Getting Hands on With Clay....

I have always loved ceramics and clay. I'm not particularly interested in the exactness of making tea-cups and plates...... I really love the organic, flowing, creative pieces that can be made with clay, and the beautiful glazes that can be applied. We have dabbled on and off with clay over the years, occasionally buying a bag of reconstituted clay from a local potter and getting together with some friends to explore it. Recently when my husband was helping his friend to build some decking, he got chatting with his friend's next door neighbour. They got chatting about gardening and swapped some plants, and then Al showed Dewi his pottery studio. Well to cut a long story short, we were invited to go along for a couple of hours to enjoy some clay and how could we refuse such a great invite??!!

First off, Al talked the girls through the 'story' of clay, how it came to be formed, where it could be found, he asked them what they knew and built on that. His love of clay came across so vividly and his enthusiasm was so infectious! When we went out to his studio, he showed the girls how to make a simple vessel by rolling a ball of clay and then pushing a piece of broom handle into it to hold it by. In the photo above, Faith is tapping her clay ball firmly with a wooden paddle inscribed with a pattern. Al has made a range of these paddles with either cut out patterns or things like nails tapped into them to create marks on the clay. He went through how to make and attach a handle that would hold whilst firing and I was impressed how the girls absorbed the information and made and attached their handles. So securely that they could hold their little jugs up by the handle without it breaking!

Al then opened up a sack of clay, told the girls to help themselves to as much as they wanted and left them to be creative. Above is Faith making a fairy house with a pond attached.....

Here Eve is making markings on a fish shape that she carved out of some rolled out clay....

Here is Eve again experimenting with making marks using the wooden paddles....

This is Eve's ice house with mother and baby polar bear....

And this is Faith's spider bowl!

Al was really taken with the girl's creative expression and they had a wonderful time. They took Al up on his offer of using as much clay as they liked and managed to secure themselves an invitation to come back again. Faith is just four but she concentrated for over an hour and a half before beginning to get fidgety. I honestly think that I could have left Eve there all day!

To finish up, Al showed the girls how to 'throw' a mug, bowl, vase and plate. Eve was really keen to have a go so maybe she will get to try next time!!! Throughout our whole visit Al and his wife made us so welcome, bringing out a tray of tea, juice and biscuits and being thoroughly lovely! Al was so interesting to talk to and really supportive of our endeavours to home educate the girls, which is really nice as home education is not so wide spread or well accepted in the UK at present.