The Bowl on the Balcony

FANCY a nut, anyone? And may I point out that this lavishly glazed bowl containing walnuts, pecans and almonds is one of my most recent creations at Penzance School of Art (the bowl, not the nuts) where I've now toiled for two whole terms in an attempt to be a better potter than I am.

This particular bowl started out as the base of a tall vase. A fundamental error in its coiled construction, when I tried to fuse together two clays with different moisture content, left an ugly crack which would never have survived the biscuit firing.

So, instead of binning the pot, I cut it in two and created a bowl from the bottom section, dipping it in two contrasting glazes (blue and white) before it went into the kiln a second time. Who said the art of improvisation is dead?

The result is an imperfect but appealing bowl with the two colours entwined in a number of fascinating patterns. My wife loved it. Hence, it now enjoys a place either on our kitchen table or - as pictured here - on our sun-splashed balcony.

After a summer break, I'm off to Penzance again next autumn, when I shall struggle once more to master the potter's wheel under the guidance of the incomparable Jason Wason.

Watch this space for more thrilling ceramic creations.