03/09/2026
People sometimes ask why it takes so long to make the handmade door signs. The first reason is that I work 2 days a week in the studio. The other 3 days, I am a art teacher. So I don't have lots of time. My goal is to become a full time potter, but I am not there yet. I have two young kids and a house to run. Financially the security of the teaching job is a safety net. For now.
The second reason is that ceramics takes ages. The seasons are changing now, and the increased moisture in the air slows down drying times even further. Also, my tiles are made completely from scratch. I wedge the clay, roll the slab, and trim the edges.Then leave it to dry for a day or more (depending on the weather). When the tile is leather hard I paint it with coloured slip. Then it has to dry for a few more days. When it has reached leather hard again, I can carve the design. Then, you guessed it, even more drying time, sometimes several weeks.
Once the tile is bone dry, it can go for a bisque firing, taking 3 days, turning the clay, via vitrification into ceramics. The bisque firing makes the tile porous and receptive to the glaze. Which absorbs right into the tile, then the tile is ready for the final glaze firing which takes another 3 days.
Quite a journey from a lump of clay, to the finished handmade tile. 😊
