Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Stoneware bottles by Malcolm Moor

Among the many wonderful ceramic items on show at the Old Forge Pottery on Newland Street in Eynsham next weekend will be these two stoneware bottles by Malcolm Moor.

Malcolm describes how he made them: 


"They are thrown in two parts then joined together when they are 'leather-hard'. The four faces of the base are formed by dragging a finger diagonally along the inside of the thrown cylinder on the wheel to create the four edges then the outer faces flattened with a wooden tool.

"The tops are thrown separately then stuck on using slip (liquid clay) before the faint grid lines are scratched through the semi-dry clay then filled with iron oxide.

"A mixture of iron and manganese oxides are painted on the top and the big brushstrokes. After the first firing, the inside is glazed to make the pots waterproof then fired again at a higher temperature. Sparing use of thin glaze on the outside allows the stoneware texture and colour to remain to maintain a link with the earth where the clay came from."