18/05/2026
I thought I’d write a little post about the work behind the pieces I make — and why pricing handmade ceramic work is never as simple as it may seem.
Some of my larger pieces can take weeks, sometimes over months, to complete. Here’s a little insight into the process behind them.
Everything begins with a bag of clay. Each bag has to be carefully kneaded to remove every possible air bubble, because even the smallest pocket of air can cause a piece to explode in the kiln during firing. Over the years, I’ve had a few spectacular explosions along the way!
The clay is then rolled into the largest slabs I can manage and left overnight until it reaches a leather-hard stage. Only then can the building begin, each piece is cut, reshaped, formed and sculpted slowly over time.
Once the piece has dried slowly and evenly, it goes through its first bisque firing at 950°C.
Then comes glazing — a process that is far more involved than many people realise. Every glaze starts from raw materials which must be carefully weighed, mixed and sieved. When the consistency is right, the glazing can begin.
I use slips and around six different glazes on many of my pieces, applied through dipping, pouring and brushing. The larger works especially take an enormous amount of time and care.
The work is then fired again at 1260°C, all while praying to the kiln gods that everything survives and turns out as imagined. Working with multiple glazes is unpredictable, and sometimes pieces need a third or even fourth firing to achieve the finish I want.
Packing the kiln itself is another careful task — making sure glazes won’t run onto shelves or damage the kiln elements. Although, truthfully, I still often end up reaching for the chisel and hammer afterwards!🤪
Once the piece finally comes out successfully, another role begins: photographer. Finding the right light, space and background to photograph the work properly can take me days, because I’m incredibly particular about how the pieces are presented.
And after all of that comes the hardest part — trying to sell the work.
Artists often rely on galleries, which usually means handing over a large percentage of the final sale. You trust that your work will be cared for, promoted and represented properly. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.
Over the years I’ve had lots of lovely gallery owners that have been super however, one of my larger sculptures has never been returned or paid for, gone forever - one last year came back chipped after being poorly handled and inadequately looked after following a show that received very little promotion esp after us having to take a few days out to drop the work off and then again collect..
Today, sadly I’m having to reglaze and refire that sculpture in the hope I can restore it to the quality it once had.
Every finished piece carries with it years of failures, experiments and learning. Some makers choose simplicity — one glaze, straightforward forms. I tend to push boundaries a little more, often not fully knowing what will emerge from the kiln.
But that uncertainty, that risk, is also part of the excitement and the joy of making…
This is just one piece and all this time and work contributes to the final overall price. Sadly people don’t view ceramics like paintings and scoff at a high price in ceramics…
I’m still probably getting under minimum wage when doing this in a freezing cold shed or sweaty in the few weeks of blistering heat and wonder if it’s all actually worth it sometimes!! 😞 😂 no wonder potters go/are potty!
