The Pottery Workshop

The building has, in its time, served as a harness and saddlery workshop, a restaurant kitchen, and most recently as a saleroom for antiques. Last century it also acted as stables for the cartage business which gives the pottery its name. We are told that two horses were supposed to be kept available at all times to pull the village fire engine if required. Quite often, however, when the need arose, the horses were elsewhere and workers from the coconut matting factory used to pull the fire engine by hand.

Nowadays the space is mainly occupied by :

• two electric wheels (Max 60, by Roderveld).
  
  I recommend them highly; powerful, excellent speed control, quiet, easy to clean, well engineered and no friction drives to wear out. Roderveld's service has been outstanding on the rare occasions I have needed it.
  
  People are often surprised by how low the wheelhead is. I like it that way myself, but if you don't, the tubular legs are telescopic, so suit yourself!
  
  The drip tray is split, and can be taken to the sink and cleaned in about two minutes at the end of the day.
  
  The foot pedal is connected by a flexible electric cable, and can be put wherever you want it. It holds position when you take your foot off it, too, which is nice if you are standing up to work.

• a de-airing pugmill by Venco.
  
  A superb labour-saving tool for conditioning new and recovered clay to the ideal state for throwing or building. It is a great help that the grids for shredding the clay as it goes into the vacuum chamber can be removed and cleaned without splitting the casing.
  
  The bench the pugmill is standing on was made from salvaged bits of the packing case it came in.
  
  The machine down below is the vacuum pump. Strictly it is a separate unit, only linked to the pugmill by the vacuum hose, but I find it convenient to tuck it underneath.

• a clay extruder by Dangor Ceramic Equipment;
  powerful and versatile. I cut my own dies for simple and fancy shapes.

• a 9 cu.ft. propane gas kiln by Laser Kilns Ltd.
  This has been reliable and economic through well over a hundred glaze firings to cone 9 and over, as well as the biscuit firings preceding them.
  

• a 12 cu ft. propane gas kiln ("Hotbox") built by Brian Dickenson
  
  The newer of the two gas kilns, this one was installed early in the year 2000. It is easy to load, and gives extremely even firing. It can take rather larger pieces than will fit in the Laser.
  
  In the picture here, the Laser H9p is the dark grey box on the left in side view. The Hotbox is the one with the red steel frame on the right. Bricks to build up the wicket are stacked against the wall beside it.
  
  The two kilns share a gas supply, and also share the chimney, so I only fire one at a time!

• five bays of racks by Rapid Racking Ltd.
  Cheap, light, and easy to install, galvanised for rust-resistance. They do the job.
• several wooden tables, mostly made by me
• a ton or so of clay
• ingredients for making stoneware glazes
• about twenty tubs of various glazes, ready mixed
• an assortment of smaller tools and equipment.

You can still walk around, though!

Return to the Pottery Front Page