In April this year I will again be firing the anagama kiln in France (in the Charente) so - if all goes well - I will bring back in May all the pots that I have been throwing in Ewelme since before Christmas. They are a mix of stoneware and porcelain and the textural and surface effects effects are hugely variable according to where they are placed in the kiln. Some of the pots are encrusted, almost volcanic; others, just licked by a long flame are more subtle and muted. The porcelain, unglazed, can come out creamy and soft pink with clusters of gold crystals or, if buried in embers, blue and violet, as if it has been centuries under the sea. We will fire with oak, chestnut and pine so hope to find lovely rivulets and globules of emerald green glass or 'biidori' where the fly ash melts and runs.
We will be a team of ten and will fire for five days and nights (and let the kiln cool for a week). We will post pics on Instagram of the pots, the packing and the firing. The names of the potters will be listed on instagram on my page:harriet_coleridge_potter.
I will also have a good stock of shino ware, glazed with a carbon trap and decorated with s=ang de boeuf, wax and rose ash, enhanced after the glaze firing with gold lustre brushwork.
There will be some tin glazed stoneware available too - handprinted with colours derived from metal oxides on a white glaze. Mainly mugs and a large teapot, decorated with a bold oak leaf pattern.
All the pots are designed to be used: you can eat from them, drink from them, put flowers in them or, as in the case of my tall bottles, maybe just contemplate them.
There are also jars for the garden, tiled tables, chess boards, fish (for the wall) and pebbles.