Teaching Robson and Kacie how to pot!
I agreed to spend an afternoon showing him and Kacie (Ainsworth, a colleague and close friend of his) what we do at the studio in one of my workshops and the joy of working with clay and making something with your hands. Thankfully the wheels I teach on in the studio are tabletop wheels, which means they are portable (provided we have electricity, which is why we were in his garden and not up a hill haha) so I took the wheels, some clay, the dog and the tables to his house and after some lovely tea and Tirmisu and a chat about all things pottery we got down to work.
I ran the session just like I would in the studio, going through the basics of how to throw a pot and we stopped periodically while the crew around us geared up for different shots, the dog got in the way or we had a pot collapse to talk about why I pot, what some of the benefits of working with your hands are and to chase my dog Penny out of his pond (thankfully not caught on camera!)
That wasn’t all the little madam got up to either, she managed to find a dead rabbit in the bushes and brought it out for all to see, she ran a mock in his house sneaking in and being nosey in all the rooms then decided to have a nap in the sun, right in the middle of the three of us meaning I was clambering over her to help Robson or Kacie on the wheels. She also got non-stop treats, cuddles and stokes, she had the best afternoon!
It was a lovely afternoon, and an amazing opportunity to spread some Pottery joy and introduce it to some people who might not know there is a little studio nestled in the heart of Hexham.
If you would like to have a go at making a pot, we have some workshops available on the Studio’s website here. If you would like to buy one of my pots you can Visit Lore of Hexham which is an amazing Gift and Homeware shop on Market Street in Hexham, there is also my Etsy shop.
An afternoon on TV (it was weird but fab ha!)
If you haven’t seen it before, Weekend Escapes by Robson Green is a TV show on the BBC where he aims to highlight what fantastic things are available to do in his (and my) local area, Northumberland, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders. His show aims to show people ways to Relax, reset and recharge. Robson takes the roads less travelled across his beloved North East England. With famous friends, he finds well-being and adventure in wonderful places.
I had watched the first couple of seasons before his team contacted me, so I knew what the background for the show was and I was excited at the prospect of working with people who understood and felt the same as I did about being able to pause from all the noise of this busy and tech-heavy world and do things that bring us back to a slower, more concious and considered way of being. That also includes getting into nature and being part of a community.
After all, I left a big, bustling City (York) and a very stressful job in Health and Social care to make pots for a living because I couldn’t continue to work and live the way I was. The stress, constant noise, and bustle were too much for me, leaving me feeling stuck, lost, and unconnected to the world around me.
