Professional Development Award: The Start

Vicky works from her studio near Stoke-on-Trent and it was there that I first met her and her husband John, also a well known potter. Her studio was lovely, a good light workspace which gave me ideas and inspiration on how to organise my own studio. Top of the list was a supply of hot water and rows of cupboards on wheels to facilitate cleaning.
During this first three day session, Vicky introduced me to the basics of what we would be covering: screen printing, using paper stencils and photographic emulsion stencils, and mono-printing onto leather hard clay and bisque ware. We were also to explore pigment transfer using pottery tissue.
We started by printing onto flat sheets of clay building up layered images by mixing elements of screen printing with other transfer techniques. I combined my own mark making with Vicky’s own prepared screen patterns and was very pleased with the results.
I was then taught to shape the decorated clay over shallow plaster moulds, turning the 2-dimensional slabs into 3-dimensional vessels.