The Town Mill Pottery

THE TOWN MILL POTTERY


WORKSHOP AND DISPLAY AREA Open 10:00am - 4:30pm most days

Pottery Classes

About the Town Mill Pottery

		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.



		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.



				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.

			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.

			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.


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.



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).

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.








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