Pottery Blog - Making Handmade Mugs & Tableware

This is not an attempt at Etsy bashing – there is plenty of that going on around the web already. I do really like the site, and have sold most of my pottery through them. Total Etsy fees may have changed since the time of writing. I have just been looking into exactly the total fees I am paying on my sales. All this info is available on the Etsy site, though a little bit of digging is needed. Doing a quick Google search for ‘what are Etsy fees’ will probably return a page like this . A quick scan...

I have recently delivered my first bespoke pottery commision to Aston Springs Farm in Sheffield where I work as a Chef for my day job. Having worked as a chef for a number of years I’m all too familiar with the frustrations of breakages of tableware. Often dishes need to be presented in a certain way, and if you don’t have enough pots it slows you down. This is just one of the reasons why chefs are always so angry… During my pottery making I often make little pots to try out new glazes – they represent how a glaze...

To be honest I don’t really know many other Sheffield Potters personally, but here are a few I do know, and a few I don’t know but have come across on the internet and have liked their work. Firstly Penny Withers is a Sheffield Potter who taught my wife for a number of years. She has a studio in Persistence Works where she runs pottery evening classes. She is a lovely lady, and we are lucky to have some of her beautiful work at use at our home. Emilie Taylor is someone I came across whilst searching for other Sheffield...

I’ve spent the last few years trying to design and make the ultimate handmade tableware collection. The thing that has improved my pottery the most is using a gauge and repeat throwing the same clay weights. Why make standard sized pottery with repeat throwing? Some potters prefer to make tableware completely free form. Depending on their ability, they make be able to throw very similar pots each time, or they might enjoy variations in their work. For me, I make one-off pieces to whatever size the clay allows. However, for tableware sets I’ve found it best to set a standard...

I’ve recently experimented making handmade stoneware bowls with an expanded decoration. They have been made using a homemade wooden paddle which has lines sawn into it at different angles. To begin with the bowls were thrown into a fairly tall cylinder shape. With one hand supporting the inside, and the wheel stopped, the outside of the cylinder was whacked with the paddle a number of times. After this the inside of the bowl was opened out, making sure not to touch the outside and spoil the pattern. By pulling the pot out like this it creates an expanded decoration –...

My previous yarn bowls have proved quite popular and I’ve had some enquiries about when I’ll be making more, so I set to work on a day I had all to myself. I decided to try out some new ideas for yarn bowls, and thought I’d experiment more with flower themed decoration. I really liked the Sgraffito work on this old plant pot I found at my great aunts house. I did a few sketches using it as inspiration. I haven’t really done any Sgraffito work before, but it can give a really nice finish. The lines have a much...

What is a knitting bowl? In this article I demonstrate carving clay leaf patterns into knitting bowls. They are bowls used by knitters and crocheters to hold balls of yarn whilst working. This stops them rolling all over the place whilst the knitting needles are flying! Most knitting bowl designs have some sort of cutaway that allows the yarn to be threaded through. This means different projects can be done using the same bowl. How I carve clay to create my knitting bowls I have made a few different designs of knitting bowls in the past. This time I had...

This is a collection of articles documenting the evolution of my handmade mugs range which has changed a lot since writing this blog. Some of my current work is linked to at the start of the article. The mug is one of the most personal pottery items, everyone has their favourite mug they couldn’t live without! That’s why I love making them so much. My decoration styles have changed over the years. Currently I am enjoying making carved patterns in leather hard clay, and layering glazes to highlight the designs. If you are interested in buying stoneware mugs or other handmade...

This is a follow up to my article on raw glazing single firing experiments. Single firing results Whilst loading the kiln I had a problem with glaze flaking off, especially around the rims. I had to rebrush glaze onto most of the pots. The clay content of both glazes is quite high which I believe is the problem. I’ve included my notes on the firing. I think the firing schedule itself was ok, I had no breakages, and can’t see any pinholing or bloating which are associated with firing too fast. I did have a major problem with glaze crawling....