I first met John a few years ago on a visit to his showroom and studio. I was in the second year of my PhD and had just started an evening pottery class. A few weeks into the class and I was already obsessed. John was busy packing the wood kiln that day but showed me around the studio and the kiln too. A country studio on a hill with a wood kiln - the dream.

I visited John again this past winter. Ash glazes are one of my key interests and most of John’s work uses glazes that he makes from the ash of birch, rhododendron, and oilseed rape straw – all harvested just outside his door. I had been wanting to learn more about ash as a material and to develop a range of ash glazes. We planned for me to come to the studio for two weeks in early spring for a period of focused glaze testing and development, followed by a wood firing.

Here is what our time looked like, a fourteen-day overview:

Day 1: Planned which ashes to focus our testing on. Washed, ball-milled, and dried oilseed rape straw ash and birch ash.

Day 2: Ball-milled and dried more oilseed rape straw ash. Measured out clay and feldspar for a 66-point triaxial.

Day 3: Finished the 66-point oilseed rape straw ash triaxial. Completed two line-blends of a birch ash glaze with additions of quartz, each line blend with a different source of birch.

Day 4: First round of tests into the gas kiln. Washed and ball-milled a small sample of rhododendron ash. Tidied the studio for a visit in the evening from a community group.

Day 5: Got the studio back to normal and opened the kiln. Arranged the triaxial test rings and the line-blend bowls. Poured over the tests for hours.

Day 6: Completed a 28-point triaxial blend, a sub-triangle of the 66-point triaxial, using rhododendron ash. Dipped test rings and glazed a set of test bowls with these 28 glazes. Selected my favorites from the 66-point oilseed rape straw ash triaxial and glazed some test bowls with them. Second gas kiln firing full of tests. Started glazing pots for the wood firing.

Day 7: Unloaded gas kiln and arranged tests. Kiln overfired, but some gems in there. Wished we had time for another round or two of testing but selected two glazes to make a small batch of for the wood firing. Started glazing and wadding pieces for the wood firing.

Day 8: Melanie and I finished glazing and wadding our pieces and made a start on wadding John’s. Learned to carry a ware board.

Day 9: Finished wadding.

Day 10: Coronavirus started to feel serious around this time. Unfortunately we had to say an early goodbye to Melanie who travelled back home to France. Batt washed kiln shelves and packed half of the wood kiln.

Day 11: Finished packing the kiln and bricked it over. Lit the kiln at about 16:00. Initial stoking with a mix of split logs and old whisky barrel staves.

Day 12: Stoked the kiln until 21:00 and then clammed up.

Day 13: Rest day on the first day of spring. Kiln cooled. John and I went for an amble around the garden.

Day 14: Unpacked kiln in the morning, unlike any experience I’ve ever had. Arranged triaxial tests. Poured over tests and pots before having to pack them up.