Working with clay is pots of fun

She works quickly but carefully as it spins in front of her and it’s not long before a vase has taken shape.

Her 30 years of experience makes throwing a pot look deceptively easy but Lorraine, who teaches classes throughout the year, believes it’s a skill that everybody has the ability to master.

“It’s a bit like playing a musical instrument, you need to have the grit and determination not to give up and to keep going,” she tells us.

And Lorraine, who has been throwing pots since she was 15, knows all about perseverance after being dissuaded from studying art further by her school teachers – but she refused to let it stop her from following her dream of working with clay.

“I knew this was a career I wanted to do and my art teacher said ‘don’t give up’. I got a place at Durham University to study geology but I never went.

“I did a foundation course at Stourbridge Art Course instead before going to Bath,” says the mother of two.

She trained in ceramics at Bath Academy of Art before spending eight years working in the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent.

In 1997, Lorraine set up her own studio alongside her parents’ firm, Woodsetton Designworks, which specialised in producing handmade pewter gifts for the likes of the National Trust, English Heritage and Past Times.

After her father, David, began losing his sight she took over the business and carried on the pewter tradition by combining the metal alloy with ceramics to produce a range of giftware including jewellery, boxes, spoons and earring trees.

“There was already a long history of combining these materials in the Black Country,” she tells us.

Lorraine also produces pieces as commissions for design companies, museums and art galleries in the UK. Recently this has included a range designed and made for the Victoria & Albert Museum which ran alongside their major exhibition Art Nouveau 1890-1914.

Other projects have included sets of stoneware canopic jars and amulets which were created for Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Lorraine also shares her pottery knowledge and enthusiasm with others by running classes at her business Woodsetton Art Pottery.

When using the potter’s wheel to throw a basic pot, the first step is wedging, which involves kneading clay with your hands to remove the air pockets.

“The clay comes in bags from Stoke-on-Trent and it can be filled with air. This can create cracks in the pots so we need to get rid of the air before we start,” explains Lorraine, who can throw hundreds of pots in a day.

Next she rolls a piece of the clay into a ball and throws it down with some force on to the centre of the wheel to attach it to the surface before patting it down.

Using the pedal, Lorraine ensures the wheel is kept spinning fast and uses a sponge to apply water to the clay to stop it from drying out.

She makes a hole in the centre of the clay, making sure to leave enough room for the bottom of the vase before beginning to pull the clay out from the centre until the walls are the right thickness.

Then she raises the walls by gently squeezing and lifting the clay to make sure they remain even until she has a cylinder shape.

“As soon as you’ve got a cylinder you can start to alter the shape to create the type of pot that you want,” says Lorraine as she gently shapes the clay with her hands to create the bulbous centre of the vase and the lip at the top.

Working quickly is vital, she explains. “You’ve probably got 10 minutes to throw a good pot. After that the clay becomes tired and will have taken on too much water, causing it to collapse.”

To finish, she trims any excess clay and uses a cutting wire to remove it from the surface. It’s then left to completely dry out for between one and two weeks before being fired in the kiln at a temperature of 1260C which is more than three times hotter than a domestic oven. Next Lorraine, who is inspired by the arts and crafts movement, dips it in the the glaze to make it “waterproof and beautiful” before it is fired again.

Around 80 per cent of Lorraine’s work is thrown at the wheel and she also uses moulds as well as building by hand. But one thing they all have in common, as well as being pleasing to the eye, is that they have a purpose.

“A lot of designers make pots that are purely decorative but it’s very rare that I do this. For me it needs to be useful and useable.

“If I make a vase it will be able to hold flowers, if I make an earring tree it can hold earrings. They can look beautiful but they need to have a reason for being too,” she explains.

For Lorraine, a past chairman of the Midlands Potters Association, making pottery is both enjoyable and satisfying. “I’ve been very lucky that I have been doing a job I love all of my life,” she says.

On May 19, Lorraine is taking part in Hey Clay! – a national celebration of clay, giving everyone the chance to unleash their inner potter.

She will be taking people through the basics of making on the potter’s wheel with free half-hour sessions for children in the morning and free one-hour sessions for adults in the afternoon.

*To book call 01902 883429 or email lorraine@woodsetton.co.uk

*See www.woodsettonartpottery.com

By Heather Large