When our son Steve married Jennifer I made them a dinner set as a wedding present. They were thrown with cone 10 stoneware and I had them custom fired at Shadbolt Centre, using their glazes for a reduction firing. Over the years since then some have been dropped and Jen hinted that some more would be appreciated. I checked and found out that she was OK with my earthenware and that lots of colour was good.

So part of my May Covid production was the throwing of several plates, and thoroughly enjoying myself trimming them and applying a variety of my coloured slips while they were still leather hard. I remember demonstrating the process while teaching at Port Moody Arts Centre some twenty years ago but haven’t really made plates much since (except for the slab ones for Raiders).

It occured to me that Jen’s birthday is in June so when I opened my kiln a couple of weeks ago now I kept the plates secret until yesterday. Steve, Jen and the three grandsons were here for a ‘bubble’ barbecue supper and Jen was given her new plates. She tells me she likes them, and selected an extra side plate, just because. So now I can let you see the fun I had!

First I threw half a dozen side-size plates and then realized that they weren’t big enough, so threw four lunch-size ones. I also made a couple of soup/pasta-size dishes, as requested. The little guys are roughly 7+ ” across, the lunch plates are about 8 1/2″ across and the soup dishes are more like 9″ across and 2″ deep.

You’ll see that I tried out several combinations of colours, with an underlying coat of slip over the whole plate, front and back and then used the spinning wheel to lay down bands, in a very traditional English slipware technique, before adding brush strokes of pattern. My slips are thinned to be like pouring cream rather than the usual goopy thickness needed for slip trailing. I have included a photo of tops and bottoms to show that both are painted.  If any of these colour combinations appeal to you I’m happy to make some more.

Now that Jen has made her selections I see that I now have a number of plates and mugs, and several jugbirds on hand. This time last year, at the Summer Solstice, we held Port Moody’s ArtWalk/Shuffle and I am sad not to have been able to welcome visitors to my studio last night and today. But I have had a couple of keeners here recently, visiting my studio carefully, to purchase jugbirds. So if you are looking for some new pots for yourself or for Summertime gifts do email or phone me and arrange for a distanced visit.

One day soon I’ll treat myself to a drive in to Granville Island again, to take new work in to Circle Craft, but only when they are ready. They have re-opened but I’m sure it’ll be a while before they can cope with new deliveries from members.

We read this week the sad news of the death of BC’s most well-known potter, Wayne Ngan, at his home on Hornby Island. His daughter potter Gailan Ngan posted a poignant photo of her father’s hands, taken recently, to honour him and the work those hands had produced for so many years. Although I only met Wayne a few times my sympathy goes to his family. His importance to potters here in BC is reflected in the fact that my blog about visiting him and his studio on Hornby some years ago, is consistently the most re-read of my blogs. If you care to read it now you’ll see that Wayne’s work includes marvellous paintings as well as his well-known and recognized pots and sculptures.

https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/2013/08/25/the-original-hornby-island-potters/