Elizabeth Williams

At the beginning of my journey into the world of pottery, I became totally focused on the idea of becoming a technically proficient thrower.

Matt Black and Raw Clay in Stoneware

The above pieces were made on on a course at Kigbeare Studios with Rebecca Proctor. The way that she taught us to throw and turn was very controlled with a clear structured routine that I still use in my throwing today.
The glazing here was inspired by Japanese pottery. I loved the bold contrast between the Matt Black glaze and the Raw Clay. The dash of Black Iron Oxide on the inside of one of the bowls reminds me of the free nature of the materials. I feel that the glazing enhances the delicate form of these pots.

Double Walled Pots

Working in marketing for a local pottery studio, Tarka Pottery, I have been able to challenge myself to try lots of new techniques to provide content for our socials.
One of my most successful campaigns was The Great Pottery Throwdown Make-Along and a highlight from the 2021 series was learning to throw double-walled or doughnut pots. Below is one of the posts for our Instagram Reels I created of myself throwing a doughnut pot (after a few attempts!).

After throwing these doughnut pots, I spent a long time considering how to alter them. I talked with a potter colleague about potentially making the thrown pieces into sculptures and after throwing some other small shapes on the wheel to use as bases, the shapes started to come together for me.
I spent a few evenings playing around with the double-walled pots and choosing which pots worked well together below beginning to assemble them and I learnt a great deal through the process of altering and joining these pots together to achieve pleasing results and something to explore further.

The small piece below is probably my favourite of all the sculptures due to the embellishments that I added. In the future, I would certainly have more confidence to alter the form of the pots more to create a more interesting design.

I am still yet to decide how to glaze these pieces. Interestingly, I am normally more confident with my decoration than my form but I am so pleased with the form of these sculptures that I have really struggled to work out how best to decorate them.

Once I have chosen a method in which to decorate these sculptures, I hope to experiment further with throwing techniques that will allow me to increase my skillset. I find that The Great Pottery Throwdown has been a brilliant way of being introduced to new techniques that I would not have considered previously, alongside attending courses and using social media to discover other potters online.