L et us begin at the beginning. The clay arrives as a slip (a suspension of clay in water) from Hodges Minerals Ltd. in St. Elizabeth. It has been dried, crushed and ball milled under careful supervision at the plant. This particular clay is called Frenchman Clay and is dug from the west banks of the Black River some ten to twenty feet below the surface at a village named Slipe on the Frenchman peninsular and taken to Hodges for processing. We mix this clay, which is essentially a mixture of white refractory (high temperature) clay and quartz sand, in exact proportions with a sand containing a 
high proportion of feldspar (granodiorite) from Temple Hall in St. Andrew or in recent times imported feldspar. Prior to blending with the clay the Temple Hall sand is washed and magnetic iron (magnetite) extracted - picture at left shows the magnet - and milled separately for use as a glaze and decorative slip pigment and for onglaze painting. The iron can be seen as those reddish brown brush marks and splashes mainly on the sides and rims of our work. Now back to the clay preparation. The slip is examined for density (ratio of solids to water), pH and fluidity after which, if the properties are acceptable, the slip is sieved and made ready for casting. If however, 
the slip is only slightly off (and this is so sometimes) it can cause unbeliveable problems as the process is technically very demanding. Casting is employed in our studio as it is the only method available to us that is able to produce small affordable pieces in reasonable numbers and at reasonable cost. Casting produces a considerable amount of scrap from trimmings and damaged pieces and this is sorted and recycled as casting slip, engobes (decorative slip) and throwing clay. Very little is wasted. The Hodges ball mill is shown at right.
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Throwing is done on a continental kickwheel. That’s the type with the heavy flywheel and no treadle. The clay is properly wedged before being formed, either on the potters wheel or as freeform. We both make our own individual pieces but we cooperate in the design and making of what we call the studio line. Some pieces, including slipcast ware, are coated with coloured slip or engobe (using cobalt or iron oxide) when they are leatherhard and motifs carved into the almost dry surface. 
When the pots are dry (bone-dry) they are cleaned up, wet sponged and totally redried at which point they may be painted and or glazed, then brushed or splashed with pigment and oncefired to 1300 degrees centigrade. All the glazes with the exception of the white and clear glaze, which contain some imported content, are based on Temple Hall granite. The Celadon and Tenmoku (iron) glazes are made entirely from locally occurring materials. All other glazes will have at 
most twenty percent imported compounds. In fact foreign content is less than 10 percent of total materials used. No poisonous elements such as lead or barium are included in our glazes. They are all non toxic, safe and ideally suited for table use. The work is fired in kilns we design and build ourselves. We currently use LPG gas and each firing lasts up to eight or nine hours. We have used wood and oil in the past and are contemplating returning to oil in the near future with a kiln that will be built in 2003. Individual pieces are signed by each potter usually with a date while the studio line carries the initials cp and usually no date.
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