Pottery, Sculpture and Jewellery by Heather

This page of my website covers some of my interest in pottery and sculpture. I have enjoyed this for over 20 years and have tried my hand at many techniques. Over time I appear to have settled on either small scale modelling or the other extreme, larger vases and pots. The pictures of my artwork are placed here for your enjoyment although I do take orders from time to time.

Please note all my designs are copyright.

Group of my larger coiled vases and life sized heads.
The flower vase on the left was coiled and then marked with circles and vertical lines; each flower was then carved by hand.

Lady with Bun

Having made a number of small heads I decided to try my hand at making a life size character. As the clay slowly dries it takes on light and dark colours. Heads like these are first formed on the wheel over a large wooden pin and then hollowed out during the shaping process.

Giant Vase with lifting cradle

The latest vase in the studio created in June 2006 was too big to lift so I had to make a cradle of bubble wrap and ropes with a post so that two people could lift it safely and place it into the kiln. Thankfully this all went fine. This one is about 24 inches tall with a base of 12 inches; it weighed over 4 stone.

A 12 inch tall vase and Egyptian Shabti figures - Nov 2005

The shape of the vase was again one that I created while I was building it. Although I had made a few sketches of the rim when it neared completion I decided to create a much heavier thick rim which I was very pleased with. The rim is about an inch and a half thick and allows the vase to be picked up with ease. The lettering was later picked out in gold lustre and the base of the vase has a carved image which is hidden from normal viewing but is a nice surprise when the vase it turned on its side. I like to create simple surfaces on my vases with finger prints and deliberate tool markings but have something more special on the underside.

The Egyptian shabti figures were press moulded and the larger ones slip cast. The finished items are highlighted with glazes around the eyes and mouth and the head is treated with gold lustre.

Coiled vases and a Japanese Garden Lamp. The rims of the bowls have a carved wheat design picked out with gold lustre.

A group of pasties lustre glazed with real Platinum, Gold, Bronze and Copper. These are Cornish pastie shapes based on real edible ones. A genuine highest quality Cornish pastie was smuggled over the border into Devon overnight in a shoe-box so that I could study it first hand for this project. It was still warm and smelt very good but was sacrificed in the name of art rather than being eaten!

Queen Nefertiti Clay pipe

A limited number of these lavishly decorated clay pipes were made by me for collectors in 2005. I first modelled a master using images of the famous Egyptian Queen. I then created a three part plaster mould from which copies were formed. Each pipe was carefully hand worked to carve out the bowl and to bring the finer details to life. The pipes were fired and then each one hand painted with great care. A final firing was then done to add the precious metal gold lustre which leaves a stunning creation. The size of a normal clay pipe is shown in the picture so you can see how large the Nefertiti pipe is - a real show piece.

Action shot... removing a large upturned vase from the wheel head. Oddly when I made this vase I did not plan the shape and decided that I would prefer to have the narrow base that I created as the neck! So in a way I made the pot upside down. This vase later went on to become the bird vase that is shown below.

Close-up of one of my large vases before it was fired showing the simple but effective bird design based on triangles. The final vase features were picked out in gold lustre. I used a pale cream coloured stoneware clay with a fine white sand grog in the mix.

Celtic Knot design pendants - 1999

These were made by pressing clay into a plaster mould that I made. The original pendant that I used to make the mould was also clay and the details carved into it. The mould allows duplicates and the use of coloured glazes.

Designing and making pendants in gold and silver - 2004

Group of individually made Clay Tobacco Pipes

These were hand modelled as one off pieces and themes vary from wild animals to wizzards, portraits and birds. HRH Prince Charles, Sir Walter Raleigh and Henry VIII are among the famous faces.
The pipes are finished with coloured glazes and in some cases I used gold, bronze and platinum precious metal finishes. These metals can be bought in a form that can be painted onto the surface of the glaze... when fired a microscopic layer of the metal binds with the glass of the glaze leaving a beautiful sheen. Individual pipes like these can take several days to complete and some that I have made are now in famous collections around the world.

Lots more to see in the studio!