Archive for Author Jon

Weekend pottery workshop

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gillian and her cream jugs she made at eastnor pottery weekend potter's wheel workshopCheck out these fantastic cream jugs made by Gillian at on one of our weekend potter’s wheel workshops.

Gillian is our most loyal and experienced participant who’s been attending our workshops for close on 15 years. A competent thrower, she’s made plates, bowls and beakers of the top most quality. Most of her work is used in the home “If I break a plate, I’ll just come back and make another!”, these little masterpieces are a present for her father.

She was joined at the weekend by six other individuals of varying levels of clay experience. Some had done a little hand-building, others were complete beginners. What they all had in common was a fabulous, creative and productive time – all mastering the technique and making some super pots. If you don’t believe me take a look at the photos!

If you would like to learn how to make pots on the potter’s wheel then please take a look at our potter’s wheel page

Posted in adult individual, potter's wheel workshop tagged with , ,

Potter’s National Anthem

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tiles made by children at churchdown village junior school gloucester with jon the potter from eastnor pottery and the flying potterMention the potter’s wheel to adults of a certain age and they will imediately start grinning, humming and singing a particular Righteous Brothers track (if I had a pound….!!) with a wink and a nod to a  piece of cinematic history.

The ‘Ghost’ reference reached dizzy new heights this week at Churchdown Junior School nr Gloucester. I’d been hired to work with all the children over two days and as is customary on these occasions, I like to kick everything off with a potter’s wheel whole school assembly. Imagine my surprise and joy as the children filed into the hall to Unchained melody blasting over the school PA – made me feel right at home!

I had a busy but brilliant couple of days being plied with endless cups of tea and cool water (thanks Gemma!) The kid’s were great and produced a range of collaborative tile panels to brighten up the school and commemorate the Diamond Jubilee.

See some of the childrens coloured clay tiles ready for transportation back to Eastnor Pottery.

Posted in key stage 1&2, schools tagged with , ,

Eastnor Primary at the Pottery

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yr r from eastnor primary school worked with jon and sarah at eastnor pottery herefordshireYr R walked the short distance from Eastnor Primary School to the Pottery on Thursday for a couple of hours of clay fun.

The children have been looking at ‘space’ this term so after a potter’s wheel demonstration and making a collaborative jug covered in aliens, they turned their attention to individual, clay space rockets.

Pictured above – some of the boys give their creations a final lick of coloured slip.

Posted in key stage 1&2, schools tagged with , ,

Pottery cooking stoves

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cooking on a pottery stove like this can reduce the amount of fuel used to heat the food by 40% ompared to cooking on an open fire.Did you know that these gorgeous looking pottery cooking stoves are 40% more fuel efficient than the traditional African method of cooking on an open fire? If more rural africans were encouraged to cook using a clay stove, that’s an awful lot less wood gathering, smoke inhalation, tree cutting, and carbon emissions. Win, win, win, win!!

Hereford based International charity, Concern Universal have employed us at Eastnor Pottery to deliver a series of clay stove workshops to local schools. The sessions are designed to raise awareness of poverty in Malawi and more generally the impact of global warming and how each of us can lessen our carbon footprint.

We collaborated for the first time last week at Broadheath Primary School in Worcestershire. The Yr5 children enjoyed a fun and informative presentation on the environmental and economical benefits of cooking on a clay stove before being given the chance to make their very own, individual model stoves.

We concluded the session by lighting the sample stove in the shade of the schools forest school site and boiling a pan of water over the flames.

I learnt just as much as the children who, as you’d expect, were able to soak up the information and statistics with alarming speed and accuracy.

Cant wait to see how this project grows and develops.

Posted in key stage 1&2, schools tagged with , ,

Sensory clay sessions at Sunfield

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smoke fired thrown pots made by the students at sunfield special school in clent with jon williams from eastnor pottery & the flying potterDuring the month of May, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of spending 5 days with staff and students at Sunfield School in the West Midlands.

Sunfield is a residential special school supporting young people aged 6-19yrs with severe and complex learning difficulties.

Clay is such a universal and accessible medium no matter what age or ability everybody can leave their mark…and marks were well and truly made on this short clay residency! We smeared squidged and threw our way through bags of the stuff, each student adopting an individual and interesting approach to the material.

As always the potter’s wheel was a firm favourite with some students displaying interest and focus rarely seen in other activities.

We finished the residency off with a celebratory ‘smoke firing’ in the idylic school grounds. This involved building a small fire, stacked with some of the students work they had previously made. Once lit (the risk assessment was a thorough one!) the flames and smoke decorated the vessels leaving gorgeous marks and shades of grey and black (see above photo).

I thoroughly my time at Sunfield and hope to be back there again soon.

Posted in schools, special needs tagged with , ,
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