About Patricia Shone

Winter view from studio

I have been experimenting with ways of achieving textures and colours in the clay and have been trying to introduce into the work a stronger connection with the land which nurtures it.

I have always been a hand builder, coiling my pots, scraping the surfaces and applying slips to achieve textures and colours. Most of the work of the last 10 years has been raku fired. To satisfy the functional potter in me I have been producing a small range of cast and hand painted earthenware (Isle of Skye Ceramics) which I am continuing to develop by learning to throw.

For a long time I have wanted to combine the non functional work with the functional and to be able to fire to higher temperatures to produce stronger, more durable results. With no more room in the workshop for a new kiln I have built a small wood fired kiln outside.

www.skyewoodfire.blogspot.com
a firing blog charting the progress of my new wood fired kiln and the work coming out of it.

I fire this with off cuts from the local sawmill which, combined with the effects of the weather on the firing process will give the work the connection with the land that I was looking for. I’m now developing this new work which will function as tableware but will also explore the strong elemental character of clay and its transformation by fire into ceramic.

Raku Firing

Raku firing is fast with an element of the unpredictable in it. The weather plays a large part in the progress of the firing and the subsequent reduction/smoking. The pots are bisque fired to 1050°C in an electric kiln and glaze fired in a homemade gas kiln to about 1000°C.

At this temperature the pots are removed from the kiln and placed in a metal dustbin with mixtures of sawdust, seaweed, peat and paper. With the lid on this produces a reducing atmosphere that alters the glaze and surface of the pots.

Kiln lid open	Lifting out a pot	Hot pot into sawdust