One wheel, one kiln, two firings.

The clay

We use a single grogged stoneware body for everything. It is coarse enough to hold a shape on the wheel and to survive an oven, and it fires to a warm grey that shows through wherever a glaze is left thin or a rim is wiped bare. Working with one body means a glaze that behaves on a mug behaves the same way on a platter.

Firing

A bisque firing to 1000 °C, then a glaze firing to 1260 °C. The kiln takes roughly forty pieces, which is why the catalogue moves in batches. A full cycle — load, fire, cool, unload — takes three days, and opening a kiln that is still warm is the fastest way to crack everything inside it.

Glazes

Six glazes are in regular use and all six are mixed here from dry materials. Test tiles go into every firing on the bottom shelf, which is how the honey gloss arrived after two years of being not quite right. Colour varies between batches; a mug bought in spring will not exactly match one bought in autumn, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.

Open days

The studio opens on the first Saturday of each month, from ten until four. There is no card machine and no shop fittings — pieces are on the shelves they were unloaded onto. The seconds shelf is by the door.

Orders and collection

Write to us with the piece and the quantity and we will confirm what is on the shelf before anything is agreed. Orders are wrapped in newsprint and straw board; we do not use plastic foam. Collection from the studio is free on an open day, and anything travelling further goes out on a Wednesday.

Classes

Two evening places, Thursdays, eight weeks per term. Beginners welcome; the first four evenings are centring and nothing else, which sounds dull and is the whole craft. Places go to the waiting list in order, so write early.