I started work in a new studio on the 31st October. It’s at a farm a few minutes further out into Derbyshire, up into the hills and dales. It’s such a beautiful location, somewhere I’ve been going to for walking and solitude since I was an undergrad in Stoke in the 2000s. It is going to be perishing up there in the winter though! Picture me wearing my diving undersuit thermals and frantically kicking the momentum wheel just to keep warm.

Me facing up to the momentum wheel for the first time...

My first efforts from the momentum wheel, work required but I enjoyed the calm slow throwing

My making goals for the next few months are to get used to throwing on the momentum wheel. I figure it will help me slow down/loosen up my throwing but also make me more efficient in my movements. Maybe it will also keep me fit/warm? It will definitely spare on the electricity. I also need to learn to raw glaze so I can fire the pots just the one time. This is partly practicality but also an effort to use a bit less energy overall for sustainability, both environmental and economic.

Most studio and hobby potters fire twice, one ‘biscuit’ firing to take the clay to a hardened state where it has just become a ceramic, and then again to a higher temperature for the glazing. This is not really necessary, it can all be done in one longer firing, which saves a considerable amount of energy. Given that my new fuel will be waste wood, this is a good thing on a number of levels. But more about the labours of wood firing another day!

With minimal changes to my glazes and possibly to my forms as well. I should be able to make and dry the pots and glaze them unfired, then just fire them the one time. This will also help as there is no electric kiln at my new studio, so it’s raw firing in the wood kiln for me! I make this sound simple, because I haven’t started yet. Like all things to do with potting, there will be some punishing testing to do before I get decent products from this new method. So it’s a good thing that we’re heading for a quieter patch in the pottery calendar.

My friend Susan Mulroy made work like this lovely teapot in this studio for many years and she built the wood kiln here nicknamed 'Bertha'. I love the easy relaxed warmth of Sue’s pottery and I am super grateful to be the custodian of her space here for the next little while. Thank You Sue! Here’s one of her shiny shino teapots with the view out of the studio door:)