Collection: Simon Melican : Potter : Bristol

I started making ceramics in 1994 as I wanted to learn to throw. I have been hooked ever since. My work is quite diverse, but the common factors are that it is still all thrown, mostly stoneware fired and reflects my ongoing interests in experimenting with new techniques, glaze ingredients and textures.

The Aqua Range is a project I keep returning to. The pieces rely on several layers of black slip, which contains manganese and cobalt, and how it interacts with the white glaze applied over it. At sufficiently high temperatures the glaze reacts with the oxides in the slip to produce combinations of colours. To achieve this the glaze has to be applied thickly and fired sufficiently hot to give the effect but not so hot that the glaze runs or drips off the pots.  These experiments are still something of a work in progress.