Blue + white

My ‘blue and white period’ started in an adult education class 12 years ago when I was introduced to using tin glaze with cobalt oxide. I was immediately mesmerised by the way the ‘black’ and highly toxic powdered cobalt oxide transformed into a deep mineral blue when fired.

I started experimenting with using this old craft skill in new ways . I set myself the goal of making 100 tiles by hand, and then tin-glazed and fired them. This allowed me to learn about the properties of clay, how to get tiles to dry flat and so on.I also taught myself the traditional image transfer technique of ‘poncing’ with ground charcoal through a pin-pricked outline. These images are then hand painted with cobalt oxide onto the tin glaze - a delicate job because the tin glaze is powdery and mistakes cannot be corrected.

I like the way traditional deft tiles often reflect everyday life and my ‘Elements of hip-hop’ series riffs on this idea -by combining a 16th century technique with modern iconography.

Tile

Bowl

Around this time I also developed a more gestural style where simple mark-making, brushstrokes and splatters allowed the blue and the white to take ‘centre stage’.

Beads

Plate

I have used this style in my own kitchen tiles and also in some collaborative work using porcelain with a silver smith friend Chloe Paull, to make silver and porcelain jewellery https://www.chloepaull.com/about