Peter

Dec 23 2022

Faye and the Fox

Ella has been up to a whole bunch of interesting stuff recently. She works such long hours in the pottery studio and results of her work are just stunning. She’s been making some amazing, sculpted ceramic foxes and unique ceramic jewellery that she sells mostly through her Etsy store called Faye And The Fox.

The detail Ella adds to these sculptures is incredible. Based on their size, these fox sculptures would be called small, or even miniature. The detail Ella puts into the scarves and Christmas jumpers that the foxes are wearing requires a very steady hand, a very fine brush and abundant patience. When I see what she can do, I’m just dumbfounded – it’s amazing that she can do these so precisely (you couldn’t believe how much time she puts into each one and, if there are any imperfections, they are ruthlessly discarded). The results are just spectacular, especially after adding the clear, glossy glaze. These beautiful, ceramic foxes are so much fun, they just make everyone smile.

On top of the foxes, Ella also has some stunning ceramic jewellery available on Faye and the Fox. You can see some of her latest examples below. Go to Faye and the Fox is you’d like to see more. Ella has been working on ceramic jewellery for a while now and I’m always interested to see how her style progresses.

a ceramic jewellery piece from Faye and the Fox

You can find some of Ella’s work here on fabhappy.com and you can also see her work on Etsy at Faye and the Fox. There’s no doubting her artistic ability and I’m very interested to see where her instinct takes her next. No doubt, she’ll be in the pottery studio every day and maybe there will be more cute foxes, more beautiful jewellery or even something unexpected! Can’t wait.

Until next time – Peter.

Jul 26 2020

FabHappy in the Garden

One of the cute things Gloria has been making in the pottery studio is a range of lovely decorative garden ceramics. Our patio certainly has a hint of FabHappy in the garden, as you’ll see in the photos below.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these items or similar ones, the best thing to do is to email us and we can organise it. The pieces in the photos below are available right now and Gloria is in the process of making more. To email us, just use the Contact Link.

Mushrooms

Gloria has made some mushrooms like you can see in this photo (click on the photo to see it full size). Each mushroom is unique, and is either fixed (1 piece) or articulated, (2 pieces so they move with the breeze). The 2-piece options have a ceramic stalk and a ceramic mushroom top. You can insert the stalk in the ground and then place the mushroom on it. Very cute.

These mushrooms are priced between £5 and £10 each.

See a couple more mushrooms around this Agapanthus, and the hint of a ceramic leaf (more on those below).

And another ceramic mushroom decorating the edge of the pot containing this hydrangea.

Leaves

If you’ve been following Gloria, you’ll know she’s made quite a number of leaf shaped bowls and platters, and they’ve been very popular (you can see the ones she has available now by looking at her studio pottery page). Some of these leaves could easily be used to decorate the garden, but Gloria has also been making some smaller versions suitable for putting in tighter spaces.

Again, each piece Gloria makes is unique. They’ll look lovely among your flowers, and can even be attached to a trellis.

These leaves are priced between £6 and £20.

Lizards

Gloria has been making ceramic lizards for some time, but mostly selling them at local markets. They are very popular – this is the only remaining example at the moment, but more are being made 🙂. Also note the two mushrooms and leaf also displayed in this photo.

These decorative lizards are priced between £12 and £35.

So, if you’d like a little bit of Gloria’s FabHappy in the garden, get in touch with us (send us an email). You can also look at all of Gloria’s Studio Pottery by following this link.

PS. Our friend, Simon, wrote an interesting article in May called “Garden Birds“

PPS. A while back Gloria made a ceramic Mushroom Garden which sold quite quickly at a local market.

Jul 02 2020

Pottery wheel and studio furniture

We received an email from somebody who viewed the “Our Pottery Studio” page and they asked the following question (approximately) regarding a pottery wheel and studio furniture;

“I came across your website when searching for reviews on the Gladstone pottery wheel! I wonder if you would mind letting me know how you have found it and how it compares to the Shimpo. It will be my first wheel to purchase and I’m trying to make up my mind about which one to get. I am fairly new to pottery but want to take it further if possible. I also wondered where you got your table in the middle of your studio which are metal framed with the shelf underneath.”

These are good questions and I’m glad to answer them here. All the views here are simply my opinion, nothing else.

The comparison of the wheels

In our pottery studio we have two pottery wheels – a “Bailey” Pottery Wheel from Gladstone Engineering and a Shimpo Whisper RK3E Pottery Wheel. They both cost me about the same amount of money and both have their pros and cons. Strange as it may sound, I think the Shimpo is the best wheel overall, but the Gladstone one seems to be my favourite that I use most of the time.

The pros of the Shimpo is that it’s height adjustable, it has a larger wheel head and I think the motor is stronger if you’re throwing exceptionally large amounts of clay. It also has a splash tray that comes apart in two pieces for cleaning.

The pros of the Gladstone Bailey wheel is that I just like the feel of it. The attached stool, the height of it, the feel of the splash tray and the attached wooden shelf at the back of it. It’s just nice to sit at and to use. I tend to use it most of the time. It’s not height adjustable and it’s a bit harder to clean because the splash tray isn’t removable, but it suits me and I like it a lot. Another good thing if you live in the UK, is that this wheel is made in the UK, so it’s supporting local people.

One other wheel to consider, if you’re not planning on throwing huge lumps of clay is another Shimpo wheel, the Shimpo RK-55, which is close to half the price and very reliable apparently. If you want to avoid spending too much money, that might be a very good option. We have one of these being used by a friend, and so far so good.

I bought the “Bailey” wheel directly from Gladstone Engineering and I bought the Shimpo wheel from The Clay Cellar in Kent.

The studio furniture

The furniture we have in our studio was a big surprise. When we were purchasing our kilns through Northern Kilns, we realised that they also made pottery furniture. After a bit of discussion with them it became apparent that they can do almost anything. I was able to design the tables exactly as I wanted them and they made them to my design (different heights, some with shelves, some with overhang, one with a slate top). When they arrived, I was amazed at how solid they were. A couple of the tables needed four strong men to carry them, and they’re exactly what’s needed for a pottery studio – strong lumps of benches ready for any type of pounding and kneading that can happen with clay and pottery.

I don’t see any mention of furniture on the Northern Kilns website at the moment, so I’m not sure if they still make tables and benches but it would definitely be worth chatting to them if interested.

— Peter.

Amazing Glazing Day

Gloria has been very prolific in the pottery studio recently. I guess it’s probably related to being locked-down at home during the Covid-19 pandemic here in the UK, along with the fact that all her markets and exhibitions are now off (she’s sad about that, of course). Yesterday, it was glazing day – time to glaze a lot of Gloria’s pieces that have recently been bisque fired.

All of these pieces of Gloria’s are ready to glaze, but their upside down – why? Any parts of a piece that we don’t want glazed (often the base) have to be cover in a thing called “wax resist”, so that when the piece is dipped in the glaze, the glaze actually doesn’t attach where the wax is. The wax eventually just burns away during the glaze firing, so that waxed area is just left unglazed.

While I was preparing to do the glazing, Gloria was still beavering away to create more pieces.

Some of the large bowls that Gloria made were too large to fit in my glaze bucket in one go, so I had to dip them in two parts. This bowl has had the first dipping and once the glaze (the white part) is dry, I can grab hold of that part and dip the other half. The photo shows what happens when a bisque fired piece is dipped in glaze – it just turns white. A piece that has some of Gloria’s beautiful decoration on it turns completely white. It’s just covered in glaze. However, when it’s then glaze fired, the glaze becomes transparent (it’s glass really) and interacts with the colours and usually makes them more vibrant? It’s a fun process to watch unfold.

There’s my glaze bucket and a few of the tools I use to help with glazing. By the way, Gloria is still focussed on making more pieces.

Eventually, I’ve got the kiln loaded with all the strange, purely white pieces (just because they’re all covered in glaze). What an amazing glazing day. They’ll look a lot different after the firing. We’ll be able to open the kiln tomorrow and see how they all come out. Many of Gloria’s pieces will be posted here at fabhappy.com/gloriawhiting as all markets and exhibitions are currently not possible. We’re still shipping, if you’d like anything.
Best wishes.

Oct 28 2019

Rabbit Plate – A double act

Back in August, a good friend of ours, Blue Bell (her Instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/non0scripta), visited and gave us a few demos in the pottery studio. One thing she did was demonstrate her technique for throwing large plates on the wheel, which she did with her usual ease and aplomb. Once she’d completed, I (this is Peter writing this article on behalf of Gloria) jokingly said to her that it would be nice if it had a rabbit on it. I was both surprised and not that she quickly grabbed a tool and began to scratch in the design of a rabbit. Then I said that it’s a bit like Alice in Wonderland and she added a hat on the rabbit. It was a lot of fun. After Blue left, Gloria took over and completed the sgraffito and applied all the layers of coloured slips. The final result is this absolutely beautiful rabbit plate that we keep in a special place in our home. (See below for some photos of how the plate progressed)

Below are some images that show the process this plate went through.

This is plate shortly after throwing and just after Blue had scratched in the design of the rabbit with the hat and some other decorative features. At this point the clay is still quite wet and needs to be allowed to dry out significantly more. Notice that terracotta clay was used.

Here’s the plate now part way through Gloria’s work. She’s added a pocket-watch inspired by Alice in Wonderland, added more sgraffito and has layered up a number of coloured slips.

The sgraffito is quite important with terracotta clay as it allows the warmth of the brown clay to start showing through the coloured slips in the final piece.

Now the rabbit plate has all of the sgraffito done and slips applied. Now it’s just a matter of leaving it to fully dry out and then it can be fired in the kiln for the bisque fire.

This is exactly the same plate but now after the bisque firing. It’s interesting how the colours change, but we also have to be aware that the colours will change again after the glaze firing. The next step is to dip the plate in glaze, giving it a good coating, and then putting it back in the kiln for the glaze firing (this goes to a higher temperature than the bisque firing).

Really, glaze is a type of glass coating that covers a pottery piece. It’s a very important step to have a food safe and usable ceramic piece.

Now a photo the rabbit plate just after the glaze firing, taken in the studio with a smart phone. It looks really nice, but the colours aren’t represented properly with this camera. It looks better in the photos below.

Many thanks to Blue Bell and Gloria!