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You can see images of Simon’s latest work and his Labrador, Uly, by following @olleypottery on Instagram, from making, glazing, firing – watch the excitement of pottery creation as it unfolds.

Hoping to make some more teapots soon. This one wa

Hoping to make some more teapots soon. This one was bought at Oxford Ceramics Fair and flew over to the States. They're so enjoyable to make and colours at the moment are black dog and creamy-white, cobalt blue and red (pictured), tangerine and black, brown Betty, red and creamy-white... others planned but as all are made, decorated and sgraffito'd by hand by myself they take a while.

I've always got my own work on the walls at home, I like being surrounded by swirling dogs... they lift my mood every day :)

Sgraffito ceramic wall platters have become one of

Sgraffito ceramic wall platters have become one of my absolute favourites. With handles and fitted with a strong stainless wire they are made for display. Classic cobalt blue with red details is one of my favourites at the moment (I don't have any here at the moment but the CPA Contemporary Ceramics Gallery in London's Great Russell Street does). Ebony and red as you see here is another favourite. There's some others in my head I'll be working through in the weeks ahead, all being well.

Bold designs. Composition! Composition is the most important thing, more so than colour, technique, craft even.

#ceramiclicious #sgraffitopottery #olleypottery #blackdogsofinstagram

The cup One gave a cup to their wife It danced do

The cup

One gave a cup to their wife
It danced down the hall into the kitchen
Can we be friends? It asked
They became lovers.

This little agraffito cup was thrown on the potter's wheel, dipped in slip, painted with underglazes, then scratched and scraped with little tools – sgraffito – to create the design.

I have taken to letting the raw, damp, blank cup sit on my banding wheel for a minute or two before I start illustrating. I wait to picture who might hold it, what design they will enjoy. Sometimes a very clear picture, in colour even, emerges through my thoughts. Then I start work.

#blackdogsofinstagram

What breed of dogs have I illustrated on this comm

What breed of dogs have I illustrated on this commissioned sgraffito ceramic vase? Comment below!

As usual, I illustrated this on leatherhard clay with slips and underglazes before drying slowly and firing twice in my kiln.

I always make sketches for my customer's approval before starting work on the ceramic piece itself.

This little Dyson brush seems to have just the rig

This little Dyson brush seems to have just the right amount of bristles and suction to clean up my sgraffito illustration before final drying. It doesn't seem to be scratching the underglazes, I'm quite pleased! Do you use a similar thing to help with your pottery or craft?

The other brush I use for clean-up of my ceramics at this stage is an old, soft, make-up brush – I use the Dyson at the same time to suck up the fine particles of clay that would otherwise be floating around the house.

Apart from that, I use ordinary watercolour brushes of different sizes to paint my slips and underglazes onto leatherhard pottery, I keep them in different cups depending on the colour they're used for.... blacks, whites, reds and cobalt blue being the main ones. A 'red' brush can be used for orange underglaze (for example). Black and cobalt are the strongest colours so their brushes mustn't contaminate the others at all.

Orange and black, what do you think? Do you have a

Orange and black, what do you think? Do you have a favourite colour combination?

Painting with slips and underglazes, layer them up or as I've done here, separate them out. Some ceramacists use stencils, I just paint everything freehand... that's why I enjoy it so much, each piece becomes a one-off...yes, it's labour-intensive, a labour of love, really

My dog, Uly, was the starting point for many of my
sgraffto ceramics. I've been thinking about finding
another dog, for company, but at the moment l'm
enjoying having a clear head with no sinus headaches
and sneezing fits, I was properly allergic to Uly's fur! lf I
pat a dog now, l'l be sneezing later on.

Nearly the end of January and I think the days are
getting a little longer, snowdrops peeking up from the
grass, long-tailed tits appeared on the bird-feeder
yesterday... in the past that's meant cold weather as
they come down off the hills. Not surprised if we see
some snow now

Walking back yesterday evening from the BBC I foun

Walking back yesterday evening from the BBC I found myself in Bloomsbury, a small diversion and on the right, the British Museum here in London's Great Russell Street.

As we pan round, opposite, it's the Contemporary Ceramics Gallery. That's the Craft Potters Association's own gallery and what a fabulous place it is... and it's nice to see my work on display here in the window.

I'd really urge you next time you're in London come and have a look at the gallery because there's so much beautiful work all by Craft Potters members from across the United Kingdom.

In the window you can see some of my sgraffito black dog vases, bud vases and cobalt blue dog platters. Also the stunning swirling sgraffito vases by much-admired ceramicist, Ali Tomlin.

#ceramiclicious #sgraffitopottery #studiopottery #dogart #olleypottery #craftpottersuk

Bit of a slow start to the year as I've been tied

Bit of a slow start to the year as I've been tied up completing much-needed work on the house (ever found any home-related work that takes LESS time than you thought?). Nonetheless, a change is as good as a rest, they say... so like the six-million dollar man, come back better, stronger faster and... I am thrilled with this sgraffito ceramic pitcher that follows on from a demonstration piece made at Waterperry Gardens a year-and-a-half ago. These colours will pop once fired.

I've a lovely commission to start designing plus eleven pieces thrown and slipped in my workshop so it'll be a bit of a sgraffito-marathon now to get them completed and then onto my "dream-work" – something I'll talk about later.

#ceramiclicious #sgraffitopottery #dogart

This was one of my favourite small sgraffito wheel

This was one of my favourite small sgraffito wheel-thrown cups from last year. The photgraph was taken (by me) in January 2024, I'm guessing I sold it at the CPA York Ceramics Fair '24, CAL or possibly later at Potfest.

Note the photography! No reflections! The little pooled shadows beneath the cup tells me I shot it using the single, overhead lighting method, so simple... nothing fancy just move the light (or the pot) fore and aft until it looks right. So quick but importantly it gets rid of the reflections that appear with side lighting. It works less well on spherical or shouldered pots but it's definitely one for the photography 'tool box'.

In my career as a freelance designer I spent many, many days in London photography studios. Food (ice cream is fascinating to shoot under lights), commercial products, furniture, fashion. I'd have made sketched layouts to aid the photographers or mock-ups of packaging, posters and so on.

It's easy to underestimate the skills one builds up over a lifetime... so, so much can be learned from watching experts at work; all the little tips and tricks, as relevant to ceramics as it is to photography.

If you've read this far, one last thing: are you still using hashtags on Instagram?

#sgraffitopottery
#ceramicsphotography

Forever grateful to @kgmillwardceramics and @clayc

Forever grateful to @kgmillwardceramics
and @claycollegestoke – teapots became a thing of joy thanks to the masterful tuition learned there. Stoke-on-Trent, the historic centre of the British ceramics industry (see those giant bottle kilns) and the excellent collection of studio pottery in the city's museum. A visit to Stoke is always a learning experience.

Clay College runs a very special full-time, 18 month diploma course as well as evening and short courses (often one-day or weekend), I've been there and cannot recommend it highly enough for learning new techniques or masterclasses with exceptional potters and ceramicists such as Kevin.

The small sgraffito teapot is being glazed by dipping, after firing it gives a lovely shine to my design and lifts the colours too.

#ceramiclicious #studiopottery #sgraffitopottery #dogart #olleypottery #wheelthrownpottery

Welcome to Kent, Garden of England. This is the co

Welcome to Kent, Garden of England. This is the countryside I walk in every day. Beautiful woods and downland, much maintained by the National Trust. Ightham Mote, Knole Park, Seal Chart, Oldbury Woods... all very special places, steeped in history, that I'm fortunate to have in my doorstep.

There was a Roman fort atop Oldbury, at dusk one can almost hear the clink of a soldier's sword and scabbard as you pass through. Deer roam the forests here, buzzards circle above. The earth is a rich loam layered from centuries of leaves – beech and oak... the very timber that those Romans would have used to construct their fort.

The jug and little vases are, of course, sgraffito... also layers but of clays, slips and underglazes.

#nationaltrust #ceramiclicious #studiopottery #sgraffitopottery #dogart #olleypottery #yorkceramicsfair

Some details from an urn made a few years ago for

Some details from an urn made a few years ago for a wonderful dog, Oscar. My style these days is more sgraffito, more detail, more time! Just different really... it shows how one's work moves on, no specific intention to change, it just seems to happen.

Sgraffito is scratching away at slips or underglazes, often people will say that's like a linocut or a woodcut and there are a lot of similarities, perhaps the main one being that working on clay every piece is a one-off. Nothing is printed, every stage being illustrated/sgraffito'd by hand.

#sgraffito #wheelthrownpottery #ceramiclicious #dogart

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