Water feature at St Paul's Primary School

Jon facilitated his third and final session at St Paul's Primary School in Hereford. Selected year groups have been working with Jon to produce a collaborative water feature to be installed in school later in the year.

The children worked collaboratively to roll coils and constructed a series of large pots in a matter of minutes. (see photo)Using gargoyles as inspiration they then covered the vessels with hundreds of ugly demons and animal faces. Once the pots had dried out a little, holes were then pushed through the pot wall via the mouths of the many gargoyles.

Once installed the younger children will be able to fill the vessels with water and then remove the corks from the mouths of the gargoyles, allowing the water to cascade from the container.

Alice's Birthday Pottery Party

Yum, yum! Check out these lovely cup cakes made and iced by Alice's mum.

Alice was joined by 10 of her friends and family at the Pottery to celebrate her 7th birthday. The group made some lovely colourful critters before painting them with brightly coloured slips.

Once they've been fired, the ceramic animals will be collected by Alice's parents and distributed to their rightful owners.

If you would like to celebrate your birthday at Eastnor Pottery, please take a look at our birthday party page on our website.

Richards 50th Birthday Surprise

Much to his horror, Richard was under the impression that his wife had booked him a parachute jump or a strippogram as a surprise 50th birthday present. Little did he know that really she had secretly secured the services of Jon the Potter!

Jon called around after lunch with all the clay and equipment to make a collaborative planter with Richard and his assembled family. Once the terracotta planter had been coiled, everybody made decorative motifs and models to attach to the outside of the pot. Most of the the items were themed on the life and times of the birthday boy and included a guitar, Cornish sunset and a lawnmower.

The afternoon was a truly intergenerational affair with several generations of family taking part.

NCT event at JMHS

In a bid to target a whole new generation of potential potters, Sarah 'the potter' set up stall at an event organised by the Natural Childbirth Trust.

New families and expectant parents flocked to John Masefield High School to purchase nearly new baby clothes and accessories on sale at bargain prices.

Flying Potter Gemma at BMAG

Whilst Jon was busy at St Thomas's with his fathers group, Gemma was also in the City working with 'looked after' children at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

There were a variety of exciting activities available in the Learning Zone for children and adults, ranging from t-shirt transfers, making a willow 'dreamcatcher', drawing a design onto mugs, constructing a tin foil covered robot, making some simple jewellery, having a shoulder massage, and of course, constructing a figure from clay!

Gemma was busy all day, helping people to make their own creations. One family particularly enjoyed working with the coil-pot technique, making several items each, including a Gruffalo, a dragon, and a tiger.

Final session with the dads

On Saturday Jon delivered the final session for the fathers group and their children at St Thomas's Children's Centre in Birmingham.

A couple of years ago Jon worked with the same group but with different individuals. On Saturday a few 'old faces' dropped by to say 'hello'.

One of the previous dads was an extremely competent artist and made some wonderful figures and decorative tiles, which he assured me were displayed prominently in his home. He certainly hadn't lost his touch and made a fantastic pigeon constructed from the smallest pinch of clay.

Vale of Evesham School visit Pottery

Team E.P and The Flying Potter spend a lot of time on the road, delivering quality clay sessions in venues all over the West Midlands and beyond. A home game is always a treat and on Friday Jon and Gemma were delighted to work with The Vale of Evesham School at the studio.

Jon has links with the school going back some 15 years (he used to work there one day a week, sharing the delights of clay with the upper school students in their purpose built pottery room.)

10 students and a number of staff got to make T-light lanterns which will be fired and glazed in time for Mother's Day!

Washwood Heath Nursery School

Jon was pleased to return to the creative and caring environment of Washwood Heath Nursery School in Birmingham. Over the next few months he will be working with the children and staff on all sorts of imaginative projects.

The children are exploring their interest in architecture and on Thursday Jon was able to share some simple construction techniques in order to get their clay buildings to stand up.

Teambuilding at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Jon and Gemma headed North to work with a corporate client in the inspiring setting of Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The event was organised by Eventurous. It was the third occasion that the Flying Potter had delivered a session on behalf of the Midlands based events company.

The 2.5 hour session went extremely well with many of the participants discovering hidden talents, not only on the four potter's wheels but also on the modelling and colouring project.

YSP is currently hosting a major exhibition by the internationally acclaimed artist David Nash. Major works on a major scale!

Cherry Orchard First School Caterpillar

Jon's been working at Cherry Orchard First School in Pershore, helping the children to make collaborative sculpture for their garden area. The school logo incorporates a Caterpillar - perfect inspiration for an outside work of art!

Each class made several caterpillar segments before encrusting their collaborative efforts with pattern and texture.