From a visit to Ainsley China I wanted to experience the same making process that my Father and thousands of now redundant workers used to make in my hometown of Stoke-on-Trent.
Not only was I humbled to meet the people who created the skillful fine bone flowers I also got to have a go myself...using a little bit of oil, a wooden board and the fine bone china clay, a number of 8 petals were rolled, pinched and moulded to create a beautiful rose with a little help from gravity and your own hands.
I have also continued to use these techniques in the workshop, using just the original clay had differing effects in terms of malleability and softness, it was considerably harder and I did not experience the same theraputic effects from the fine bone china. I do however love the fact that I have picked up the skills in ceramics, recoverd hometown skills and has allowed me to find innate connections with my Families casting skills.
I am awaiting to see the two flowers I have made in the workshop after they have been fired in the kiln, I am intuitively interested in the object and its change of state once it has been put through a new process... A key word seems to be Transformation.
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