Water feature …

wendydiamond20
Aug 15, 2022
2 min read

Updated: Sep 19, 2022

Well, it is out of the kiln. Not all the lettering has taken, so plan B is to use resins and work the beach shapes into the water ‘reservoirs’.

I made a start yesterday (August 15th); although I need to leave a good 24 hours between resin layers, so I’m going to Canterbury (Anglican Bishops Conference) …

There has been a large pause since starting this particular blog. The LambethConference has come and gone, we have had a summer break at our cottage in Halifax, and now, resumed our life in Newport.

Today, (September16th) I finally released the water feature which has been so much part of our lives for so many months.

It has probably been the greatest challenge as a ceramic piece I have hitherto undertaken. There has been so much learning in it I hardly know where to start. Issues with hairline cracks, water flow and water pressure...I could go on.

I took the water feature to its home this morning, where I was greeted by Jonathan, who commissioned it and many of Jonathan's friends who have collectively achieved some amazing work in the shared gardens.

With their permissions I would like to share some of the transformation they have achieved in another blog.

For now, I share a photograph of the water feature with its owner, whose interests are represented in the graphics calligraphy and decoration. Thanks to Bishop Gregory, of St Asaph, for the large script in italics.

Here are some words from the Leonard Cohen poem which emerged as the water feature developed and that are part of the text on the bowls :

'Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack, a crack in everything,

That's how the light gets in. '

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Realising a Dream..

This is me. Setting out on my journey as a hobbyist potter.

Pottery was an ‘add on’ O level course when I was at school, only offered in the sixth form. In to studying Music and RE to A level, I embarked on pottery ‘O’ level as a bit of light relief. I loved it although I was never particularly good at it. I made a few pots, mainly handbuilding using slabbing and coiling but didn’t really learn much.

What I wanted to do more than anything was throw on the wheel – the school did have a wheel but no one was allowed near it unless they knew what they were doing… an interesting approach to the process of acquiring skill methinks. I do have one of my very first pots – rather crude really, but its mine, with my initials ‘scrauped’ on the base. Over the intervening years, of which there were many, I watched the art of throwing from a distance, always hoping that one day it would happen.

We had bought our little cottage in Halifax in 2009. Six years later the adjoining house became available so we set about creating a home by combining the two halves. The ‘under-dwelling’, a feature of a number of houses in that area of West Yorkshire was a real gem; we converted into a pottery studio for me and there began my journey. I enrolled on a course in Springhead. Oldham and my amazingly talented pottery teacher, Sue Devine gave me one-to-one tuition in throwing. I bought a pottery wheel and was given a small kiln. My journey had begun – 40 years later!

Twelve month ago, my partner and I moved to Newport in South Wales. I am most fortunate have a pottery studio here. Why Andante Ceramics? Well, I work slowly, I go with the flow, I create no deadlines for my self. My world of clay is completely self-asbsorbing and tomorrow, if I am fortunate to have one, is another day.

My media pages give a flavour of what I do and my blog documents my thoughts as I journey through the wonderful world of pottery and ceramics. I wont sell any of my work but I delight in making pieces specifically for friends; I love the challenge that creating bespoke pieces bring. If you would like me to make something special do please ask.

Wendy Diamond

Water feature …

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