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Shield studio pottery

shieldstudiopottery

http://www.shieldstudiopottery.com/

With enormous thanks to @oldforgecreations enablin

With enormous thanks to @oldforgecreations enabling my lad and I to have a few precious hours together 3D printing a mould for a plaster mould to slip cast ornaments for Christmas. What a fabulous process. Recipe for cone 10 slip also included. The ball clay component is a wild clay sourced from Poole harbour, UK, and the particle size must be very small as it’s the stickiest clay I’ve ever found. Clay brings us together ✨

Fossil hunting and slip prepping ✨

Fossil hunting and slip prepping ✨

Salt. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do

Salt. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and this winter it’s going to happen. A small gas kiln is all prepped, and I’ve done enough reading to make a start. These pieces are being prepared to receive a slip that’s receptive to a salt atmosphere and I’m hoping for high contrast on all the high points. If you’re a salt/soda firing guru please do give any tips ✨🔥

Yes, it’s thrown, yes it’s a screw thread, yes

Yes, it’s thrown, yes it’s a screw thread, yes it’s possible - thank you @joe_small_ceramics for the tap and die set. Planning a food safe silicone washer over the nitrile/cork approach this time. Silicon carbide paste is an amazing way of coaxing a no fit back to a smooth fit - amazing stuff. This is Dobles clay, ‘red’ not ‘buff’ - with a Phil Rogers ash glaze recipe over the top - wood fired to cone 13 in partnership with @robinwaldenceramics

#ashglazes deliver fascinating variation, the flui

#ashglazes deliver fascinating variation, the fluidity can develop rivulets and, in this case, facets split the runs into delicious drips that form glassy green beads as the molten material pools.

Tenmoku scraped back to bisque (with a stick) in v

Tenmoku scraped back to bisque (with a stick) in vertical lines. Fired to cone 12+ in wood atmosphere. The clay and glaze is simple, the complex results are anything but. Dark amber on one side gives away the fly ash flux effect, hints of the lines and dark moody blacks pick out where the molten glaze pools on the other side. Impossible to photograph well 😅. A potters pot.

Pin striped ash glaze, the facets draw the lines.

Pin striped ash glaze, the facets draw the lines. This is HT Stoneware from @valentineclays and is very interesting in a number of levels. @bluematchbox have a great display of many clays fired in reduction or electric firings and it helps enormously with making new choices like this one for me, I’d recommend you make the effort to get there in person if you can. Slightly underwhelmed to learn HT stands for high temperature (it should be special HT, or toasty HT), with cone 13 flat in this last firing HT Stoneware dealt with it very well. One to repeat

Tenmoku, facets, experiments, and of course #woodf

Tenmoku, facets, experiments, and of course #woodfire A delicious blend of nuka and tenmoku with time and temperature ✨

Special day. Firings will always be a celebration

Special day. Firings will always be a celebration of a body of work and a human connection with like minded souls. With thanks to @robinwaldenceramics for such good company, sharing hard earned experience and moving on our understanding of clay, glaze and fire together. ✨

#justonemore goes into the base shelf layer. Plann

#justonemore goes into the base shelf layer. Planning shelf heights ahead of stacking enables a huge number of pots to go in 🔥

Spanning 690mm is harder that I thought. I’ve tr

Spanning 690mm is harder that I thought. I’ve tried kiln shelves and ceramic blanket, ceramic fibre board, 600x230 IFB slabs. Nothing lasts. Don’t mention an arch - I want to top load, and I probably want to reach the arch conclusion myself without being told it’s the only way 😅🤣. So, this is the kebab lid option - firing tomorrow, I’ll let you know how it goes. See pics of jig to drill a straight hole - I don’t have a monster pillar drill, this worked out well with a masonry bit that’s too long (but only a tenner) but did a fab job. Anyone is welcome to borrow jig and drill bit if they want to give this a go. #kebabIFBheaven

@winchcombepottery centennial celebrations today..

@winchcombepottery centennial celebrations today.. so pleased to be there marking this point in their history. It’s a potters place. Functioning, busy, organised, worthy, hard working, creative, a welcoming openness. They drew a decent crowd today and rightly so. Keeping going @winchcombepottery 🔥✨

@oxfordkilns is SO alive. The buzz of people disco

@oxfordkilns is SO alive. The buzz of people discovering new skills and each other, new connections re-connections, it feels AMAZING. So very grateful to be welcomed in laying a few bricks for the new train kiln going up, thank you @robin.a.wilson for the invite and thank you @claude.aussage for putting me to work. The splatter of mortar on my face was an earthy connection with the build cycle and I wore it like a badge of honour all the way home ✨

Confidence for the next firing grows as the leathe

Confidence for the next firing grows as the leather hard and bisque move through the process. A little bit of extra time and consideration in each piece shows, really pleased with the direction it’s headed

Wishing the bone dry pots sweet bisque dreams on 1

Wishing the bone dry pots sweet bisque dreams on 1/2 price lectrickery day ✨ Planned for wood fire in Sept 🔥

Studio pottery started as a reaction to industrial

Studio pottery started as a reaction to industrialisation in the early 20th century. Handmade, homemade, private studios was the place creativity retreated to. The creative, handmade, human touch is, and always will be admired - by humans, and even in most recent challenging economic times this year the feedback over the value in handmade, imperfection, a ‘voice’ in what we make is strong. This is not a few die hard creatives, this is a human to human connection in what we want to use and be around. It’s reassuring. Photos of small batch, likely unrepeatable, all quite different, all with a big dollop of feeling melted into them in this post. Enjoy 💫

So very satisfying to get some excellent results a

So very satisfying to get some excellent results after trying for a long time to get this right. It’s technically one of the most challenging things I do - pushing the boundaries of the clay and my patience. One that’s perfect make all the other failures worth it 👌

As we potters wait for rain, and wait we must, it’s a time to think. A time to add something special to what we make. Time concentrates the creativity. Threaded stoppers may be that for me. Last photo is the only use of my welding goggles for quite a long time!

What a fab few days at @celebratingceramics . Enjo

What a fab few days at @celebratingceramics . Enjoyed catching up with friends and making a few new ones. Loved the variety of work, couldn’t resist a few purchases. A grasshopper joined me for quite a few hours and this hare was guarding the exit on my way out. Good times, great company 💫

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Iain Shield

Abingdon, Oxfordshire

07818 430173

Iain@ShieldStudioPottery.com

Get in touch

Abingdon, Oxfordshire

07818 430173

Iain@ShieldStudioPottery.com

Shield Studio Pottery would love to hear from you! We often attend local art events and Art Weeks when it’s on. You might find us firing local anagama kilns, or sourcing local clay. If you cant find us out and about we are probably on the wheel!

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