This page contains some Technical Information and will be updated regularly. 

Clay Body used

The clay I use is a heavily grogged "Crank" clay, which is ideal for hand-building, sculptural and architectural forms. It is sourced and blended with other aggregate and grog which makes up the rugged body of the crank.  It is manufactured by Valentines Clays and its code is ES50, it is also known as "craft crank" by other manufacturers. I always break down the dried out leather hard waste of this clay and reclaim it, the clay seems to recover well and holds the same strength and feel although reclaimed it has a lovely texture and when torn you can get some great edges. I usually make one-off pieces from the reclaim stating that it is in fact made from reclaimed clay. This clay is a stoneware body and burns at 1000 degrees to a pinkish buff colour. When fired to 1260 degrees or above the "naked" crank takes on a warm biscuit coloured fawny tone with darker brown gingerish edges on peripheries.

It works extremely well when coloured in layers with the oxides of which I use several. Crank is wonderful for mark making either subtly or heavily indented and retains much of its form at the higher firing cones. Occasionally and rarely I will use a White Stoneware clay body if I want purity and a stark white body, this is fired to stoneware and is usually used for creating objects for Christmas. I also use a white Ashraf Hanna white clay body for Raku  when I hold my Raku workshops in the summer months, this clay has the stark whiteness of porcelain but is much stronger and is ideal for Raku firings. My ceramics are fired twice in a single phase electric toploading kiln always fired overnight. I also have a mid sized Gas Raku kiln.

Oxides

For colouring my ceramics I use a variety of oxides, sometimes on their own and combined with others, depending on the effect I want to achieve. I use layering and brush off for variation. I never use the manmade versions or stains because they dont do the same job and are usually disappointingly unreliable most times. The oxides are very reliable at 1260 degrees and retain a depth of colour/interest always.

Glazes

For my glazes, I feel nothing is ever set in stone with how they behave. I am always experimenting with combinations and layers and sometimes mixing two different ones together. Generally the more layers of one glaze, the more opaque or white it appears, a very thick glaze can produce almost a milky finish, especially when its left to dry and pool on the flat surface before the stoneware firing. I use two glazes, one is a more matt finished stoneware glaze with lots of movement occuring randomly on vertical and sloping surfaces and massive reaction to the oxide on the flat surface almost glass-like and wet like water droplets in some cases . Of course the great thing about any glaze is its variation everytime, well for me anyway. I also use a clear stoneware crystalline glaze when I require a more shiny wet look surface more uniformly over the oxide and an even sheen all over the object. My glaze techiniques and colours are evolving all the time, which I continue to enjoy.

Mark making and surface texture

I do not use any man-made tools to create my ceramics, although occasionally I will use something thats been used for something else beforehand ,but raraly. So therefore all the mark-making and surface design is created with natural found tools, things I find in wild natural places. This techinique is a fundamental part of my ceramics in the whole and it is also a brilliant way to recycle and reuse objects that would probably end up in landfill sites.These objects can be pebbles driftwood, slate, bits of wood and bones and my fingers of course. 

Many people tell me my ceramics have evolved and refined since 2005 when I created Edge Ceramics. It remains fundamental to me that I always continue creating unique one off ceramics every time I make one, as you know I dislike repetition in my work and I am very proud that everything I create from a ceramic tea light holder to a large sculptural piece, then each piece will be unique to itself. The amazing thing for me is that you never know what your kiln is going to do, and I have seen some great glaze and colour finishes in 2009 some planned and some not planned at all. Thats something I continue to love when I open my kiln.

Recycled objects are becoming part of some of my newer sculptural ceramics created during 2009, I am using reclaimed objects like wood and metal and stone and combining those with a specially created ceramic piece, some people frown on this aspect but I see it as reusing a resource and turning it into something else, that is equally beautiful as a singular ceramic object.

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