THE TOWN MILL POTTERY

             

WORKSHOP AND DISPLAY AREA

Open 10:00am - 4:30pm most days

Work by Don Hudson

Pottery Classes

             
About the Town Mill Pottery    
             

Don Hudson

The horses have long gone from the old stables at the Mill and two potters have moved in.

Don Hudson and Berey Pealing share the workshop and small sales area which, between them, they try to keep open to the public
seven days a week.

Berey Pealing
             
   
   
             
Pottery by Don Hudson

Both Don and Berey produce fairly traditional table ware, along with some more exotic pieces, while retaining their own individual styles and methods. Don's is the earthenware, Berey's is the stoneware.

Work by Berey Pealing
             
 
 
             

Pottery by Berey Pealing

In addition to their day-to-day production work, the two potters are involved with activities connected to the Town Mill complex as a whole, such as the talks and demonstrations they give to visiting school parties.
             
They also organise public participation weekends during the year, such as 'Throw a Pot' during Lyme's Lifeboat and Carnival Weeks in July/August and an annual 'Fiery Festival', using Japanese Raku pottery techniques, in the mill courtyard in conjunction with Lyme's Artsfest Week in September/October. Finally they run pottery making evening classes for the local community.
             
 
 
             
Raku - The 'Fiery Festival'      
             

On one weekend a year, usually in September/October as part of Lyme's Artsfest, potters Don Hudson and Berey Pealing offer visitors the opportunity to participate in the ancient Japanese craft of Raku pottery making - a spectacular and fiery process. Visitors of all ages are invited to purchase a small bowl from the pottery, decorate it with the wide range of glazes provided, then wait as it is fired and given its distinctive finish.

Red hot pottery from the Raku kiln

             
Raku 2009 - The decorating tables

Raku, a process celebrating happy accidents that occur from the exposure to the elements of fire, air, water, and the earth, originated in Japan.

All the equipment required to produce the Raku pieces - the decorating tables, gas-fired Raku kiln,  a drum of sawdust and a dousing bath - are all located in the mill courtyard so everyone can see the production sequences in action.

             
After the earthenware pieces have been individually decorated with Raku glaze, they are rapidly heated to about 950 degrees centigrade in the kiln. Some 15-20 minutes later, when the glazes have melted, the red hot earthenware pieces are removed and come into contact with the much cooler outside air, causing the glaze to crack - an unpredictable step much revered in the original Japanese Raku process. The Raku pottery completes its firing in the kiln
             
Raku 2009 - Sawdust burning on a red hot piece of pottery

Whilst still very very hot, the pieces are briefly buried, using thick gauntlets and long tongs, in a drum of sawdust, where the burning sawdust blackens the cracks and any unglazed surfaces of the piece.

Finally, the Raku pots are plunged into a dousing bath filled with cold water. When cool enough to handle, the pots are scrubbed and cleaned to remove the burnt sawdust deposits and reveal the bright colours, metallic effects and crackle finish typical of the Raku process. The whole process creates stunning results that cannot be predicted.

             

  Raku 2009 - Finished pots

Dousing a pot

  Finished pottery 2009
             
 
 
             
Throw-a-Pot Weekend

In 2008, as part of the Town Mill Pottery contribution to the town's annual Lifeboat Week and Carnival Week charity events, the  Town Mill Potters, with the help of their pottery-classes students offered visitors of all ages the chance to make a pot.

The event took place over the weekend of 2 & 3 August.

             

Four wheels were sited in the courtyard over the weekend and 160 people took up the challenge and tried their hand making a pot. They used special clay that dries in the air and can be painted and varnished. So all of the pots were taken home by their creators.

The Lifeboat Week and Carnival Week charities each received £324 from this 2008 fund-raising initiative and great fun was had by all.

Don Hudson offers advice
             
 
 
             
Pottery Classes      
             

Don Hudson runs the pottery evening classes twice a week, starting towards the end of September. They take place in the pottery at the Town Mill, with up to six people on each course.

For further information contact Don by telephone on 01297 444633/0775 1447963,  or send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Don at the Town Mill (full address at the bottom of this page).

An evening class at the Town Mill Pottery

             
There is a waiting list for the evening classes, so the sooner you get on the list the sooner you may be offered a place.
     
     
Stacked bowls by Don Hudson   Pale bowls by Don Hudson
             
 
 
             
     
             

 

The Town Mill
Mill Lane, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3PU, England
Tel: 01297 443579     e-mail info@townmill.org.uk