I will be opening our pottery for the Australian Ceramics Assn. National Open Studio Sale Day on Saturday the 7th Nov.

I recently fired the big wood kiln and have spent some time cleaning, grinding and polishing the pots before moving them into the Gallery.

I have also been working on developing a new opalescent blue glaze using the wood ash that we collect from our kiln firebox and wood stove.

You couldn’t get a more local glaze with zero carbon miles. All the wood we burn is grown and harvested from our own forest that we have been managing and encouraging for the past 50 years. It’s a beautiful local expression of sustainable ceramics.

I will also be showing 25 or so of my recent Korean inspired Australian Moon Jars.

I this recent wood kiln firing, I have been experimenting with a new proto-celadon glaze, vaguely similar to the ancient Thai celadon bowl that I have in my collection. It’s a rough piece of peasant ware with a pale, coarse clay body. I love its direct honesty. I aspire to make locally honest, simple and environmentally sustainable pots like this one. My new test glaze is based on 60% single stone porcelain body mixed with ash and limestone. A very old fashioned traditional approach to glaze making. I have also been studying an ancient simple peasant bowl from near Jingdezhen in China, something that I happened upon in the local market on my last visit. Heavily crazed, chipped and dirt stained, but I love its simplicity. I decided to try and make something that has some of the qualities of both of these lovely, simple, elegant, peasant wares.

So I made a special batch of open textured, pale clay body and came up with this test cup. I’m very pleased with the possibilities that it offers. I need to apply the glaze a lot thicker next time to get a better, thicker, and therefore richer, colour response all over, and n ot just at the foot. As the glaze is 60% porcelain stone, it is quite thick, creamy and viscous and I was concerned that it might crawl if applied too thickly. I’ll be a lot braver next firing. I think that it could work well as a ‘raw’ glaze? If not, I’ll have to calcine some of it.

If you suspend disbelief and stare closely at the thicker areas of glaze down near the foot and deep inside, there just might be potential there for something quite beautiful? Just another 6 months of research and a dozen firings, and a bit more work on the clay body and I might have something?

Or not?

You need a good dose of optimism and creative imagination to make this kind of traditionally inspired, but contemporary focused localised ceramics.

I cleaned and ground all the kiln shelves and props after the firing, before putting them back in place, ready for the next kiln. I then had to crawl into the kiln firebox to chip out the fire box slag and clean out the mouse holes, before replacing its cover. It used to take me just one day to do all of this cleaning, grinding and minor repair work, but these days it’s taking 3 days. As I age, I don’t want to over do it and then not be able to work at all. So I’m taking it easy and gently, I’m in it for the long run.

I have been selected to show my work in the up-coming exhibition at the Manly Art Gallery in early 2027.

I’ll be showing one of my Japanese tea bowl inspired bowls that I fired in the wood kiln, up the front of the setting, just a little way back from the ‘Zone of Death’. Just close enough to the front to get a lot of ash, but far enough back to allow it to be glazed all over with a felspathic glaze without picking up too much grit and slag. I can only fit a couple of pots in this space, so perilously close to catastrophe, but just inside the ’SafeHouse’ zone for some degree of success. However, good pots are few, as there is always the chance of a rogue log being stoked too vigorously, that can bring the whole setting down like skittles. I like to fire the early part of the firing on my own to take the firing through this danger zone and on into the safer period of firing on the hobs. There is also something tranquil and calming about the stillness of the predawn. It’s the best time.

I have recently been reading these few books since my return from Korea. A thought provoking mix of science topics, interpreted into common parlance for the  non-scientifically trained reader.

We hope to see you on Saturday the 7th of November. I’ll bake a cake, so that I can have tea, or coffee and cake available for you, if you want to sit down for a chat. I’m happy to show you around the studio and kilns, plus explain how we prepare all of our own raw materials here onsite. and how we make our own special clay bodies.