About this Sheffield Potter
How I got into pottery
I've been making pottery in Sheffield since 2012. I bought my wife Helen a wheel for her birthday and ended up getting hooked an pottery myself! It has been frustrating at times but also very rewarding. As a self taught potter I have learnt things the hard way. Sometimes I would open the kiln and hate everything I found. That hurts when you've invested so much time in the making process.
I don't like to be beaten by anything. So I spent hours upon hours reading about glaze ingredients, throwing techniques and making processes. Little by little I have improved to the stage where I am actually pleased with most of the stuff I pull out of the kiln.
My making process
All my pottery is wheel thrown, and finished by hand. The handles for mugs are pulled into a long strip by hand from a lump of clay. I mostly like simple stamp or carved decorations that add interest to the glazes.
For the last year or so I've been working with a converted gas kiln. The reduction firing process gives a very unique character to the clay and glazes. Most of my pottery uses an iron speckled clay with slightly transparent glazes, the finish varies between pieces even from the same kiln load. This variation is something I love and keeps the process very rewarding.
Pottery for the future
We live in a time when most things can be made cheap, disposed of and replaced frequently. Hopefully handmade items like my own can break this cycle, and reduce the amount of landfill created. There's no reason why pottery that is cared for shouldn't last a few lifetimes.
If you'd like to know more, and keep updated with my pottery journey through emails you can sign up here.
Get in touch if you'd like to ask anything about my pottery or discuss having something made specially to order. Many people ask for sets of mugs or bowls to be made when I don't have enough available stock.
Thanks for reading :)
Tom Humphries