Inspiring the next generation at Barrington Pottery.

Each Year for the past Five Years

Marion has been running 

"Play with Clay"

during the summer holidays,

a chance for children and parents to get their hands

on and explore the joys of clay.

She has just finished for this year.

It takes a lot of planning and preparation, not least as we are 

a full production pottery that uses Red Earthenware clay, and we continue

with full production whilst Marion runs the sessions

in the school room attached to the main workshop & showroom.

This year we have used over half a tonne of grey air drying clay

in only a period of five weeks for 4 days per week.

We chose to use the grey for a number of reasons, first of all it is easier for the kids to paint

their creations once they have dried, secondly it washes of the cloths without staining.

Although it costs slightly more it does mean we are sure none gets mixed

in with our red clay used for the production of pots. 

 Marion provides a board to work on, rolling pins, shape cutters, 

pencils, small pots of water, brushes and a plastic apron,

and if stuck for ideas a few printed sheets of ideas and creations of her own. 

The children love it with many of them returning a number of times over the weeks.

This year the kids have been especially creative and the atmosphere in the room

has been great on a daily basis.

While all of this is going on

 I'm still making pots in the main barn,

 I love the sound of the hustle and bustle and watching the kids faces

as they proudly come to show me what they have made.

 Marion say's that for her one of the nicest things is watching the adults and kids

interacting with each other, bouncing ideas of each other

and getting really creative is a joy to watch.

 Pencil holders have proved to be a big hit this year.

 along with Dinosaurs! 

 Allowing the kids to make what ever they want allows for their creative mind

to take flight, and that is what we like.

 It's a nice way to introduce the kids to the craft world

as well has having a go themselves they can also see

a professional potter at work in his own environment. 

They each get to take their creations home on the day

to finish off or paint at a later date.

This Year Marion had over 700 kids being creative

and that meant dealing with parents and grandparents.

That averaged out at 33 Children per day.

 Marion does all of this on her own for the five weeks

I personally think that takes one very special person.

She deserves a medal or some kind of recognition from the Crafts Council

to put so much effort into making sure kids have a great time exploring

the joys of clay.

Barrington Pottery - Cadbury 2005 - 2016

First of all I have to tell you that we have lost Cadbury our beloved Chocolate Labrador.

He was coming up to 11 years of age and his heart was playing up

in the end we had to make what we felt was the best decision for him but not us!

We had had him from a 9 week old Puppy and he was just a fantastic dog.

So I just wanted to thank him for enriching our lives in so many ways

for the past 11 years.

Here are a selection of my favorite pictures of him over the years.

 RIP Cadbury you old bugger

you are sorely missed.

Barrington Pottery New Products and Showroom revamp.

Things have been so busy at the pottery

over the past few months that somethings had to give

and I'm afraid the Blog fell by the wayside.

But the pressure of a big order has now gone away

with over 1,000 pots collected from the workshop.

So I've now got back into making stock for the showroom

and I have time to bring you up to date with the goings on.

I have been Making some new design serving dishes

These dishes are about 7" wide

Far more colour and pattern than my usual work. 

I found it hard to do so much design work 

So just to please me I slipped in a number of plainer one's. 

The idea behind these dishes is that they are made to mix and match

as serving dishes.

This was a mock up of our stall at  Earth & Fire at Rufford Abbey.

This platter is 15" wide and has a nice rustic look.

This large Lidded jar has now sold.

These New lidded jars are a treat to make and I love the

simplicity that slipware affords.

These Jugs are one of my favorites to make.

We have been making a large order for the National Trust

here are some of the 300 Devon Jugs in production. 

Our Showroom revamp has proved a great success 

this Giant A Frame was found in a skip

and I transformed it into a display area for my Signed pieces.

 We have kept the Country feel that I love. 

 It works well to set the work apart from our standard wares.

We have been working some long hours to get our orders

out on time, this picture of the sun rise at the workshop

was taken at around 5am. 

 This picture of the jugs before being loaded into

the kiln gives an idea of the scale of order we have been working on.

 and you might recognize this chap?

it's Tom from the pottery throw down.

he has made all of the pie dishes that are in the

 showroom at the moment.

I've just started making more stock for the showroom

and we have some exciting plans for 2017.

so keep logged in for the next few months to see whats happening.