I have just been introduced to the work of Rupert Spira. In my last piece of work I had started to make the writing more abstract as if the poem or saying were covered up by years of paint or rubbed away from use. I like the idea of the writing on my work becoming more like a pattern, creating intrigue, with the viewer left guessing what was once written there. Rupert Spira’s work has that feel, with intricate writing covering the surface of the bowl like a delicate repeated pattern.

It was my first day back on the wheel today. It felt much better to be doing rather than thinking about doing. I discovered whilst I was demonstrating at work that if you put casting slip over underglaze (on greenware) it splits and cracks like the effect of peeling paint. This ‘aged’ look is something that I have been trying to achieve recently, I love it when you stumble across something. The wonderful happy accident.

I have been trying this technique on the pieces I made today so it’s a case of wait and see. I have also been pushing the fragments of pottery in much earlier so they really sink into the clay body, I expect I will get bigger cracks this way (I hope). I would also like to experiment with placing whole plates into my cylinders and perhaps throw a large platter with a plate pushed into it…Pictures to follow.