Matt Grimmitt throwing a mixing bowl at Winchcombe Pottery

One of our bestselling items at Winchcombe are mixing bowls. They come in various sizes an are excellent for use in the kitchen.

I am not sure exactly when they came into the range but perhaps the 1970's. Matt Grimmitt now makes them. He spent a long time considering the shapes of mixing bowls of the past, in particular those made by Eddie Hopkins. Unfortunately Eddie died in the floods of 2007 and was not around to demonstrate his method. Trial and error plus lots of practice helped Matt get to the point of being able to churn boards of them out.

The large lip is particularly nice I think-good and fat to enable easy pouring. Here's the video:

John Forster slipping beakers at Winchcombe Pottery

I never actually slipped any beakers at Winchcombe. All of mine got too dry whilst I was being tasked with other things, so will end up with AK or MW Glaze all over them. But it was good to watch and film John doing the process. These ones are iron slipped:

John Forster throwing beakers at Winchcombe Pottery

Whilst I was at Winchcombe Pottery I tried to film as many videos as possible. I now realise I could have and should have taken more because watching them back has been very helpful. Over the next couple of weeks I will be uploading them to youtube and posting one every day.

I thought I would start with a form which I made myself but that are normally made by John. I wanted to give cylinders a go after so many four inch bowls so beakers were the natural starting point. John demonstrating them to me (repeatedly) was very helpful in my own attempts.

Next up will be a video of John slipping beakers.

Slipping Handled Beakers

As if throwing them and putting handles on them wasn't enough! Slipping too!

Having not done much slip combing, and practically none on the outside of pots, I was feeling worried about this process. If you get them wrong they just look awful when they are fired.

Anyway, here's my attempt.

Stir up your glaze well.

Hold the rim with one finger and thumb underneath.

Dip to just under the inset line.

You can't fail to slip your hand as well.

Lightly run over the area which was covered by your finger tip, to coat it with slip.

Use a bush covered in slip to make a clean edge on the inside rim.

Re-mark your lines with your trusty piece of credit card.

Thsi is easier if the wheel is turning slowly.

This creates the borders within which to comb

Moving up and down smoothly, comb throught he slip.

Try to keep a constant speed. Again its easier if the wheel is going very slowly.

Done!

Now you have to set them out to dry before bisquit firing. Here's a video of the process:

Handling my handled beakers

So my beakers are all trimmed, stamped and ready for handles. I didn't think it was worth posting on the trimming of these as I covered it with the four inch bowls, and there wasn't much clay to remove anyway.

I spent the morning pulling handles. This is not the easiest technique to learn. I think its kind of like kneeding clay, you just have to practice untilyou get a feel for it, then refine what your hands are doing.

I have not made that many and am still very much an amateur handle maker. However, I managed to pull about 80 or so. I only had 35 beakers to handle so I figured this would give me enough to choose from!

Here's the process in pics with a video below.

Expectant leather hard beakers.

Handles, pulled and ready. I used reasonably stiff clay and let them lie out for a couple of hours before using them.

Pick one and press down into the fatter end to create a slightly rounded head, to mirror the shape of the beaker.

This will make it easier to attach the handle. Wet the end before the next bit.

Jam it on the beaker, holding from the inside as you do.

Smush (technical term) the end onto the beaker, attaching the skirt securely.

Keep supporting it from the inside.

Once secured you can lift it up and pull the handle some more.

Considerable shaping can be done at this stage.

I am using my thumb and finger to put a ridge into the handle.

Bend it over and remove any excess clay.

Smuch down the tail.

Clean it up a bit and you are almost done.

The final touch is to run your finger inside the handle, pushing in a nice curve.

One done. Now you have to wait for the handle to stiffen up and be at the same dryness as the body before slipping them.

Here's the video:

Throwing Handled Beakers

Sadly today was my last day at Winchcombe Pottery. Lauren and I have exited the shack and are preparing to go over to her parents house in L.A. It was an amazing learning experience and I have lots of pictures and videos so will continue to write about my time at Winchcombe for a while yet.

Having shown I could make beakers I was tasked with handled beakers! Very exciting stuff!

They are very similar to beakers but you push a convex curve into them, and obviously have to put a handle on them too. Matt said he wants a thousand making. I'm not sure he is being serious. I hope not anyway.

Here are some examples of handled beakers from other potters at Winchcombe.

Cone up the clay.

Cone down the clay.

Put a hole in it with your thumb.

Open it up.

You wantot open it wider than you need the finished base to be.

This move is pulling the clay up into a think-ish cone.

Make sure the top is centred.

Now you are ready for the first proper pull.

You need to work on getting all the clay out of the base. These pots are only 10oz of clay so you haven't got much spare.

Once it is almost the right height and width you can begin shaping.

I use a credit card to push the curve into the body.

Most of the presure is coming from the card, not the inside fingers.

Remove the puddle in the bottom.

Take off the skirt around the base.

Wire it off.

Scrape your hands clean.

I dry my hands too.

Carefully lift it off.

To join its pals on the board.

And here's a video of me making one: