ Camp previeWBy all accounts, the AP Potters’ Camp at Jerry’s place in Shotley this year was a great success – there will be a full report in the Winter Newsletter.Carolyn Postgate

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pam sChomBerG at the aGmPam Schomberg’s funky pots have graced many a mantelpiece for several decades, and Pam herself has graced Anglian Potters as a selected member since �984, so it was a great delight to see her demonstrate at the AGM – especially as she has kept a low profile for the past couple of years.Like most potters and ceramicists, Pam feels a strong connection to the past, even though her work is extremely contemporary. On a personal level, this means acknowledging the part her parents have played in her chosen career path, especially her father, who was a bespoke tailor – touchingly, we were shown slides of Pam’s studio, including her glazing bench, which used to be his pattern cutting table. “I used to watch my father as a child, and I have realised that I work in a similar way to him, treating the clay as if it were cloth, adding embellishments and ‘buttons’ to seams, etc”, she explained. “I also spent a lot of time in museums and I continue to find that the craft of past cultures influences my style and the direction of my work”.Pam originally trained as a printmaker: “I am a mark maker!” she declared, explaining that the actual process of preparing and making the plates was much more interesting to her than the finished print. So it is not surprising that, when she turned to ceramics instead, she was drawn to making pattern and texture in the clay.“I love the quality of the marks you can make with all kinds of found objects; in my studio I have a collection of broken toys, cooking utensils, pen lids – and piles and piles of material, including some lovely pieces of cotton lace. I don’t use fabric that looks like fabric, however – I choose textures that are interesting in their own right, rather than ones which have an identifiable pattern”.For the demonstration, Pam first showed us how she makes her porcelain teacups. Anyone who works with porcelain knows how tricky and temperamental it can be, especially when hand-building and Pam agreed, saying that it is like “building with skin” – which sounds a slightly unpleasant and unrewarding activity. However, in the hands of an expert, half a dozen teacups rapidly emerged, quickly followed by their square-shaped saucers.Pam works every day and always starts off with a few teacups to get into the ‘zone’. She cuts the thin slabs into shape using a cardboard pattern and then, with a little slip, gently presses the edges together and smoothes the inside with a cloth. The square saucers are cut freehand and, using a bottle cap, she pushes the centre down, which has the effect of automatically lifting the edges slightly. While she eschews colour and fancy detail on her vessels these days, she said that she feels her cups are becoming more and more elaborate. Underglaze and on-glaze lustres are used to highlight detail and lustres are sometimes used quite liberally.For her second subject, Pam chose one of her distinctive, almost anthropomorphic, vessels, for which she used a Scarva Professional stoneware. She began by making the base in a round plaster mould (she uses the same moulds she first made back in her college days), then adds a second, then a third, layer of a strip of clay, scored and textured with one or several of her collection of improvised tools.

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Normally, when working in her own studio at Cuckoo Farm Studios, near Colchester, Pam would take her time and spend most of a day gently pushing and stretching elements of the design into high relief but sadly there was only time to give us the briefest glimpse of her working methods. The distinctive legs of her pots – which have been described as looking like something from a �950s space rocket – are made using a template and then folded into shape, almost like origami. Again, there is more pushing from the inside to achieve the desired shape and they are slipped and scored and gently pressed into position.Pam likes to be surrounded by her pots as she works since she feels they can be a jumping-off point for a new idea. For the same reason, she is keen to

take part in projects and competitions because they often lead to exciting new developments or ways of thinking. Pam may have been in the ceramics world for a long time but it is clear that she works hard to make sure she is continually developing and changing as an artist:“There aren’t any rules – you just have to try things!” she smiled, describing a philosophy which has kept her at the forefront of contemporary ceramic design for almost thirty years.Words: Christine Pike Pictures: Andy Wright

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Margaret Gardiner announced at Mundford that AP had heard from two potters in Kent who were organising something called ‘FireWorks’ at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham. She said that as nobody had come forward to organise a stand for Anglian Potters was there anyone who would like to volunteer?Why is it that when volunteers are asked for there is always one idiot who can’t keep his (or her) head down? There is always some mad person who is willing to spend hours of their own time organising events like this…. and yes, I’m doing it again next year!I met Tim Huckstepp when he came up from Kent to make final arrangements for FireWorks. He showed me the space that we could have and all was set. There were �6 of us who wanted to share a stand at FireWorks. I felt it was important that we did as much as possible to promote AP; it would be a good showcase for AP as it was being held in East Anglia. The AP committee gave its blessing and we were told that we were covered for Public Liability Insurance.We were going to use the AP display kit and I set about designing a layout that would enable us all to squeeze into a relatively small space.Tim sent an email panicking about the fact that his Raku demonstrator had pulled out. Did we have anyone from AP who could take this on? Susan Holmes and Karen Kavanagh came to the rescue along with Sue Slegg who said that she

would demonstrate smoke firing. The three of them did us proud over the three days and created a lot of interest for the visitors.The day before setting up at Blackthorpe I met Frank Logan at the garage in Barnham and we began to load his trusty van.“Frank, where are the brackets that hold all the boards together?”“In one of those red plastic boxes.”They weren’t! Several frantic phone calls later the brackets were located… JJ had them. He had taken them home with him after All Saints’ to fine tune them for Emmanuel. So on my way home I went from Thetford to Sudbury via Cambridge!

FireWorks at BlaCkthorpe Barn

The next day we started to set up. My tidy design for the layout proved to be a problem as I had forgotten that old buildings have beams that run at different heights! We managed to sort out that problem. (Don’t tell anyone that I cut the top off one of the display boards to make it fit!) Everyone helped put the display kit up and we soon got our work out on display.Bartrams Brewery from Rougham had brewed two special beers for the event, Potters Nod and FireWorks, which were both excellent beers.The Friday when gallery owners had been invited was a little disappointing. I sent out forty-two complimentary tickets

to galleries throughout East Anglia and only nine were used! For Fired Work �0�� (notice the slight change of name) we will invite the gallery owners along on the Friday evening.The AP credit card machine was just like most other ones out in the wilds of Rougham; i.e. it was difficult to get a signal. Lots of potters and glass makers could be seen wandering about outside trying to get connected, their customers trailing patiently behind them!The Saturday and Sunday proved to be a little flat. However, we all agreed that as it was the very first time that FireWorks had run we should give it another chance next year. I spoke to Richard Godfrey (he of the brightly coloured teapots) and he told me that Hatfield was dire for the first few years and just look at it now! Everyone who exhibited on the AP stand joined in really well with setting up and taking down. Most people have said they are happy to exhibit again at FireWorks in �0��. We will just have to hope that we get better attendance and better opening of wallets and purses!Anton Todd

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in the Wet – norFolk open studiosOn the wettest day of the Jubilee weekend at the beginning of June, the Sunday of the washed-out River Pageant in London, I decided to visit three Norfolk Anglian Potters in their studios. Hoping against hope that there would be a break in the relentless rain, I reached Cromer to find the weather was even worse than Cambridge! However there was a very warm welcome (and hot soup) waiting for me at Des Clover’s studio on Overstrand Road. Des, a past Chairman of Anglian Potters, has now given up potting to concentrate on his painting, and is producing wonderful seascapes and lively studies of seabirds which seem to fly out of the paintings right at you. He spends a lot of time watching the birds and how they behave along the cliffs and beach at Cromer, and his keen observations shine through his lifelike paintings.

On to Castle Acre, where I dodged the showers to find Joyce Davison’s studio. Time for a cup of tea! Joyce’s elegant crackle-glaze pots shared studio space with her late husband, Sid’s, paintings. Joyce had had a good many visitors over the weekend – the Castle Acre trail taking in artists’ studios in nearby villages as well had attracted plenty of interested walkers.

Back on the road I headed for Swaffham, just in time to catch Maureen Baker before she shut up her studio at the end of the day. Despite being on the main road through Swaffham, she had not had as many visitors as Joyce in Castle Acre, which was a pity as her little shop was full of a wide selection of her work, stoneware and porcelain, tableware and one-off pieces. Some of these I was familiar with from our shows in Cambridge, but there was lots of work new to me, too.I returned from my ‘day trip to the seaside’ thoroughly pleased with this fine way to spend a very wet Sunday – catching up with friends, and seeing their work in a home setting. A huge amount of work goes into setting up these Open Studios and I am full of admiration for Des, Joyce and Maureen and all our other AP members who also do Open Studios, and whose studios I may get the chance to visit next year.Carolyn Postgate

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Kilns for ceramics

New and second-hand equipmentKilns and furnaces serviced and repaired

Potters wheels – pugmills

Essex Kilns LtdTel 01621 869342

email contact@essexkilns.co.ukwww.essexkilns.co.uk

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�� May �0��The alarm went off at 6am; a full 75 minutes before its accustomed, post-retirement time. We arrived, fresh and perky at Susan Van Valkenburg’s place at spot on 8am and the clay lorry was already in the drive.Susan introduced us to David, the driver and we found Liz Chipchase and Evelyn from up the road there, and soon J J Vincent rocked up. Priorities first: Susan pointed to the REAL coffee waiting for us in a big cafetière and a back-up flask, with handmade mugs and the biscuit box begging us to partake! (All in good time.)The dump was uncovered and almost ready to receive its new intake of

a rendezvous at the Clay dump

various kinds of clay, but first the rotation exercise: the stock clay required removing to the corner of a friendly tarpaulin to make way for the new bags. Then we formed a human chain from David on the lorry, who counted out and passed down the bags in their various types and colours. They were placed on the said tarpaulin, marked with a black pen for identification where required, because the snails get to the paper labels and consume them. (Nice snails, actually! Pretty, banded ones – and a few ugly slugs.) Any holes in the plastic bags were swiftly covered with vinyl tape and they were stacked neatly, ready for the next stage.

Once all the bags of clay were unloaded from the lorry, David breathed a sigh of relief, drank his coffee and smiled broadly. Nice chap; friendly; promised to return with more in a few month’s time. After he’d done his paperwork with Susan, he set off to Deborah Baynes’s for more of the same.We had a swig of very tasty coffee and some biscuits, to keep our strength up and proceeded to stack all the new bags of clay in the appropriate spaces in the dump, followed by the retained stock. We soon learnt that there is a strict system of stacking, with the tied ends facing the same side on one layer, followed by those on the next layer facing forwards. This, we were informed, was to enable Susan to retrieve individual bags in the dark, in the rain, with no street lighting, when an Anglian Potter comes to buy..... Three cheers for Susan The Stalwart, we say!The last step was to cover everything up with blue tarpaulins held down by breeze blocks to protect it from the elements and marauding wildlife, then go for more coffee and the debrief – and it was still only 9 o’clock! It was fun, good exercise and a pleasure to behold the joy on Susan’s face that many hands made such light work of a job that has been known to take her, single-handedly, ’til well past lunchtime with superhuman effort and aches and pains for days.‘A good job jobbed’ and still time to get back to Saffron Walden and do something else before lunch!Ian and Annie Evans

For further information and a list of all our short courses, visit our website www.westdean.org.uk/college 0844 4994408

New to West Dean? Get a 10% discount when you book by phone. If you pay in full online you will receive a 5% discount. Prices already adjusted.

SHORT COURSES An introduction to clay workingDuncan Hooson 2 – 4 November

Sculptural pots with surface texturesGordon Cooke 8 – 11 November

Model and mould making for pottersDavid Richardson 12 – 16 November

A creative approach to ceramic tableware Sandy Brown 30 November – 3 December

Sculpting animals in clayJon Barrett-Danes 3 – 8 February 2013

Understanding colour in glazes

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step-By-step: paper Clay patChes

I tend to think that once I know something about ceramics, it is a thing everyone knows and is obvious. My own knowledge and experience seem routine to me, so it’s always a surprise when I make a comment about a process and the people I’m talking to don’t know about it. This happened quite recently with mention of paper clay patches, so I’m going to explain it here. Clay shrinks as it dries, and it shrinks during firing. Sometimes if you are joining two bits of clay and they are at different stages in the drying process, they will pull apart as drying continues. I started using paper clay slip for joining parts because of this. The paper in the clay tempers the different shrinkage and lets the bond take place successfully. So that’s a good thing, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Paper clay can also be used to fill cracks and mend breaks at the greenware or bisque stages.I’m using mugs as an example here because I happen to be making mugs, and I had some sprung handles. It’s been really hard to keep the moisture content right with the heavy rains we’ve been having. My studio is very rustic and influenced by the weather. The timing was off with a few of these handles, so this is what happened. I love to make mugs, and I want each mug to be special to the person who uses it, so I don’t mind slaking down failed mugs and trying again, but for the purpose of illustration, I’m going to show you some repairs. If you have some work you’ve been labouring over for months on end and it gets a crack or break, you might want to try this technique to save it rather than melt it down.

Susan Van Valkenburg shares her experience of using paper clay patches in the next in our series of step-by-step demonstrations of potting techniques.

Here we see a sprung handle. The handle was a bit too dry when I put it on, and although it seemed to show enough flexibility at the time, that turned out to be just one of the sneaky tricks

porcelain plays. It was too late, and when I returned the next day, the handle had cracked, and the mugs were well past leatherhard, approaching bone dry.

This clay is Valentine Clays Royale porcelain. I assume it should go without saying, but use the same paper clay as the original clay body for this sort of thing.

I worked the paper clay into the crack, making sure to get it all the way down into the bottom, then building up. Because the two edges of the crack no longer line up, I built the paper clay up over the two edges and a bit higher all around. It doesn’t have to look pretty at this stage, and might even be better if it doesn’t because the patch can sink down into the gap a little. The excess clay can compensate for this.

Into the bisque kiln with all the others for a normal firing. I did candle, but didn’t otherwise give this a long drying time prior to firing.

In the meantime, I noticed a small crack in a pot that had just come out of the previous bisque firing. This is an occasional side effect of the way I alter my pots. Again, I might have just thrown this out, but I was thinking of you and your need to know, so went ahead with the patch. It’s made of a different clay, Valentine Clays V9G. I didn’t have any V9G paper clay on hand, so I made some up.

First I ripped up some old egg boxes. You can use any paper for this. Lots of people swear by toilet paper, and I’ve heard of people using computer paper or newspaper, or whatever is around, but I like egg boxes because I learned that they are an end-of-life recycled product. Paper can be recycled up to seven times (I have no idea how they tell how many times it has been recycled; tell me if you know), and when it’s done, it gets made into egg boxes. Egg boxes cannot be further recycled, so they go into compost. Compost is a good thing, but I think it can spare me a few egg boxes. Here I have used the whole lid and half of the bottom of a ��-egg box. Don’t worry about the colour: it burns out.

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Add water and pulverize. It’s fast. It doesn’t have to soak for ages, just go ahead right away.

Next I glopped in a bunch of the squidgy V9G from the bucket of wet clay waiting to be reclaimed, then pulverized it together with the paper so it’s nice and smooth and consistent throughout the batch.Some people find a benefit in being precise in their measurements. I’m precise in glaze mixing, but I don’t find it matters for this. I’ve heard of paper additions being anything from an iota to about 50%.

And it’s good to go. Be sure to label both lid and container if you’re using more than one type of clay in your studio.

Next, I work the paper clay into the crack. It could subside into the crack a little, so let it dry for a short time and then cover it with a little more. Neatness does count here because this is going to get glazed without another bisque firing. I have, in the past, reattached little broken off bits with this paper

clay on bisque technique, and it’s been fine. It might not always be fine, but if your piece has become un-fine without trying this, you have nothing to lose and possibly something to gain.

Back to porcelain. Bisque firing done, mug ready for further processing. I can still sort of see the line where the gap was.

I do generally go over my mugs with a sanding pad before glazing, just to make sure no little stray sharp bits are lurking on the underside of the handle or on the rim where lips might object to them. I smooth off my signature on the bottom so it doesn’t stab people who hold the mug from the bottom. Reconstructive surgery takes a little more work than usual, but not vastly more. If the piece is worth it, you won’t even notice the extra minutes.

I use silicon carbide embedded griddle pads, made for cleaning flat grills in restaurants. Sandpaper would do just as well, and is probably easier to find. I also use a metal tool to ping the easy bumps

off. The handle repair is just going to take a little extra rubbing with that pad. Bisqueware sands easily, paperclay bisque doubly so. It’s sort of like firm chalk.

Once done, it looks much like any of my handles. The repair is not obvious unless you’re really looking for it. Maybe not even then.

And now glazing. The patched mug gets the same treatment as all the others. Can you spot it? It’s one of the smaller ones.

An overnight stay in the kiln with a trip to ��00°C, a day to cool, and out they come. Done.Susan Van Valkenburg

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summer exhiBition at emmanuel ColleGe, CamBridGe

The Private View evening for the AP Summer Show at Emmanuel College was on the hottest evening of the summer so far. The show looked very good, with lots of work from new members. The Old Library was crammed full of eager purchasers and sales were very brisk. Compliments are due to everyone who worked so hard to put on this splendid show.

Lorraine Izon

JJ Vincent & Ian Evans

Anton Todd

Rob Bibby

Susan Cupitt

Alan Foxley

Christine Pike

JJ Vincent & Dawn Isaac

Nicky Sheales

Juliet Gorman

The menagerie: moon bear by Christine Pike, leopard by JJ Vincent, elephants by Rosemarie Cooke

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2012 2011 £ £ £ £

RECEIPTSSubscriptions 9,�4� 9,�09Exhibition Fees �,87� �,975 Exhibition Sales �6,4�7 �7,�06 Event 7,589 �0,860 Clay Sales 8,785 9,57� Charity donations ��0 �78 Adverts �,097 7�� Miscellaneous Income �7 0 Bank Deposit Interest ��7 56,585 �9� 60,007

PAYMENTSExhibition Expenses �4,�47 ��,57� Exhibition Potters �9,��7 �9,06� Event Expenses 8,84� 9,��8 Clay and Haulage 9,�79 7,748 Newsletter and Internet 4,�46 �,670 Committee Expenses 805 5�0 Charity donations ��0 5�8 Accountant’s fees ��8 �00 Public Liability Insurance �75 ��4 Advert 78 �55 Miscellaneous Expenses �60 57,6�7 60 5�,�57

EXCESS OF RECEIPTS OVER PAYMENTS -�,0�� 6,850Bank and Cash Balances at 0�.04.�0�� Bonus Saver Account �0,4�� �8,��8 Current Account 9,099 4,44� Petty Cash �� �9,55� �� ��,70�Bank and Cash Balances at ��.0�.�0�� Bonus Saver Account ��,�68 �0,4�� Current Account 5,�04 9,099 Petty Cash 47 �8,5�0 �� �9,55�

memBers’ shoWs

CATHY D’ARCYFROM AFRICA TO ANGLIA

my journey in ceramics

The Old Fire Engine HouseEly Cambs CB7 4ER

www.theoldfireenginehouse.co.uk

7-30 September 2012

memBers’ WeBsites:www.angelamellor.comwww.antontoddceramics.co.ukwww.artsculpt.co.ukwww.brendagreenart.co.ukwww.brickhouseceramics.co.ukwww.cathydarcy.comwww.ceramicsbuyanja.co.ukwww.corbykilns.co.ukwww.christinepike.comwww.getfiredup.orgwww.heathergrahampotter.comwww.helenhpottery.co.uk www.helenmartino.co.ukwww.iangeorgeceramics.co.ukwww.janburridge.co.ukwww.janehollidge.co.ukwww.jjvincent.comwww.johnmasterton.co.ukwww.judsonsinfrance.comwww.katharina.klug-art.comwww.lolaswainpottery.comwww.madeincley.co.ukwww.madelainemurphyfinetableware.comwww.maggygardiner.comwww.mariamcullumceramics.co.ukwww.obypottery.co.ukwww.ozonelouise.comwww.patsouthwood.co.ukwww.potterycourses.com www.potterycourses.netwww.richardbaxter.co.ukwww.robbibbyceramics.co.uk www.rockwellpottery.comwww.rowanhumberstone.co.ukwww.stephenmurfitt.co.uk www.susancupitt.co.ukwww.suffolkstoneware.co.ukwww.swaffhampotter.co.uk

Contact the Editor if you want to add your site to this list.

reCeipts and payments aCCount For the year ended 31st marCh 2012

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pottery in the shiresHow it was planned and organisedThe idea for Pottery in the Shires came from various sources – to promote ceramics in the local area to showcase the wonderful work of potters, locally as well as further afield; to promote our town of Burton Latimer; and to coincide with Craft & Design Month, particularly Ceramics Week which was the first week in May. The first Saturday in the month is the Farmers Market here, which meant there would be more people about. We settled on 4th and 5th May for our event. Stella Benford, a potter from the town, helped enormously with organising. It was the first time either of us had for organised such an event.The venue would be the recently opened Burton Latimer Civic Centre; the Council agreed we could have it at a reduced rate as it was showing off the Centre. The location is right opposite a busy Sainsbury’s supermarket and next to a bus stop. The centre itself had one large room which had a glass roof and let in a tremendous amount of natural light; and several smaller side rooms, some of which were already used by other groups, but we could use one of them to accommodate more potters if necessary.We sent invitations to every potter we knew and groups such as Anglian Potters and Northamptonshire Open Studios. For a while the replies were slow in coming, but we pressed ahead with planning the advertising. We knew this would be key to the success of the event. We contacted Radio Northampton who immediately asked us to go on the afternoon programme to talk about the show. Both Stella and myself were extremely nervous, but the presenter John Griff soon put us at ease, and we felt we did a good job of promoting ceramics generally, as well as our show. Craft & Design Magazine had some good (free) advice about advertising and promoting, and I downloaded several documents from their website, such as templates for press releases, posters and the logo. I had a banner made which we would put outside the Civic Centre. I also had miles of bunting to put up. Northamptonshire Open Studios very kindly lent us a banner of their own and a freestanding advertising board. I was determined that people going past the Centre could not possibly ignore the fact that something was going on! We advertised for two months in a Kettering

magazine, and in two local newspapers.The subject of insurance cropped up – some potters had their own public liability, but others did not. Therefore we had to take out a policy ourselves – just in case of an accident. Unfortunately the Council policy did not cover us. As the day drew nearer we started to hear back from potters and in the end we had �4 plus my own stall. Other potters wanted to be involved, but were not able to attend on the day, so we offered to put their work on show too, and keep an eye on it for them. This would fill in any gaps, so there was plenty for visitors to look at. Also we were going to have ‘throw a pot’ and ‘decorate a coaster’ sessions. Stella had just bought a Shimpo table top wheel from us, which performed brilliantly, and there were lots of keen people who made reasonable pots.Now we had the potters, we needed to make sure we had enough visitors. Had we advertised enough? I put advertising leaflets on the market stalls at the local Farmers Market for two months, even giving the egg man a ceramic chicken (which I noticed he still has on the front of his stall). And, of course, it was on our own website, and the Open Studios website too. By the Friday evening all the banners were up, bunting was flying and the stands were full of the most wonderful and varied ceramic work. Naturally most of the potters were customers or people we had had contact with at some time. I was intrigued to see what they made as I don’t always get to see the finished product. Pieces were everything from sculptural to tableware to purely decorative. We decided to have the Friday night as a preview evening, providing drinks and nibbles as added incentive, and we had a good turn-out, and some sales were made. Some people said they would return the next day for another look.Saturday 5th May was going to be the main day, and it dawned fine and bright – for a change. Visitors started coming in almost straight away. I recognised several customers and local people. From my stall in the smaller room it seemed there was a real buzz going on in the larger room. People were chatting and getting tips and ideas. Sadly, the smaller room was a lot quieter, and sales were

James Bassett

Stella’s throwing area

Graham Legge

Victor Knibbs

Burton Latimer Civic Centre

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very disappointing. Despite a notice put up to state the fact that stalls were in this room, it appeared that some visitors missed them. Sales in the main room were better, but not really as good as hoped for. Having spoken to other craft fair attendees though, it does seem that this applies everywhere recently, no doubt due to the recession and people being more careful with their money. In hindsight (a wonderful thing!) we should not have used the smaller room, and had fewer stalls overall, but that would have reduced the variety of work and of course the number of stalls to look at. From my conversations with people who have since been back to the shop, they really enjoyed their visit. I followed up with the potters by sending them a feedback questionnaire. The general opinion was that they enjoyed meeting the other potters and the visitors, but were disappointed with sales. The venue was a matter of debate, some thinking it was in a good place, and others that it was not really suitable. Opinion was divided on whether it should be a one day or weekend event. Another factor was that events take time to get established, and this of course was brand new. Apart from showcasing ceramics, part of the aim was to promote Burton Latimer, and if we had the event in another location which might be more suitable, then that aim would be defeated. My own feeling is that if we do this again it would sadly have to be somewhere else, but if it generated more interest in ceramics and more sales, that would be a better achievement. We perhaps need to keep it more local so that potters do not have so far to travel. It was difficult to keep a tally of exact numbers, but we estimated there were well over �00 visitors in all. Not bad for an event that would admittedly attract a niche market.Will we do it again? We are still thinking about that; Stella has several exhibitions planned for next year and would not be able to devote so much time. However, we would start working on the project earlier, so who knows? Watch this space, as they say! As I write this it is possible that another venue might be found that could attract more visitors, and is currently being used as a studio for some of the Open Studios artists.We would like to say a huge thank you to the following potters who supported us:Catherine Arrowsmith, Jim Bassett, Wendy Casson, Peter Cuthbertson, Carol Jacobs, Katharina Klug, Victor Knibbs, Graham Legge, John Mathieson, Jenny Reading, Jane Sanders, Sarah Steele, Sonja Wilson.Stella BenfordJulie Houghton (Corby Kilns Ltd)

CeramiC helplineSelected Members to contact: Alan Foxley: handbuilding, reduction firing 01799 522631Colin Saunders: mould-making, transfers, slipcasting 01379 588278Victor Knibbs: electric kilns, oxidised stoneware, modifying clay bodies 01480 214741Deborah Baynes: raku, salt glaze, stoneware, earthenware (reduction & oxidised) 01473 788300Beryl Hines: general, raku, earthenware 01473 735437Usch Spettigue: raw glazing/single firing 01473 787587Margaret Gardiner: salt / soda firing 01279 654025Sonia Lewis: high-fired ware, porcelain 01353 688316Angela Mellor: bone china paperclay and slipcasting 01353 666675If you are willing to give advice and be added to this list, please contact the Editor.

John MathiesonStella Benford

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serious stuFFIf you have only a modest size kiln and wish to make animals with outstretched limbs or wings, as in the case of birds, you will need to make the sculpture in sections which will then fit into your kiln. The parts will eventually need to be joined. Finding a way to achieve this has been problematic; however I have found a method that has been most satisfactory, namely gluing these parts together with a gun extruded material which has some interesting properties. This ‘glue’ has the unusual name of Serious Stuff. It is made by Evo-stik, who claim it is the strongest waterproof adhesive you can buy. Having used a number of glues and adhesives over the years I do believe their claim. Once set it is also slightly flexible, a most useful property if the ceramic sculpture is subject to even minimal shock. The main problem with this way of joining ceramic sculpture is finding a solution where each individual joint has maximum contacting surfaces and that these glued areas are hidden inside the body of the sculpture.In the example of the bird of prey in Figure � which will be hung on a wall or fence, the back surface will not be seen when the bird is displayed, so to spread Serious Stuff reinforced with a brass mesh over the whole reverse of the sculpture was the solution in that case – see Figure �.A different approach is required with a free standing sculpture that you can view from any angle – see owl Figure �. The wings need to be fixed to the body with plenty of surface contact. A type of joint used in furniture making I felt would be suitable in this instance i.e. a mortice and tenon joint with a shoulder that snuggly fits round the body of the bird – see Figure 4. There is a whole range of joints one could use depending on the circumstances

of the joining point within the sculpture. Unlike joints when making furniture they need to be loose leaving plenty of space for Serious Stuff to fill and give the all important flexibility.John Read

Fig � Fig 4

Fig �

Fig �

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throWinG larGe With svend BayerPractical course: Throwing large with Svend Bayer in Aberystwyth Ceramic Centre.What do you expect when you read this course title? One immediately visualises the enormous pots that decorate Svend Bayer’s garden or the ones he sells at shows. Next thought is: it would be nice to be able to make one of those yourself, wouldn’t it? And then: how am I ever going to manage that amount of clay? Well, that is what this course is for.Six people subscribed this spring; one even came from Belgium for this course! The advertising must work! The facilities in Aberystwyth are excellent, good space, good light and very well equipped. The studio space could easily host up to 8 or 9 people, but 6 were just fine.Svend showed in detail how he makes those enormous pots, and he made it clear that nobody was expected to make such a pot themselves. You could if you wished, but you didn’t have to. That was quite a relief, because it looked slightly daunting!The techniques Svend uses are quite different from normal throwing. I doubt that anybody could centre �0 kilos of clay by coning etc. Centering is done by slapping both flat hands on to the clay while the wheel is turning slowly (Picture �). Finally it is bashed with a wooden paddle. On top of that another 5kg of clay is place and centred in the same way (Picture �). The resulting clay lump looks a bit like a Black Forest Gateau (Picture �).Svend then opens up the mass of clay by punching the clay repeatedly with his closed fist, while the wheel is slowly turning. He takes care not to go sideways but to generate a straight-sided hole (Picture 4).

That takes quite a bit of force, especially if you are not used to doing it!The sides of the pot are then pulled up in the normal way. This first step already creates a huge pot (Picture 5)!More clay is added by attaching coils to the pot, which are then thrown to achieve the same wall thickness as the first bit (Picture 6). The pot goes through several rounds of being moist, then dried with a gas torch and slapped with a wooden paddle to give it shape. And with every round it is growing nicely (Picture 7)!!One of the fellow potters was very brave and tried to make a pot like this from the second day on. His success inspired a few others to give it a try. It is hard work but it is really nice to see the result. I made a big pot for the garden (Picture 8). It rode home with me strapped into the passenger seat with

the seat belt fastened. And to my relief my measurement by eye proved to be right as it just fits into my kiln for biscuit firing!This course was really great fun. People with all levels of throwing skills are accepted and benefit from this course. As well as big pots we made jugs and bowls and everybody got a lot of throwing practice! And it is always a joy to see a professional potter throwing a pot. As a bonus Svend’s stories of his life are really funny and entertaining. I hope this course will be offered again in future!Anja Penger-Onyett

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Brick House Crafts operate from 5,000 sq ft premises in Essex. They are pleased to confirm the continuation of their 10% discount scheme to members of Anglian Potters on raw materials, clays (up to 1/2t) and hand tools. Lessons available on an hourly basis together with City & Guilds Level 2 & 3 courses (100% pass rate to date). Contact Mary or MaureenTel: 01376 585655

www.brickhouseceramics.co.uk

You don’t have to be making a living from your pottery but if you are serious about ceramics then the

Studio Selection is for you.

from the Potterycrafts rangeProducts carefully chosen especially for dedicated craft potters.

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the Blue Cross needs your help!Would you like to help raise much-needed money for the Blue Cross in Cambridge? We are holding an art auction at our site just off Newmarket Road.We need donated art work or pottery. We need all sorts of different pieces to go into our auction.The Silent Auction will be from the ��st of September until the �st of October �0��, so you need to act fast to take part.What is a Silent Auction?A silent auction is when the bidders write their top bid and contact details on to a bidding slip and place it in a sealed box. When the auction has finished we will check who is the highest bidder and contact them to inform them that they have bought the item. All the money will be used to help sick and homeless animals in our care.What’s in it for you?This is a great way to give to a charity. Each piece of artwork will have the artist’s details next to their piece, so this will be an amazing way to display your work and increase your profile. If you feel you can help please email me: laura.peppercorn@bluecross.org.uk or phone me on 0�00 777 �470, or if you would like more details on the charity please visit www.bluecross.org.uk All pieces must be brought in by the �6th of September. Our address is �0 Garlic Row, Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8HW.Laura Peppercorn Animal Welfare Assistant

diary dates 2012Summer Show:18 August-5 SeptemberEmmanuel College, CambridgeJohn Pollex:9 September, Mundfordwww.johnpollex.co.ukSelected Members’ Show:25 September-22 OctoberReunion Gallery, FelixstoweIckworth Wood Sale:6-7 OctoberIckworth Park, Bury St EdmundsAlan Parris & Billy Byles:21 October, Mundfordwww.aylesfordpottery.co.ukChristmas Show:17 November-16 DecemberAll Saints’ Church, Cambridge

memBership Fees Ordinary £27 – half year £15Joint £45 for two people at the same address – half year £25Institution £50 for a college or workshop – half year £27 (details on application to the Membership Secretary)Student £10 for full-time ceramicsstudents – proof of status is required

advertisinG ratesPrice per issue, 4 issues a yearFull page w 18cm x h 26.8cm £60.00Half page w 18cm x h 13.4cm £30.00Third page w 18cm x h 8.8cm £20.002 column w 11.8cm x h 17.6cm £26.002 column w 11.8cm x h 8.8cm £13.001 column w 5.7cm x h 17.6cm £13.001 column w 5.7cm x h 8.8cm £6.50Leaflet inserts (350) £35.00

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Contact: Carolyn Postgate, Editore: carolyn@clara.co.uk t: 01954 211033

deadline For the Winter neWsletter:

1 November 2012For puBliCation By

1 December 2012

kiln For saleA barely used Arterial Engineering ��00C, which until it was decided it would no longer be used �4 months ago, had been fully serviced annually. £�00, collection only. Please contact Mrs Tigerschiold at Barford Primary School from the 4th of September �0�� Tel: 0�60� 759660.

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