Clifton-Hill-Pottery

Practical and stylish ceramic homewares

Clifton-Hill-Pottery

Practical and stylish ceramic homewares

Clifton Hill Pottery creates stoneware for kitchen and table from the shadow of the Clifton Hill shot-tower.Gordon’s hand-thrown pottery is for use as well as beauty. He makes small and large stoneware pieces for cooking, serving, and decorating, as well as terracotta garden pots. He compounds (from the raw minerals) some of his own glazes. The “backyard” glaze series features locally sourced materials: Weber BBQ ash, charcoal-chicken-shop ash, bluestone powder. He does reduction-firing of specialty glazes, aiming for the elusive copper-red and the celadon. My style is very much functional and simple and is based on the ability of gas-fired stoneware to surprise with each firing. The pottery is all wheel-thrown, and dipped or quickly brushed with my own glazes. I like to work with natural materials – local ash and rock where possible. Everything is high-fired, lead-free, watertight and fine in ovens, microwaves and dishwashers.

Process

I aim for simplicity and functionality. It is all to be used. I create my own glazes and high-temperature fire the work. That creates both interesting textures and durable pieces. Stoneware pottery has a 3000 year old tradition in both Eastern amd Western cultures so there is plenty of inspiration. I use natural and found ingredients sometimes, for added interest – examples includes bluestone cracker-dust (quarrying leftovers), natural wood ash. Glaze ingredients are refined silica, feldspar, clay and mineral oxide colorants.

Custom orders

I’m very happy to make custom orders within the range of glazes and styles in the shop. Stoneware pottery is twice-fired so the turnaround time on orders is 4-6 weeks. Please also bear in mind glazes can vary between firings so colour matching to existing items is not always exact.