Florian Gadsby

Coating a rather belled lidded jar in a thick layer of white crackle glaze. I begin by pouring some glaze into the footwell and before it sets, I plunge the vessel into the bucket, making sure it’s empty enough that the glaze displaced doesn’t overflow. This can be a rather tricky thing to judge, but I’ve only had a few bad accidents and, in all cases, the bucket itself is placed inside another bucket, this way no glaze is wasted, nor does it cascade all over the floor. Once the form is coated, the lid too, the two parts need to be tidied up with a paring knife, my fingers and a sponge. Throughout this entire process I collect the excess glaze dust that falls onto the table and I eventually place it into a basin of glaze that after some months of collection, I’ll sieve it back into the larger container. The lid is then propped up using wadding. A mixture made from 50% kaolin, (EPK in this case, but I’m not sure it matters), and 50% coarse alumina hydrate. I wedge it to a clay like consistency and press them onto the wax underneath the lid, which surprisingly holds them in place really well. It’s delicately placed atop the jar and now, finally, it’s ready to be reduction fired. #glazing #vessel #howto #pottery #craft #maker

You’ll have to watch until the end to see the difference grinding the lid makes. This process comes around every few months, after firing a couple of times, once I’ve accumulated enough lidded wares. Then, each has its lid ground in place using Chemico lapping paste, (meant for engine valves), the excess removed, then the whole lot is washed thoroughly in hot soapy water. Even though I burnish my lids at the leather hard stage to a glassy smooth finish, once reduction fired, there’s always a certain amount of grog/texture, in the clay, that makes itself present again. The clay shrinks around these already fired particles, revealing them, and creating a rough surface, hence the awful noise the lid makes initially. Equally, if there’s any movement during the firing, this could cause one component to not quite fit with the other. Regardless, I make my lids tight on purpose, this way, once fired they can be ground into place like so, meaning they fit perfectly. A few notes: I only ever use this paste on bare clay, it never goes on the glaze. I wouldn’t recommend using it with terracotta, or a porous clay body, as the residue can be tricky to remove. When I’m working on a batch of lidded forms, I’ll apply the paste onto one lid, grind it, then take that same paste and spread it onto the next jar, and so on, and so forth. This way one tiny pot of the paste can last an age but it does eventually become less effective. It’s a satisfying, loud process, best done with headphones on and a good distraction to relieve the monotony. #asmr #satisfying #pottery #craft #teapot #ceramics

Preparing an angular vase for its reduction firing, starting by thinning out excess drips around the rim to create a flush, even surface, otherwise, once fired it could look rather bulky around the fine lip. Then the walls beneath are given a once over, the glaze just lightly fettled with a metal scraper and finally the foot is given a proper clean, to remove any pesky drops of glaze that have settled onto the wax, and to create an even, clean line, all around the bottom. I got through about 35 hours of audiobooks last week by sitting and doing this, for vases, bowls, mugs, teapots, everything. It’s quite engaging work, yet it’s tedious and it’s unbelievably easy to make a mistake, not to mention that with smaller vessels, the hand that grips the pot to keep it steady as I work, is tensed for hours on end and that can quickly become quite uncomfortable. Rest assured, if and when I begin taking on apprentices, I hope they enjoy glazing… #glaze #pottery #vase #handmade #asmr #craft

My YouTube video this weekend is all about spouts… from pulling them, good ways to practice, optimal rim thickness and even how you can use butter to fix how one pours in a dire situation. I even demonstrate a few other shapes of spouts that are outside of my repertoire, to give a better sense of the breadth of styles. As always, you can watch the fully narrated film via the link in my Linktree! I also preface this film with the fact that making spouts is likely my weakest skill when it comes to making pots. I learn more about them every time I make them and producing videos like this helps even more, as I have to inspect my technique and think about ways of conveying skill and how to make a lip that pours neatly, which frankly, is a real challenge. Thanks for watching!

Here’s how I’ve been preparing the red stoneware I’ve been throwing with lately. Raw, the red stuff is absurdly coarse, so I’ve been blending it down by fifty percent with my usual, high iron body. There’s also a spat of bronze filings mixed in for good measure that despite being quite sharp, I can barely feel them when throwing this stuff due to the rough particles found in the red stoneware. I hope you enjoy the cross sections as much as I do, it’s almost worth doing this simply to see how the bodies swirl together, yet, despite your comments, I don’t think throwing with marbled clays is really my thing. I don’t mind a stray streak of porcelain or coarse stoneware in my pots, but it takes away from the minimal, simplistic vision I have for the majority of my work. #salami #stoneware #clay #oddlysatisfying #craft #crosssection

This isn’t the first time this has happened. Accidentally stepping on the wheel’s pedal seems to be a yearly occurrence, although miraculously this bowl survived unscathed, it just needed a tiny bit of correcting on the foot where it was bashed from being slung against the tray. Here’s another bowl, this time made with a coarse red stoneware body that, as you can see, I didn’t quite wedge properly, although the only remnant of pink lies in the foot and will eventually be hidden by glaze. I start by refining the inside, scraping the walls, straightening the rim section and making the interior a lovely smooth curve. Then I tackle the outside, with steel tools mainly, as I’m still a little worried about using tungsten carbide blades with this gritty body, but I’m sure they’ll survive. Most of the form is left relatively rough, as I don’t burnish it, but I do smooth the very bottom of the pot, the base, the part that will make contact with the table, as ultimately, I’d rather it didn’t scratch wood if dragged across a tabletop. My maker’s mark goes in, supported from either side so it doesn’t deform the foot, and that’s the vessel finished, for now. I’ll sling some plastic sheeting over it and let it dry slowly for a few days before letting it turn fully bone dry, whereupon it can be biscuit fired to 1000ºC. #fail #blooper #blooperreel #pottery #ceramics #clay

You’d think after 15 years of making pots I’d stop doing this, yet inevitably, every few kiln loads, there’s always a pair stuck together, that’s front loaders for you. Sometimes pots are hidden behind props and even other pots, and even though I load them in with a hand behind them, I sort of cup the vessel, this way I can feel how close to load a pot inside, when I can’t see the gap behind them, does that make sense? I rely on touch, not sight, in some situations. Both will be ground clean and used in the studio’s kitchen, it’s about time I eat from some of my new shapes. #satisfying #pottery #ceramics #blooper #fail #handmade

It has been noisy in the studio recently, beyond the ceaseless rain my neighbours have been jamming out, both jazz and opera, in two separate units, so expect my upcoming videos to be a little musical. I can’t wait to see this jar fired. The clay should turn a crimson tone and I’ve sprinkled a whole heap of bronze filings into the mix, that’ll dot the surface with blossoms of red. So, the only decision now is to choose what glaze to use on this piece, or perhaps it could left unglazed and rough? A real contrast to the rest of my glossy wares. #pottery #handmade #satisfyingvideo #asmr #craft

It has been a while since I’ve posted one of these. Here’s the before and after of my latest reduction firing, accompanied by the tingling sound that often emanates from the kiln when it’s opened. There’s a vast collection of shapes and forms inside, mugs, teapots, vases, lidded jars and lots of different types of bowls. All fired to 1290ºC in a reduced atmosphere over an eight-and-a-half-hour period. Once that temperature has been hit, and cone ten is flat, the kiln is crash cooled back down to 1000ºC, as this helps to retain colour and sheen, and then the entire chamber is clammed up, spy-holes stuffed and dampers slid closed. I often place a whole range of refires at the bottom, towards the front, as even with cone ten flat here, there’s still a number of cool spots that results in matte glazes, hence why I put refires here, together with vessels coated in yellow ochre iron oxide, these turn moody and metallic and I never quite know what I’m going to get, which is what makes those pots so exciting. #beforeandafter #asmr #satisfying #pottery #ceramics

Recently reduction fired lidded jars, medium and miniature, all made with lids that are almost flat, well, they are flat now, but they weren’t always. I throw the lids, trim them to fit the bodies and then I turn a slight hollow in their tops, this way the glaze can pool into this concave surface thickly, which causes the feldspathic crackle glaze to create almost petal-like forms, they’re often also described as being like snowflakes, layers of ice or even the scales of fish. #glaze #celadon #reductionfired #pottery #ceramics #studiopottery

Throwing the components for a lidded jar, in fact, you may have seen me trim this vessel a week ago, (you can scroll back in my feed a little bit to see how this pot ends up looking). I’ve mixed this coarse red stoneware with 50% of my usual, smooth high-iron clay body, this makes it a more pleasant experience to throw with as otherwise it’s almost too gritty to work with on the wheel. There’s also some bronze inclusions in the mix, sprinkled in and wedged thoroughly to properly incorporate them. These should turn into red flecks that cover the surface, like blossom almost, set amongst clay that’ll reduction fire too crimson tone. Instead of my convoluted method of measuring the opening here, you can also find callipers that measure both from more sides at the same time, I have a pair that I made myself, but they’re getting rather flimsy at this point almost ten years later and I prefer these cast aluminium ones as they can be fastened extraordinarily tightly. When repetition throwing, I’ll first throw all of the jars with the same opening at the top, and then I’ll adjust my callipers and throw all the lids, this feels the most streamlined for me. Yet, when I’m creating a single, individual jar, these method works well too in a pinch. #stoneware #wheelthrownpottery #clay #oddlysatisfied #pottery

I forgot how messy this stuff is… Coarse red stoneware, the same clay I used to mix a lot of during my apprenticeship with Lisa Hammond, for her pots. It’s a rough, toothy clay, and throwing it isn’t the most pleasant experience, it feels as if the grog is sharper than other bodies I’ve used, but once the walls have been saturated somewhat, and drawn up to be relatively thin, it throws like normal. It should, with any luck, fire to a dark crimson tone and this bowl is made from only this red stoneware, whereas the pots you’ll see later in this video, at the end, have been mixed down with a smoother body, making them much easier to throw, that’s the subject of my upcoming YouTube video in fact. You might have noticed more clays popping up in my feed this year. It’s something I’ve wanted to do now for a while, expand the range of clays I use, whilst sticking with the same handful of glazes, this way it’s the stoneware that changes the colours of my glazes, not the glazes themselves. All of which should lead to a more varied body of work. #stoneware #clay #pottery #ceramics #wheelthrownpottery #studiopottery

I’ve always wanted to try this, and no, this isn’t an advert for the butter. Not everything I make works and spouts can be notoriously tricky things to get right and this is one way to deal with the problem, albeit definitely not a permanent solution. In a way, this short video is a teaser for my longer YouTube film that’s coming out this Sunday that’s all about making spouts, how to do it, good methods of practice, how to fix common errors and how to slather butter on pots, not that this really needs a tutorial… Narrated for added flavour, would you folks like hearing my voice more on this platform, or do you prefer that I save if for my longer format films on YouTube? #butter #satisfying #pottery #functionalpottery #fail #asmr

I apologise for the utterly horrendous noise at the beginning of this video, but rest assured, stay with me and everything will come together, eventually. If you’ve been following along for a while now, you’ll know exactly what this process is, but for those new readers and watchers, this is how I grind the lids of my jars smooth after being reduction fired to 1290ºC. No matter how much I burnish the clay when it’s leather hard, once fired the clay shrinks and pre-fired particles in the body don’t. This means that what was smooth, becomes rough, and thus lids that did fit nicely, now don’t. So, I use Chemico valve grinding paste to sand away those coarse specks. It can also grind the clay itself away, if the rim or lid have warped in any way. The carborundum suspended in grease is then washed away using very hot, soapy water, and then I can relish in their glassy smoothness. It’s worth knowing that I only ever use this on bare clay. It’s never applied on glaze. Also, a curved jar? I almost can’t believe my eyes. #asmr #oddlysatisfying #ceramics #pottery #handmade

This week’s YouTube video shows the first steps of a new clay and glaze test with metal, bronze, inclusions. It’s a follow-up from my last round of experiments where I discuss a potential idea that produces a more subtle result. If you’d like to find out more, and watch some mixing of clays, throwing and trimming, you can find the link to the full video via the Linktree in my profile’s biography. In my previous round of tests, the bronze filings ended up dominating the pale green crackle glaze, making it appear somewhat ill-ridden, specked in blots of blood red. The idea is to use this new coarse red stoneware clay, (PF 690), with a crimson clay and with the metal wedged into the body. The copper red flashes produced by the bronze are practically the same colour as the glaze, so they should appear scattered quietly across the surface and with the addition of the red clay, that fires to crimson-brown, they should make for some rather new and interesting vessels. Yet, it’ll be a while until these pots are fired, as I’ve just concluded a reduction firing cycle, so consider this a little tease, a film to get the ball rolling. Thanks for watching! #clay #glaze #stoneware #potteryvideos #ceramics #oddlysatisfying

Unpacking experiments from the kiln might be the best part of being a potter, and that’s what this week’s YouTube video is all about. A month or two ago, Alex Pole, a blacksmith, very kindly sent me two packets, one containing hammer scale produced from working with steel, and inside the other was a handful of bronze filings. This video explores the entire process of creating two test bowls with these new additions, from mixing the by-products into my clay, followed by the wedging, throwing, trimming, glazing and finally the reduction firing, (or two, in this case). As always, you can find a link to the fully narrated video via the link in my profile’s biography. If you’ve been following along here on Instagram for a while, you’ll know that I’ve been mixing various metals into my stoneware clay or brushing it over the surface of already fired pots, for some time now, with mixed results. These experiments are some of the most intriguing parts of being a ceramicist and these two bowls ended up being real surprises, especially after their second firing to 1290ºC. Pots like this will make seldom appearances within my body of work, exclamation points to make the other neutral tones stand out and I can’t wait to explore more ideas, as mentioned in this video, so keep an eye out for that and make sure you’re subscribed to my channel if you’d like to see more. And thanks again, both to you for taking your time to watch, and to Alex, for sending these to me. Let me know what you think! #glaze #metallic #pottery #satisfying #howitsmade #asmr

Considering how coarse this red stoneware is, it trims beautifully. The clay tears in a spiralling fashion, especially in the centre of the foot-well and the gritty texture makes for a very tactile vessel, to a degree where I’m considering to leave this bowl unglazed. It’ll be fired to cone ten, so the body will vitrify, the particles of clay, the platelets, fusing so much that water can no longer enter the body. I ditch my tungsten tools for gritty clay like this, does anyone else do that? I’ve had some opposing comments on YouTube about it. I’ve always been advised not to use tungsten carbide trimmers with very coarse clays, I even have one tool that has a tiny chip out of the blade, but I can’t be sure whether that occurred when trimming, or when I placed the tool back in the box and the metal collided with another tungsten blade. Either way, since then, trimming coarse clay means using the cheaper, steel tools, which I can achieve the same finish with, it just takes longer. I say this a lot, but purchasing expensive trimming tools won’t make you a better turner. I think it has more to do with your practical ability and skill, as a competent trimmer can use relatively blunt tools and achieve the same level of finish, it’s about how you use them. The main thing that’s affected is the time it takes to trim, as these steel tools carve through the clay slowly and impart more pressure on the vessel itself, meaning you could distort the shape of the pot if you’re pressing in too firmly. Yet, at the same time, tungsten tools come with similar difficulties. They tend to catch more, chatter, if you make a mistake and gouge too harshly the pot will be decimated and if you drop the trimmer on the floor, well, there’s a chance it’ll shatter. I like both, both have their uses and both remain strong implements in my trimming arsenal. #stoneware #satisfying #pottery #ceramics #handmade #potteryvideos

Whilst I might enjoy making teapots, I definitely can’t say the same about glazing them. The pierced holes in the body and lid, the gallery and lid itself, the base, the spout, the handle, all of these need to be carefully fettled over and tidied and they take an age to prepare for the kiln. I use a bent bag tie to scrape the glaze off of the insides of the holes in the body, as even when dabbed over with water these tend to clog up when dipped in glaze. As for the lid, I use a very sharp potter’s needle to slowly bore a tunnel through the excess glaze, slowly, as if I just push it straight through the exit wound is usually far messier than need be, as lots of extra glaze is flaked off as the metal pokes through. Whereas slow, gradual rotations, create a much neater hole on both sides. The body is then scraped over, excess drips flattened and made flush with the body and finally the base is sponged over and the rim is scoured clean with the pot spinning on the wheel. It’s a long, repetitive process, and I’ve just finished getting through about 20 teapots or so, but that does mean I am one step closer to firing them! #teapot #WIP #glaze #pottery #asmr #satisfying #craft

I love making these more bellied bud vases, thrown round and then sectioned off to be more angular, the top is then dropped in so that it slopes downward. I’ll dry the clay out with a heat gun if I feel like things are going astray and the clay is perhaps too soft, this way it doesn’t supply flop inward, which can happen. Whilst I like throwing this form, glazing it is another story altogether, as the top slopes in, getting all the glaze out from the inside can be a nightmare and inevitably some gets trapped inside that ultimately turns to glass, adding additional weight to these pots. If you’d like to see me struggle doing that, well, there’s a much longer narrated YouTube video on my channel that shows the entire process, from the throwing, the trimming and the troublesome glazing. #pottery #potteryvideos #satisfying #craft #clay

Here’s how I throw and trim the bodies of my angualer stoneware mugs. #pottery #howitsmade #clay #satisfying #craft