terracotta pheasant made by hundreds of visitors to eastnor castle fun week

terracotta dalek from dr who at eastnor potteryOver the years, The Flying Potter has facilitated pottery workshops with oodles of festivals and events, many of which culminate in a collaborative terracotta outcome. The majority of activities often take place in temporary spaces, so the organiser doesn’t necessarily require the fired, finished masterpiece after the event has taken place. As a result, the final ‘resting place’ for many of our projects is our lovely garden here at Eastnor Pottery.

If you ever have the good fortune to visit us here in Herefordshire, please take a moment or two to scour the hedges and flower boarders – you never know what you might discover!

terracotta pheasant made by hundreds of visitors to eastnor castle fun weekcollaborative terracotta dragon made at eastnor castle by eastnor pottery and castle visitors

sarah monk and jon williams from eastnor pottery
sarah monk and jon williams from eastnor pottery

During the February half term we’re broadcasting a short series of FREE & LIVE how-to-do pottery tutorials on our Facebook page.

Mon 15 Feb 11.00am Monster Monday – how to make a coil pot monster.

Wed 17 Feb 11.00am Wheel Wednesday – the potter’s wheel.

Fri 19 Feb 11.00am Fish on Friday- how to make a clay fish.

See you there! 🎥 xx

giraffe jumper

Once a week we are visited by a group of adults with learning disabilities to work with clay and enjoy the creative and unique atmosphere of our artists studio.

We absolutely love these sessions and enjoy the challenge of inventing new, exciting and appropriate projects for them to participate in.

Rob has had a life long fascination with giraffes and so we set him and his support worker the task of making a giraffe tile panel.

Here’s a pictorial record of Rob’s making process.

step by step guide to make giraffe tiles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

potters wheel fun in herefordshire

have a go on the potter's wheel is hilarious fun at eastnor potteryHurrah! its Hey Clay this weekend – a brilliant 3 day event organised by the Crafts Council and run during the Get Creative Festival to encourage the general public to make pottery.

hey clay participant makes a pot at eastnor pottery as part of free hey clay eventyoung potter proud of her pot at eastnor pottery and the flying potter taking part in hey clay 2019thumbs up from hey clay participant at eastnor pottery and the flying potterIt’s an annual celebration and we’ve taken part in every one since it’s inception in 2015, offering participants the opportunity to make a pot on the potter’s wheel for FREE!

It’s also a well publicised campaign and as you can probably imagine, we are (usually) inundated with punters – making it one of our busiest weekends of the year.

Although COVID-19 has put pay to the participatory aspect here at the studio, Hey Clay 2020 is still going ahead across all the social media platforms. They’ll be how to do videos, online chat and virtual studio tours from participating venues. Rest assured we’ll be contributing live feed and tutorials through-out. Check out:

Twitter – @CraftsCouncilUK

Facebook – @CraftsCouncilUK

Instagram – @CraftsCouncil

Contribute and search for these hashtags: #HeyClay #GetCreativeAtHome

I’m sure HeyClay will be back, stronger than ever, in its traditional format next year. In the meantime and to whet your appetite, here’s a couple of links to the FREE potter’s wheel fun we’ve had in previous years.

Hey Clay 2017

Hey Clay 2019

#getcreativeathome offers a wide range of tutorials and content online so you can get creative in lockdown. We have x3 ‘how to’ videos up there too:

How to make a pottery fish.

How to make a pottery owl.

How to make a pot on the potter’s wheel.

 

amputee chris trys pottery at eastnor pottery and the flying potter

amputee chris trys pottery at eastnor pottery and the flying potter

BLESMA magazine for serving and ex service men and women who have lost limbs and eye sightSay hello to Chris!

Chris joined us at the Pottery in January as a participant of an outreach session organised by BLESMA , an Armed Forces Charity set up to support serving & ex-service men & women who have suffered limb loss, sight loss and other life changing injuries.

He’d first tried pottery 30 years ago and after making and decorating a breakfast bowl on the wheel with us, he’s considering taking it up as a hobby!

When he collected his pot just prior to lock-down, he brought along a copy of the charity’s magazine – and guess who’s featured!?

Well done Chris 👍 What a lovely article!