Playful + thoughtful handmade ceramics

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100% handmade, from beginning to end.

Do you ever look at things and wonder how on earth it's made?

Me too - I've got a curious mind that's eager to unpick the journey behind objects, especially the handmade.

Let me give you a glimpse into my making...

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Starting life as liquid clay, each and every piece has been handmade and illustrated by me in my studio in Dundee. Crafted in Parian porcelain, each piece goes through a minimum of 9 steps before it's complete, with care and detail at each stage. 

My pots are slipcast using bespoke moulds (that's some freshly cast work up above) while the necklaces are hand-cut from a sheet of marble-smooth Parian porcelain clay.

Once the pots have had a day or two to dry, and had their rough edges smoothed out, it's time to paint the patterns on. 

Using a brush and underglaze, I hand drawn the bold, graphic patterns directly onto the clay before the piece goes into the kiln to undergo it's transformation from 'clay' to 'ceramic'.

Each piece is fired at least twice (3 times when there's lustre involved) to a whopping maximum temperature of 1240c, making my studio a toasty place to be during winter! In between firings, there's lots of smoothing and sanding, then each piece is hand-polished using a diamond sanding pad to achieve a silky smooth finish.

As a result, no two pieces will ever be exactly the same, with every piece having it's own unique and subtle differences worth celebrating.

Steph Liddle