“Pottery isn’t a hobby, it is an addiction of touch to the clay!”
To all the potters all over the world; “high five! you’ve got this”
A positive affirmation that I remind myself of everyday.
Maybe, I am correct in thinking that pottery is one of the oldest forms of craft skills dating back thousands of years ‘actually 20,000!’. And it’s also probable that it is one of the most experienced techniques made by man at some point, practiced all over the world and continued to this present day.
My love of clay and creating pottery started 17 years ago in the beautiful county of Staffordshire, in Stoke-on-trent. A few weeks on a pottery course and I became a potter!
Or so I thought……….
The beauty of clay and of course lots of different clays, is that even after 20,000 plus years the skill of controlling the clay through all of it’s different processes, is still never quite achieved, everytime or everyday. This is the daily challenge of a potter!
A gift that the earth gives us, a material strong and durable to use, to assist us in keeping our food safe and the additional added gift of the mental challenge to see each design through to the end of it’s successful fruition.
Perhaps, the word ‘pottery’ came from the word ‘potty’ and I believe that ‘Potty Potter’ is a word that could best describe most potters or at least at some point in their pottery journey.
17 years later…….. and hundreds of thousands of hours with my hands in wet clay, sculpting and suddenly the clay starts to become compliant and is submissive to it’s master.
Therefore, I wanted to share with you a design that I enjoy sculpting and it is not without it’s fair share of challenges but to it’s end is enjoyed by myself and most of all many of my customers.
Without using molds and every design a one-off, being created by hand for each customer; completely bespoke. Here is El Toro.
SimplyART Ceramics 