Another Mud Sofa

This time Jon worked with a gang of students from John Masefield High School, to produce this fantastic piece of earth furniture. It was built in situ at Ledbury Youth Centre in their magnificent garden. The sofa is planted with grass seed, which will have sprouted and spread to produce a lush turf finish- all in time for Ledbury in Bloom.

Full House

The studio was well populated last weekend as no less than 10 guests enjoyed a mixture of throwing and handbuilding on our April weekend workshop. Seven wheels a whirling.One of the youngest participants we've ever had on our weekend potter's wheel workshops. Paige grasped the technique very early on and threw some amazing shapes- a glittering career in clay awaits for sure, if it's something she wants to do!Hannah, Claire and Michelle, all previous potter's wheel workshop veterans, returned on Saturday to try their hands at handbuilding. The girls coiled a terracotta owl each for their gardens which will be ready in a few weeks time.

Marlbrook Trees

Eight fantastic ceramic trees produced by all the talented children at Marlbrook Primary School in Hereford.



Jon visited the school on several occasions during the spring term working with each year group to make a separate year group tree.



Every single child in the school produced at least two leaves and helped make creepy crawlies for the trunk sections. Bearing in mind there are 450 pupils in the school, the project generated a mammoth amount of tiles, all of which had to be individually stuck onto the specially prepared tree shaped boards. Phew!



The trees are going to be mounted on the wall around the school for all the children and staff to enjoy.

Phoebe's Birthday Party

The fantastic weather on Saturday enabled these lucky young ladies to enjoy their picnic in the pottery garden. Phoebe and friends made 'Owl and the Pussycat' models before heading outside into the late afternoon sunshine.

Ashton Under Hill Discovery Pots

Lids on, lids off! These beautiful terracotta pots made by Jon, are destined for the fantastic outdoor play space designed and built in collaboration with Ashton Under Hill playgroup. The pots will be buried with their lids protruding at ground level. Each vessel will contain examples of a natural material - twigs/ straw, pebbles etc, for the children to discover and experience. Please take a look at previous blog entries posted earlier this year to see how the project has unfolded.

Jen's Hen Party

Bride to be Jenny and friends, photographed here outside the pottery entrance. The girls took advantage of our 3 hour potter's wheel session to mark the occasion. We were able to provide the 8 hen's with a potter's wheel each, and they spent the time learning to throw shapes. Althought they all insisted none of them had done any before the results were fantastic.


Jenny perfecting her technique as mum Alison looks on.

Wee Lambs & Fluffy Buns

Some of the creations from our Easter holiday children's workshops, freshly made, coloured and slowly drying out. Our next children's workshop is 'Spider in the Bath', and each young potter will get the opportunity to have a go on the potter's wheel. Please e-mail admin@eastnorpottery.co.uk or telephone on 01531 633886 to reserve your place.

More Clay Babies

I couldn't resist posting these wonderful images from another successful clay babies session, in Birmingham. A special mention goes to 13 week old Eva, who just blew us all away with her concentration and natural talent!

Westfield Special School, Leominster

I'm very fortunate to work at Westfield Special School in Leominster, four times a year. This week I had the pleasure of helping Kingfisher class to produce a stack of terracotta garden ornaments. The snail plaques, ladybird dibbers, and flower pots will be sold at an event after Easter to raise funds for their annual residential trip to Dartmoor. Please take a look at the school's wonderful website, which includes a couple of past pottery projects: http://www.westfield.hereford.sch.uk/EY_PAGE.asp?GRID=8&PAGE_ID=73

High School Tile Panel

John Masefield High School (JMHS) are keen to enhance the school campus in different ways. As part of this process, I've been meeting with the school's Community Arts Officer, Jeanette McCulloch, discussing ideas and locations within the school to site a ceramic work of art - created by the students, for the students.

After much debate, we plumped for a series of 'circular' tile panels to be fixed to an exterior wall of the main hall.

The panels are various sizes, randomly spaced along the wall, creating the effect of bubbles.

This week I had the pleasure of working with 20 Gifted & Talented (G & T) students representing the cream of artistic talent from accross the school. The theme was 'music and inspiration'. As you might expect, the quality of the work produced was fantastic. Just look at the magnificent segments above.