Potter’s Journal
Foraging for wild clay
“Where do you get your clay from?” is a question I am asked a lot. There are two options: Option 1. I buy it in clean 12.5 kg bags mixed in Stoke-on-Trent or option 2: I forage wild clay. While buying clay is reliable and convenient, I find that foraging for wild clay...
Mount Brandon Cottages: Prioritising biodiversity and wildlife
As a business that’s all about tourism and embracing nature, sustainability is a major part of Mount Brandon Cottages. Much of the philosophy is to take the thinking away from the guests, meaning guests are encouraged to use clearly marked bins, it has solar panels...
Doilies & Slip Reveal
When you want to decorate a leather hard piece of pottery and you have some doilies to spare (or even some cut out pieces of newspaper), you can attach the paper doilies really well to the wetted clay surface (be careful not to trap air under the paper, because the...
How sheep can be made using the humble pinch pot
Recently I have been really busy making and there was no time for blog writing. So today I finally got to write how I make my sheep sculptures: First I start by making two similar sized pinch pots (weighing out the clay will help). It is important not to overwork the...
Experimenting with colours and patterns
What colours do you like??? Kids have very definite ideas and in this post they are getting to grips with glazing
Why do children love pottery?
They all agree that it is fun and that there are no limits to what they can do. I have been running children’s pottery classes from my pottery studio in Graiguenamanagh
Welcome to Potters Journal
Welcome to Mount Brandon Pottery School Blog….