potter Sarah Monk placing ceramic birds in the trees of hellens gardens

Eastnor Pottery co-directors Jon Williams and Sarah Monk are exhibiting a collection of their ceramic birds ‘n bugs at Hellen’s Garden Festival

Go see if you can spot them in the undergrowth but hurry hurry hurry, the exhibition closes this Sunday!

potter jon williams leaning over putting ceramic bee on a pole in to the ground of hellens gardens

potter Sarah Monk placing ceramic birds in the trees of hellens gardens

abstract terracotta bees on poles in the ground surround by shrubbery

terracotta bottles post firing painted and glazed

green white and blue decorated bottles from numbers 1 to 8

These fabulous door numbers were commissioned by Three Choirs Vineyards, for their Deluxe Vineyard View holiday accommodation.

Jon and Sarah combined their creative talents on this one – a collaboration of skill and style.

thrown terracotta bottles lined up and drying in pottery studio

painting brush applying white slip to a hand thrown terracotta bottle

hand thrown terracotta bottles painted with white slip on table

terracotta bottle cut in half being held

inside the halved terracotta bottle

terracotta painted bottles in the kiln before firing with numbers 4, 5 and 6 on them

terracotta bottles post firing painted and glazed inside the kiln

sarah monk ceramics including egg cups lemon squeezers and soap dishes

sarah monk ceramics including egg cups lemon squeezers and soap dishes

Sarah is super thrilled to be taking part in the Digital Craft Festival 26th  – 28th March 2021.

The online international event aims to promote the very best contemporary makers through an exciting program of talks demos and films. Visitors will also have the opportunity to buy direct from 150 selected artists working in all kinds of materials.

This is the first time she’s taken part:

“I’ve enjoyed this event lots in the past….. it’s so lovely! A fun filled weekend of craft demonstrations, interviews and workshops on InstagramFacebook and zoom.  The Digital Craft Festival is an opportunity I would ordinarily have to pass on, what with the 3.5k class participants that pass through the doors each year at Eastnor Pottery. As the Studio is currently closed to visitors I have had more time to focus on my own work. I’m launching lots of new designs in my shop especially for the event!”

As well as selling from her online shop, Sarah will be running a ‘make along’ zoom class.

“I will show you step by step how to make your own clay bug house and you can make along with me! No previous pottery experience is required. The pottery techniques I will be sharing with you are slab building and sgraffito decoration. Once you have made your wonderful clay house, leave it to air-dry at home.”

If you’d like to take part in the class you’ll need to purchase a ticket from her website.

 

two clay monsters at eastnor pottery created on using the coil pot technique

two clay monsters at eastnor pottery created on using the coil pot technique

Did you manage to catch our LIVE STREAM pottery tutorials on our Facebook page during the February 1/2 term?

Sarah and Jon had great fun showing us how to make a coil pot monster on Monday, a pot on the potter’s wheel on Wednesday and a clay fish on Friday!

Don’t worry if you missed them, all three videos are now up there on the Eastnor Pottery Facebook page for you to enjoy and ‘make along’ forevermore!

herefordshire potter sarah monk holds a freshly thrown jug made on the potter's wheelherefordshire potter jon williams holds a clay fish made using the pinch pot technique

Herefordshire potters Jon Williams and Sarah Monk reenact the film ghost on the potter's wheel

Love is in the air and the leisure and tourism industry in our beautiful county, together with the team at @visit_herefordshire  are celebrating all things romantic by recreating some of our absolute favourite romantic movie moments right here in Herefordshire.

We were delighted to get involved with the campaign and here’s our recreation of ‘that scene’ from GHOST. Hope it gets you in the mood for some romance this weekend!

We’d all love to see your romantic film moments and your celebrations of all things romantic! Re-create your scene (in your bubbles and close to home of course) and post it on your social media using the hashtag #romanticfilmmoments tagging in @visit_herefordshire and they’ll repost it. The best post wins a romantic Herefordshire hamper!

A bit of fun to brighten up lockdown! Everyone welcome to participate (UK only) but bonus points for telling us what you love about Herefordshire or why you’d like to visit us!

Get snapping and be sure to take a look at the other businesses that have taken part on @visit_herefordshire

And do tag Visit England if you would like to – @visitengland