These began when I made a tea pot after finding my grandmother’s old pressing iron. Wheel-thrown and extruded sections are cut, altered and assembled. Heart rimu wooden handles are added after firing.

This series grew from experiments in manipulating enclosed forms. The trapped air inside allows me to distort the form in a controlled way while the clay is still very soft.

These pieces are distorted and cut while still on the wheel, avoiding the need to assemble later and allowing for more immediacy. I chose to salt-fire this work because of the way the glaze breaks on the cut edges of the clay.

The leaf pattern was revealed after using a twisted wire in a controlled way to cut the pots from the wheel.

The next step in manipulating enclosed forms was to cut an opening during the process which enabled me to distort it further.

All this work is wheel thrown, squared off and sliced with a builders’ string-line.

A continuation of my sliced series but made after my return from a residency at a brick and tile factory in China. Some of the bricks made there were extruded with square perforations.

This series began with my interest in using found materials for handles.
‘Made to Measure’ comes from the rulers used as handles and also how the pieces have been resolved to fit the found material.