Virtual Newsletter?

It will be possible in future for us to send out this newsletter by e-mail, to those members and associates with an e-mail address. You will get colour photographs and also some additional messages inbetween the mail-shots.

The Dorset Pottery Group welcomes articles, adverts, news items from members and others. Next newsletter copy date is at the end of the Bridport Show, so please bring your words and images there. Why not write something while you are stewarding or inspired by your visit?

Please send an e-mail to tell us to do this for you in future. Include your comments and ideas.

Where possible we give website addresses and links relating to items in this newsletter, so you can obtain more information.

www.upweypotters.com is now up and running - it is hosted like this page on Bill Crumbleholme's website.
The Upwey Potters now have simple e-mail addresses - bill@upweypotters.com fil, david and jane@ also work.

Bill has already made several very useful contacts with people who found his site and were so impressed they bought some pots!

There is a links page on this site - take a look and please send more link addresses.

Virtual Pots?

Many of the internet sites have images of pots; newspapers and magazines have more demand for pictures. So how do you get good digital images of your pottery? Bill Crumbleholme is finding out and would like to hear from anyone with advice or who wants images taken of their pottery. Bill has a digital camera and a computer and is rearing to go!

WELLBELOVED GALLERY

Carenza Hayhoe has returned to Portland and opened the Wellbeloved Gallery. She is attracting the work of some very well respected potters and artists.

12^th September – 6^th October – The Flight and the Song – Ceramics by John Phillipson, paintings by Andrew Stock

10^th October – 10^th November - Desert Inspiration – Ceramics by Richard Boswell & Peter Swanson, Photographs by Michael Askew

14^th November – 22^nd December - "Hidden Treasure".

28 Easton Street, Portland DT5 1BT Open Wednesday-Saturday 10am – 5pm

Tel 01305 824302 www.wellbelovedgallery.co.uk

DORSET ART WEEKS

Dorset Art Weeks 2002 are from 25^th May to 9^th June, including the extra Bank Holiday. Many DPG members are involved. Ring 07974 959550 or check www.dorsetartweek.com

The Art List

Claire Ring, Dorset County Council’s Visual Arts Development Officer, publishes The Art List which gives lots of useful details about visual arts exhibitions, events and workshops. It is available by post or at http://www.dorset-cc.gov.uk/libraries

Claire is a good contact for Dorset potters looking for advice and assistance.

Claire Ring Tel 01305 224224 e-mail c.e.ring@dorset-cc.gov.uk

Wessex Fine Art and Ceramics

Jill Rousseau’s gallery in North Street, Wareham continues to show a wide selection of contemporary paintings and studio ceramics. www.thedorsetgallery.co.uk

Dorset Pottery Group Annual Exhibition

Bridport Arts Centre 23rd October - 3rd November 2001.

Go to the webpage about this Exhibition for latest details

There was a meeting to sort out the ideas for the exhibition on Thursday 27th September at 7.30pm at the Bridport Art Centre. The newsletter contained the following call to arms :-

Please try to come if you want to be involved, you can bring your registration form and collect more details together with posters, preview invitations etc. If you cannot make it, but are interested in the exhibition, please contact Bill Crumbleholme and send him the form before then. You will get an acknowledgement, with the necessary paperwork.

Bill is masterminding this year’s show and wants to revitalise the group's approach to it and encourage more potters to participate. Please pass on details of any other potter who should be invited to exhibit and we will send information to them, please invite them to the meeting.

The enclosed registration slip is for you to send in to book your space. There is a copy for you to keep with your details and requirements noted. Please also enclose any comments you have about this exhibition (or anything else!).

Please include a deposit of £10 with your slip, cheques payable to Dorset Pottery Group. This will be returned if the event is cancelled for any reason, but is not refundable if you drop out.

We would like you to give some details about yourself and your work, together with some photographs. Some mug shots will be taken at the meeting (so comb your hair!). We will get these typeset and mounted for display during the show. This will replace the previously hand-written details on the catalogue form. We may not be displaying a list of each potter’s items, but may just rely on codes and prices attached to each piece, please give your views on this. There has been much confusion with these lists in previous years, with missing red dots and untidy appearance. We will still need a list at the desk to mark off sales as they are made.

The details & images could also be put on the group’s webpages (with your written agreement).

Spaces at the exhibition will be charged according to area taken up, with an average space (approx 8ft by 4ft) costing about £25 (including the £10 deposit), this will depend on the final number of participants and the costs we expend. The spaces can be shared by several potters or a single potter can take several spaces, subject to availability. We need to cover the £260 fee for the venue hire plus the other expenses of promoting the event. A 30% commission on sales is taken, 25% going to the Bridport Art Centre and 5% to the Dorset Pottery Group.

There is no selection for who can exhibit, but space may be limited.

Items are taken away when paid for, not at the end of the show, so we can allow you to provide additional items to restock your display during the show.

Exhibitors are required to set up their own displays on the Sunday 21^st and act as a steward for at least half a day, we have to provide stewards on the Saturdays and Wednesdays (Market Days) and help at other times would be appreciated. The displays must be removed on 3^rd.November late afternoon, followed by a social gathering (to be confirmed).

There is a Private View on the Sunday evening 21^st from 7 to 9pm. Some invitations are enclosed and more are available on request. Please invite all your contacts. Those on e-mail will be sent a virtual invite to forward on to their e-mail correspondents. These invites also act as handy reminders for the event.

The Ammonite project has raised the profile of the Group, this will be cashed in on. A postcard, featuring an image of the ammonite with details, is planned to be sold. Is a pottery fridge magnet in the shape of an ammonite a good idea?!

The display needs to be "done over". Hanging drapes between each area have been suggested, perhaps garden fleece with sprayed outlines of pot shapes. The Upwey Potters are experimenting with this and checking the fire-proofing. Shall we use plinths and boards that are not white or black? Could we run Raku firing sessions during the exhibition? Ideas Please!

The Upwey Potters

The Upwey Potters are a group of ceramic artists who live & work in Upwey, making and selling their work and running Workshops.

Active for over twenty years, they are well known for their exhibitions and workshops held at the Upwey Old School Village Hall, a community resource with a strong art and craft reputation.

Maggie Cooke is a trained artist, currently working with porcelain exploring the translucence and capturing imprints of natural materials. Fil Cooke is the pyromaniac, being chief kiln builder & stoker, he also runs pottery evening classes. David Cooke makes water features and has recently taken to Raku firing. Pat March is a teacher with a keen observational eye, her slab-built pots evoke the strata of the Dorset Coast. Irene Passmore’s plates and plaques are inspired by the landscape and what lives on it. Jane Taylor produces individual pieces, reflecting nature. Bill Crumbleholme is a thrower, producing functional ware and contemporary pieces, he is inspired by ancient pottery, particularly the local Iron Age burnished smoked ware, Bill has started working in local schools promoting pottery and is running evening classes in Upwey from September.

The Upwey Potters have promoted Raku firing using simple high-tech kilns, famously featured in Ceramic Review a couple of years ago. Their Raku workshops are becoming very popular.

The Upwey Potters have internet webpages giving details of their activities and images of their ceramics appearing at www.upweypotters.com .

SODA Kiln

The Upwey Potter’s latest project has been the construction of a soda kiln. The kiln is a simple downdraught design with two bottled gas burners. Most of the materials had been collected over the years, in the usual hoarding tradition of potters everywhere. Some were bought specially. The burners and thermocouple were borrowed from the Raku kiln.

A level base was laid using hollow concrete blocks. The catenary arch curve was formed by suspending a chain from two points and marking on a board. A temporary timber former was made, in the shape of a dog kennel, over which the bricks were laid. The former was removed and the arch left self-supporting.

The "hot face" is High Temperature Insulating Bricks, this is covered with a layer of Carbo-wool - second generation ceramic fibre and a wrap of aluminium foil.

The outer skin is light-weight furnace bricks. Clay slurry was used to hold the bricks in place. The door is made of HTI bricks, cut to fill the space. Each brick has Roman Numerals carved on it to record position. Some are removable to enable the soda to be injected, the cones viewed and the rings pulled.

The two butane gas burners point along each side in opposite directions. The heat from the flames rises up to the top of the arch and then down through the firing chamber past the pottery and through slits in the lowest shelf and then out through the back of the base and into the brick chimney, rising past the damper up to the top of the bricks.

A metal flue is positioned on top of the chimney when firing to provide up-draught. The corrugated tin roof is slid forward to allow the metal flue up.

The kiln takes about 10 hours to reach 1250 degrees (using pre-biscuited pottery), with an hour soak at 950.

Cones 9 & 10 are placed in line with the upper spy-hole brick, they slump to indicate when the correct amount of heat has been applied to mature the clay ready for the introduction of the soda.

Soda ("Alkacarb" Agricultural strength sodium bi-carbonate) is dissolved in boiling water and then put in a garden pressure spray. The solution is sprayed in bursts of 20 seconds through the various port-holes and over the flame of the front burner. It vaporises immediately and is drawn through the firing chamber. 4lbs of soda is used in total, half a pound at a time in one & a half litres of water (don't you just love partial metrification!)

The soda vapour comes into contact with the pottery and reacts with the surfaces to form a glaze. The amount of reaction is dependent on the silica content of the body and the quantity of soda.

The vapour is distributed fairly evenly through the kiln and covers the inside hot face of the arch. High alumina resisting wash is painted on all the shelves and props. The pottery is placed on tabs of solid material.

The pottery tends to be attacked more by the soda where it is close to the ports.

To check if enough soda has been injected, rings are pulled from the kiln at intervals and their state noted. The soda is injected over a period of 2 hours, with the gas adjusted to keep the temperature steady.

The kiln is fast cooled down to 900 deg, then all the holes are bunged up and the damper closed. These are opened again at 200 deg,

20 hours after the gas is turned off the kiln is cool enough to open. The bricks are carefully removed and gasps of "ooohh look at that beautiful effect" begin!

The kiln will comfortably hold a couple of dozen assorted pieces (about 35 lbs)

The best results have been on pieces with coarse surfaces, the soda glaze highlights the texture, particularly of combed areas. The insides of pots are glazed with normal stoneware glazes, because the soda vapour does not reach into enclosed shapes. Oxided slips were applied to some test pieces to check the effects, some act as resist and some encourage the soda reaction.

For more information please contact Fil Cooke 01305 812665 or Bill Crumbleholme 01305 812030.

Fil Cooke, Chief Stoker and Pyromaniac of the Upwey Potters, spraying Soda solution into the kiln.