April has been a month of bits and bobs, with very little clay finding its way onto the wheel head. I’m not unduly concerned about that, although we do have pressing deadlines and no stock whatsoever, but, after a few weeks of anything but making pots, I found that it felt good to be back on the wheel again a couple of days ago, and the clay f lowed freely, so I’m up for the challenge.
The month began with a road trip. Travelling times are limited because of Pippin’s school terms, but she had two weeks off for Easter, so we packed our bags and headed off down south, across the border on a whistlestop tour.
Our first port of call was to the ever-marvellous Northern Kilns, near Lancaster. My wheel is really good, but it’s quite low down, so I have to bend over a lot. I’d seen an old Ratcliffe wheel on Facebook Marketplace, selling locally for £300. Ratcliffe wheels are fantastic, and this was a great bargain, so we went and collected it. It meant dismantling not just the wheel, but also the seller’s shed, which hadThe speed regulator had packed in. On carrying it out of the workshop to take
