Gallery

Clays & Glazes

I use mostly use a speckled stoneware clay, thrown on the potters wheel. I also use porcelain & black clay, (but find it very temperamental in the kiln). I occasionally handbuild to, but I really enjoy throwing.

I've started to experiment with my own glaze making too, but have found a few manufactured glazes that I really like using that complement my work.

Glazing is like a whole other craft in itself & can get complicated, but at its most basic, glaze needs to be made up of 4 elements to make it work.

1) Silica, which is the glass former. Like Quartz.

2) Alumina, the stiffening agent. often this is called Kaolin

3) Flux, the melting agent. like Fieldspar or Whiting.

4) The colourant, The addition that makes the glaze beautiful.

Followed by lots of tweaks, additions & and testing in the kiln at different temperatures. Very satisfying when you get it right.

Je T'aime - I love you jug

Sweetie Jar - With family name, Nieto Poms

Love mug

Personalised mugs

Examples of items with wax resist calligraphy & linear design.

Oatmeal - Custard jug

Oatmeal - mugs

Meadow green linear

Matt baby pink linear

Examples of some of my Raku pieces.

Large vintage inspired decorative bowl.

Group of vases

Vase with white crackle glaze & wax finished.

Hanging vase

Berry Bowls, a selection from large to small.

\One of my favourite glazes to use is Galaxy. A crystalline glaze which can be a bit runny at times, but I think beautiful, as you're never quite sure what has happened with it in the kiln. Not suitable for doing wax resit work with.

Small lidded dsih

Bug & frencg butter dish

Vintage inspired small trinket/nibbles dish

Footed medium bowl

Margarite crystalline glaze. I absolutely love the crystals that are created on this glaze. So simply delicious. Again another one that is very runny, so its a good glaze for when I want to show the clay body beneath. In my love of pottery made by others, I like it when you can see the makers marks, where their fingers have been turning the clay on the wheel. This is something I also try to do in my work, so I like to show that off by showing the naked clay.