My Process
My making process draws upon previous years of working with agateware and nerikomi techniques, as well as my background in fine art painting.
The techniques used to create my work sits somewhere between painting and collage. I work by intricately layering, cutting and reconfiguring coloured clay to form patterned slabs. Each artwork is then created by building up and collaging sections of these slabs, before they’re rolled into shape.
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Experimentation with application of clay, colour and evolving the techniques I'm using are central to my practice.
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You'll find further images of artworks in progress on my blog here.
The process for creating my ceramic jewellery and vessels both start with hand colouring clay with pigments. After adjusting to get the right shade, these are rolled into white clay to make patterns embedded into the clay body.
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Porcelain Jewellery
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Each item of porcelain jewellery is hand carved and goes through many stages. They are fired to a high temperature in my garden studio, using energy from renewable sources. Once fired, I polish them to create a smooth tactile surface. One of the most frequent comments I receive about my jewellery is the lovely feel of the porcelain when they're worn.
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Sculptural Ceramic Vases
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The way the vases are cut depends on how the pattern lies on the slab – working out the pattern design is one of my favourite parts of the process. After construction, they are dried very slowly and, as with the jewellery, go through sanding and smoothing before their first firing to reveal the pattern and create a tactile surface.
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