Another post in our occasional series of “What our customers get up to when they’re not on the wheel”

Dan and Steph spent the day with us on our one day potter’s wheel workshop 16-2-19, making some very respectable vessels and shapes.

There is no apparent end to their talents and as well as proving themselves competent potters, the couple have a multitude of other creative strings to their bow.

Steph posts penny whistle tutorials, twice a week, online as well as producing and staring in promotional videos for businesses and organisations. Dan is a freelance sports journalist commenting on football, rugby, cricket and darts.

In their ‘spare time’! the pair act and produce in a theatre group too – Phew!

A few weeks back we were contacted by a young videographer and photographer called George Nash. He asked if he could visit to shoot some footage to add to his burgeoning portfolio of photographs and moving image.

We were instantly struck by the professionalism of his approach and the initiative he’d demonstrated in doing so.

George spent a busy Saturday morning in March with us filming and photographing our customers and staff in action. He also brought along his drone to get a bird’s eye view of the Pottery and surrounding Herefordshire landscape.

George was very easy to work with, putting ourselves and more importantly our customers at ease as he moved around the studio, capturing large and small interactions. He demonstrated a really good eye for composition and worked very hard to capture the ‘right’ images.

We are so impressed not only with the results, but the speed in which he delivered the finished work. We think he’s captured the vibe and environment we strive for perfectly. Well done George!

George can be contacted on all the usual social media platforms:

George’s website.

George’s Instagram.

Georges other Instagram.

George’s YouTube.

George’s twitter.

George’s Face Book.

We love our returners – even if they haven’t visited us for 16 years!

Katie attended a friend’s birthday party here at Eastnor Pottery back in the day when she was just eight years old.

Fast forward to our potter’s wheel one day course earlier this month and Katie is all growed up and proving to us all that making pots on the wheel is not dissimilar to riding a bike – once you’ve done it you never forget.

Mum came along too and the day made for a brilliant mother/daughter activity. Well done both.

For current availability on our one day and weekend workshops, please call 01531 633886 or email admin@eastnorpottery.co.uk

On this occasion we are reaching out to the engineering fraternity for a slightly different reason other than inviting them to come play with clay.

We have x5 standing and compact ‘kick’ wheels, all the same model, made by the same manufacturer. Two of the wheel s (later editions) have design modifications and are easy to work on. The other three are slightly older and need a little bit of TLC to bring them up to speck.

So, we were wondering if there was anybody out there who would be willing to take a look at them or have a tinker in their spare time?  Or, if you know of anybody that might be able to help us? Give us a call on 01531 633886. Or email admin@eastnorpottery.co.uk

What better way to spend time with friends than chilling and making pottery in Herefordshire?

These London ladies took a weekend break in the countryside earlier this year and spent a creative and relaxing Friday afternoon with us.

They conquered the wheel then spent a couple of hours chatting and carefully decorating their freshly thrown masterpieces…And don’t they look amazing!? And the pots look pretty cool too! Well done you three!

As a long time associate artist in residence at Washwood Heath Nursery School (WHNS) in Birmingham, I have been asked to facilitate a project looking at how clay might improve the learning experience for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). The 10 day project will span the 2018/19 academic year and I am employed to engage the children and staff for three or four days each term.

As with all my clay adventures in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) documentation is key and an essential part of the project. Each week I observe the youngsters, photographing their interactions and recording notes.

Here are excerpts from my notes from the first session 7-11-18:

Having just a few SEN children to focus on is going to be really beneficial. I found in the past, in my enthusiasm trying to give all the children the best experience, all of the time, I ended up spreading myself too thinly. It’s going to brilliant just to focus on a few and do some real in-depth exploratory work and build some meaningful relationships. Great stuff and I’m genuinely excited to working in this way.

Had a quick briefing with ‘N’ and then set up on the clay table. ‘K’ kindly presented me a list of the children’s names and I spent a lovely morning identifying the children I’m working with and getting to know them one to one. In future weeks, I’m going to set up an activity on the table that the whole of nursery can access and then hone in on my SEN focus group, either at the table or in other parts of the nursery.

 ‘L’

Perfectly at home on the clay table and spent a good 30 minutes rolling flat slabs and using lolly-pop sticks to mark and prod the sheet of clay. Experimenting with the different sides and ends of the tool to create different marks, drawing straight and circular lines in the clay slab. Uses finger to slide/blend the clay onto the surface of the table. Good exploratory stuff and experimentation

When ‘L’ first sat down at the table, she used a rolling pin to lightly tap away at a dried clay pot, creating a layer of fine particles and dust on the board. She used her fingers to draw through the dust. I introduced a pinch pot with lid for her to contain her dust and broken bits of dried pot. Another child ‘H’ (great interpersonal skills) came and sat next to her at the table and ‘made’ together. – lovely! Holding hands and swapping the odd word or two.

‘L’ seems a happy soul, singing along to the children’s songs playing on the white board whist she works the clay. If you’re happy and you know it pat the clay! Enjoying counting to five as she helps to flatten the clay slab. When ‘L’ leaves the clay table she heads over to the carpet to play the drums and percussive instruments. Music  and rhythm is going to be a brilliant way to connect with the ‘L’….and probably the rest of the children too!

‘Z’

I went to find ‘Z’ in the classroom as he was somebody I hadn’t had opportunity to meet yet. I found him happily playing with his plastic dinosaurs. “Stegosaurus!”  I headed back to the clay table and grabbed a lump of clay and quickly made a T-rex in front of him. He was suitably impressed, disappeared and then returned with his own lump of clay to model (or to get me) to model another dino. He didn’t need too much persuasion to join me at the clay table for some more clay dinosaur modeling. “Make a stegosaurus out of clay” Loved the way he used a pencil to very carefully prod eyes into the dinosaurs head.  We somehow ended up with a two headed stegosaurus! At the end of the session “bye bye dinosaur”  on the way out he saw a small, life like plastic spider “spider”  became slightly obsessed and slightly frightened by the realistic toy. Maybe a starting point for next time?

We received a lovely book this Christmas – ‘A poem for every day’ edited by Allie Esiri.

365 poems, ancient, traditional and contemporary prose designed to start the day on a contemplative and inspiring note. Sarah and myself are pleased to report we have managed to ‘keep up’ and the readings have become an important part of our morning tea drinking ritual.

This poem by Jan Dean is particularly poignant for those wishing to work with clay! More literally for customers who struggle with the concept of painting their freshly thrown pot:

This has to be one of our favourite photos of recent times

Jon and his family visited the Pottery to celebrate his 40^th birthday in creative style. Everybody took a turn on the wheel to make a pot and then paint it in a truly individual manner.

When it came to the obligatory team photo at the end of the session, Jon’s son Harry, quick as a flash, scooped mum’s iphone to photograph Jon the Potter photographing the family group. Love the movement as M&D lunge across the table to rescue the tech!

We wish Nicola all the best with her endeavours on and off the potter’s wheel!

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Staying @thecottageinthewood & visiting us @eastnorpottery #perfectweekend #happybirthdaymum @the.burmesepython #kickboxing

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Jon worked with the two Reception classes at Woodlands Infant School in Shirley earlier this week. The four and five year old pupils have been studying dinosaurs as part of their learning and were really really excited about making their own pottery creation.

Making clay dinosaurs has to be one of our favourite themes of all time. Probably, in part something to do with our son’s obsession with all things Jurassic when he was a youngster.

The children used the simple technique of sticking two pinch-pot bowls together to make a hollow structure. Next they fashioned their hollow ball, without breaking the seal into a dinosaur of their choosing, using an additional lump of clay to make legs, spikes, horns etc.

As well as learning new clay skills the children also used lots of new words and vocabulary to express what they were doing. Here are just a few snippets of conversation with their teacher after they had completed the activity:

“I was going to make a T-Rex but I changing my mind. The Slytherin [painted slip!] was the best bit – it makes it look shiny”

“I made a T-Rex, I made the mouth wider”

“I was squeezingly it carefully so it didn’t burst – I stroked it and it sticks”

“It stayed brown when I put it [green slip] over the top”

“I found it easy doing the body. I made the tail a bit lumpy and a bit short”

“I made a theradactile it had wings – I rolled them”

“I cant really spin it with my finger [making the thumb pot] if it didn’t have a hole it would explode”

“The spikes was tricky, I tried to flatten it and stick it on”