# Great Pottery Throwdown



## pottersusan (Oct 24, 2015)

Making is the new baking!
The Great Pottery Throwdown starts on Tues Nov 3. My pottery students and I will be watching this with great interest (and amusement, I suspect!)
If you're anywhere near Dorchester, Dorset and fancy getting down and dirty with clay do get in touch. We have great fun and create amazing pots too!
You can find us at www.artisandt1.co.uk
All being well the Diabetes Fairy will be paying us a visit. I wonder if she's washable!


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## Northerner (Oct 24, 2015)

Sounds fabulous Susan!  I am sure she will enjoy the experience, she's a bit potty-mouthed at times though!


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## Robin (Oct 24, 2015)

Is now the time to confess that she fell off her pony when she was trying out riding with me, and I had to sponge some mud off her nose?


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## Northerner (Oct 24, 2015)

Robin said:


> Is now the time to confess that she fell off her pony when she was trying out riding with me, and I had to sponge some mud off her nose?


So that's what she meant when she texted me that you'd taken her mud wrestling!


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## Robin (Oct 24, 2015)

Northerner said:


> So that's what she meant when she texted me that you'd taken her mud wrestling!


She was fine...Though my riding instructor was worried she'd have to fill in an accident report form for her.


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## trophywench (Oct 24, 2015)

Just - LOL !


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## TheClockworkDodo (Oct 24, 2015)

Thanks Susan, sounds interesting.  I really enjoyed the painting programme they did recently, hope that pottery turns out to be as fun to watch.


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## KookyCat (Oct 25, 2015)

I wondered when that was starting, I love a bit of potting, although my local pottery classes are now so prohibitively expensive I can't afford them anymore....so watching will be the next best thing .


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## Northerner (Oct 25, 2015)

The brother of a friend of mine, who used to work in a factory, took up pottery classes in the evenings. A year later he was having his work exhibited in a Sheffield museum, and a year after that he moved to Denmark and set up his own (very successful!) business - it literally changed his life!  There must be so many people with these hidden talents who never get the opportunity or the push to explore them.


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## pottersusan (Nov 4, 2015)

Can you really call those egg cups?! Definitely quantity over quality in the throw down. I'm now suffering from kiln envy.


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## Northerner (Nov 4, 2015)

pottersusan said:


> Can you really call those egg cups?! Definitely quantity over quality in the throw down. I'm now suffering from kiln envy.


I agree! They wouldn't sell many of those!  I enjoyed the programme - I think the right person went  Obviously, the mark of success in future episodes will be who can make Keith cry!


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## pottersusan (Nov 4, 2015)

I'm just off out to run my Wednesday evening pottery class. I wonder what we'll talk about


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## pottersusan (Nov 5, 2015)

The cracks the potters got are a bit mysterious. I suppose its something to do with the quick drying. Its best to let your pots dry naturally or more slowly than that, but I suppose it is TV and normal rules don't apply! I just hope people who give me commissions don't expect me to work to TV speed - 'cos it won't work.


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## Northerner (Nov 11, 2015)

Some pretty tough challenges last night! Nice to see some more tears from Keith, obviously going to be a theme!  I liked Jane's tiles best and was surprised Matt didn't get Master Potter. Keith is a character though! I think Nigel had to go really.


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## pottersusan (Nov 11, 2015)

If I had a penny for every time I've told people throwing on the wheel that it's what it feels like that counts, not what it looks like, I'd be a wealthy woman! And if I had a penny for every time I've reminded people to score and slip to join things together I'd be a millionaire! 
Jane's straight sided vase was the best by miles, though not the tallest.
I've a funny feeling that cracks are going to be a continuing theme 'cos of the speed of drying.
I agree with you, Northerner, about Matt. He came over much better and did really well this week.
I'm trying to view it as entertainment rather than education - not entirely successfully.  They did miss lots of opportunities to help people appreciate ceramics more.
Blindfolds will be available this evening!


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## Northerner (Nov 24, 2015)

Throwdown night again!  I reckon Matt is the frontrunner of the series so far. I like Jim because he's a real character, but he seemed far too complacent last week


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## pottersusan (Nov 25, 2015)

I'm so glad they're being made to do some handbuilding - as some of them discovered, it's a whole new ball game compared to throwing on the wheel. Getting things to fit together is really difficult because of the shrinkage. Matt was very clever about this, but I wonder how it would stand up in a high wind!
Plates are notoriously difficult to throw. Most plates you buy are made in a mould with slip that you can pour (and never see a wheel!). When does a dish stop being a dish and become a plate?
I hope Matt doesn't become complacent.
I would place money on them having to make a teapot in the final.
Think of me on Friday evening when I've got a hen party of 9 who all want a go on the wheel  . It could get very messy


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## Northerner (Nov 25, 2015)

pottersusan said:


> I'm so glad they're being made to do some handbuilding - as some of them discovered, it's a whole new ball game compared to throwing on the wheel. Getting things to fit together is really difficult because of the shrinkage. Matt was very clever about this, but I wonder how it would stand up in a high wind!
> Plates are notoriously difficult to throw. Most plates you buy are made in a mould with slip that you can pour (and never see a wheel!). When does a dish stop being a dish and become a plate?
> I hope Matt doesn't become complacent.
> I would place money on them having to make a teapot in the final.
> Think of me on Friday evening when I've got a hen party of 9 who all want a go on the wheel  . It could get very messy


Agree, Matt could think he has it in the bag, Jim and Tom are prone to errors. Personally, I'd like to see Jim win because of his character and attitude as much as anything - he seems to have a very good relationship with his work  I wonder if Ladbrooke's are taking bets on how many times Keith blubs in the final?   I think the right person went last night - Sandra seemed always to be managing her time poorly.

Good luck with the hen party!


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## TheClockworkDodo (Nov 26, 2015)

I've really been enjoying this, Susan - so glad you told us about it   I've even got my partner watching, and it's not the sort of thing he normally watches.

I think the judges have picked the right person to leave each week and the right top potter, which is quite odd because I don't think I share their taste at all (especially the week with the tile decoration - I loved the butterflies and the flowers, thought the ones they liked best were fairly ordinary and didn't link together nearly as well).  This week I didn't like Matthew's sculpture much, but I can see why they chose him.  I like Jim's designs best, all the things like leaves and turtles and fish are much more my sort of thing than the abstract designs, but I can't see him winning, he is too careless.

I like the way the contestants keep helping each other too


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## pottersusan (Nov 26, 2015)

Potters are generally friendly people. I think it must be because there are so many times you need an extra pair of hands. I liked Jim's strawberry pot too.

I looked at Keith's website to see what sort of work he produces. The person who does the site should be shot - the mistakes in the text are many. Is 'addended' a word? I don't think so and neither does my editor/proof reader sister in law and the OED.


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## Annette (Nov 26, 2015)

Addended - past participle of to addend - to add an addendum to.
So yes, it is a word, but why is a potter adding addendums to pots? Or have I missed the point here?


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## pottersusan (Nov 26, 2015)

Strangely it's disappeared from his website! Though the site is still packed with mistakes and not written in English as I know it 
His pots have words impressed in them rather than anything added on. I don't have any confidence in those words being spelled correctly!


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## Annette (Nov 27, 2015)

pottersusan said:


> Strangely it's disappeared from his website! Though the site is still packed with mistakes and not written in English as I know it
> His pots have words impressed in them rather than anything added on. I don't have any confidence in those words being spelled correctly!


You are being watched...


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## Northerner (Dec 2, 2015)

Great programme last night  Thought we might get one without Keith tears, but they kept them to the end!  Tom messed up with his chandelier, Jane probably the right one to go. Thought Jim should have won Top Potter, having won two rounds and his chandelier was much more interesting than Matt's! Should be quite a final though!


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## pottersusan (Dec 2, 2015)

Bone china is strange stuff. I've only used it once and it was rather like working with melting mozzarella! I do throw closed forms, but have never tried to do a sphere - might try while the DF is visiting...
I agree about top potter, but his chandelier was not brilliant to look at. I wonder if my students will want to have a go at a light fitting - they would be able to do something similar in porcelain, which has a similar quality of translucency.
Off now to get down and dirty with clay


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 4, 2015)

I liked Sally Jo's chandelier best (and Jim's second), but her sphere was hopeless.  I can see why they chose Matt as top potter.  I don't much like the things he does, but he does do them very well, especially anything technical.  I was surprised he did so badly with the banding.


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## Northerner (Dec 4, 2015)

TheClockworkDodo said:


> I liked Sally Jo's chandelier best (and Jim's second), but her sphere was hopeless.  I can see why they chose Matt as top potter.  I don't much like the things he does, but he does do them very well, especially anything technical.  I was surprised he did so badly with the banding.


Yes, that was a surprise


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## Northerner (Dec 8, 2015)

Final tonight!  Jim to win!


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## pottersusan (Dec 8, 2015)

Porcelain tea sets tonight.

"The potters are learning the limitations of working with porcelain as they make their fine bone china tea sets"  This could be alchemy 

Please note porcelain and bone china are different! Not that I'm pedantic or anything...  Plus they did bone china last week.

Trailer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p039tt10
and lots of clays shrink about as much as porcelain! 

Sally Jo to win!


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 8, 2015)

Ah well.  Jim's flower design and Sally Jo's lace design and colours were both lovely, but ...


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## Northerner (Dec 9, 2015)

TheClockworkDodo said:


> Ah well.  Jim's flower design and Sally Jo's lace design and colours were both lovely, but ...


Such a shame about Sally Jo's - they looked fantastic, design-wise! And Jim blew it, must have been having an off day (week?)  Great series though, I do hope they will do it again!


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## pottersusan (Dec 9, 2015)

I had a funny feeling Matt would win. He had the best skills all round (so he should with a potter for a parent!) Sally Jo made a rod for her own back using slabs - 'cos it takes much longer than throwing, but I thought her textures and colours were lovely. My students and I know how Tom feels - you've got to be so careful about wiping glaze off and not putting too much on in the first place. My heart sinks when lovely pots weld themselves to my kiln shelves. After all glaze is glass and when heated it melts and runs. Jim generally lost it yesterday. His devil's work (never heard that before, but I can understand why!) cylinder was messy and his teapot spout was a strange shape - teletubbyish!
So Sally Jo needs to work on throwing, Tom needs to be more adventurous and Jim needs to be more precise. I wonder if Matt will give up teaching and concentrate on pottery... the trouble is it doesn't pay as well as teaching! 
Pottery aka clay therapy is great fun, as the DF will tell you. Find somewhere to have a go.
I hope they do it again.


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