Potterycrafts News


NEWS


Potterycrafts' Kilns in Malta


13th July 2021 < br> Click Here to see the pictures of our dramatic kiln installation at the Malta School of Art

Duncan Glazes


6th July 2021

The range of Duncan Glazes and Underglazes has changed. Some colours and ranges have been discontinued, we still have stocks of some of the harder to find colours and glaze types so buy now while stocks last.

The New Duncan range is available from our online shop and our sales staff are availble to help with any questions.
To download a guide to the new Duncan Glaze range Click Here

COVID-19: UPDATES


3rd November 2020

We will continue to operate through the lockdown announced from the 5th November. We continue to follow government guidance for staff to work from home wherever possible. We are ensuring that advice on social distancing advice is paramount. Ideally in the first instance please email us at sales@potterycrafts.co.uk. We ask for your continued patience in regards to replies as we are receiving a high volume of emails and calls at this time. Many thanks for your continued support and understanding. The Potterycrafts Team.

17thJune 2020

We have decided not to reopen the Showroom at this time. We continue to follow government guidance for staff to work from home wherever possible. We are continuing the phased opening of the manufacturing facilities, ensuring that advice on social distancing advice is paramount. Ideally in the first instance please email us at sales@potterycrafts.co.uk. We ask for your continued patience in regards to replies as we are receiving a high volume of emails and calls at this time. Many thanks for your continued support and understanding.

JOB VACANCIES


Potterycrafts are a leading kiln manufacturer based in the Potteries. For over 50 years, we have manufactured a large range of Front and Top loading Kilns.
We are looking for the following personnel:

Electrician to join our team to manufacture small to medium intermittent kilns. ( Minimum of 2 years' experience and 18th Regs Certificate required )

Refractory Brick Layer to join our team to manufacture small to medium intermittent kilns. ( Minimum of 2 years' experience required )
Anyone applying for the position needs to be flexible and motivated.
Kiln specification and build training will be provided.

Anyone interest please apply in writing or by email to one of the following addresses:

Potterycrafts Ltd
Campbell Road
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 4ET
Jeremy.cross@potterycrafts.co.uk
Karen.smallman@potterycrafts.co.uk

Please provide a copy of an up to date CV

COVID-19: UPDATES


16th April 2020

Hello, just to keep you up to date at this difficult time. We continue to run a small team despatching orders, with a few office staff working from home.. The best way to contact us is at sales@potterycrafts.co.uk. We ask for your continued patience in regards to replies as we are receiving a high volume of emails and calls at this time. Many thanks for your continued support and understanding.

14th April 2020

Hi Everyone, we hope you had an enjoyable Easter and hope you are all staying safe out there. A small team gave up their Easter hoildays to help pack orders ready for despatch on Tuesday 14th April, we hope this will get many orders to you orders to you quicker. We are still working through despatching all orders. With reduced numbers in staff in both the Warehouse and Office there is still the likelihood of delays. All Office staff are now working from home therefore the best way to contact us is at sales@potterycrafts.co.uk. We ask for your continued patience in regards to replies as we are receiving a high volume of emails and calls at this time. Many thanks for your continued support and understanding.

4th April 2020

Hi Everyone, hope you are all staying safe out there. To keep you up to date with our situation. We are still working through despatching all orders. With reduced numbers in staff in both the Warehouse and Office there is still the likelihood of delays. All Office staff are now working from home therefore the best way to contact us is at sales@potterycrafts.co.uk. We ask for your continued patience in regards to replies as we are receiving a high volume of emails and calls at this time. Many thanks for your continued support and understanding.

30th March 2020

Hi Everyone, hope you are all staying safe out there. Just to update you further. We are still working through despatching all orders. With reduced numbers in staff in both the Warehouse and Office there is still the likelihood of delays. All Office staff are now working from home therefore the best way to contact us is at sales@potterycrafts.co.uk. We ask for your continued patience in regards to replies as we are receiving a high volume of emails and calls at this time. Many thanks for your continued support and understanding.

26th March 2020

Hi all, hope you are keeping well and safe. The warehouse are continuing to despatch all orders as soon as possible. With reduced staff members please be patient during these challenging times and orders may experience some slight delays. We appreciate your continual understanding. We will continue to update as we can. Thank you and take care.

25th March 2020

We are still operating as normal. You can continue to place web orders. Otherwise if you need to contact us an email to sales@potterycrafts.co.uk is the best way. Thank you.

24th March 2020

Following the announcement from the Government last night, please be advised we are working on despatching all orders. If we can not deliver your goods we will be in touch to let you know. You can currently continue to place orders and we will do our best to despatch them. We appreciate your patience and understanding in the matter. Any further updates we will continue to advise here. Thank you.

23rd March 2020

We have now closed our showroom until further notice. We are continuing to take orders online and over the phone. You will still have the option to collect orders if required. We will contact you when your order is ready to arrange this. We thank you for your continued understanding in these difficult times.

19th March 2020

Sorry to inform our customers our Showroom will not be open this coming Saturday 21st March. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

18th March 2020

We would like to reassure our customers we are open as usual. In regards to deliveries, we have authorised the couriers and hauliers to continue to deliver without signature until the risks from the Coronavirus are controlled. In all cases, a name, date and time will be obtained but will be printed on the Proof of Delivery documentation by the driver. We hope that you understand and support this decision in these unprecedented times. We will do our best to deliver all products you have ordered however please be mindful we may experience delays in regards to our stock imports being received.

We would also like to make you aware our technical advisors will now be working from home. They will do their best to continue to offer advice and guidance as much as they can, however we appreciate your patience and understanding should they not be able to respond instantly.

We appreciate this is a fluid situation. Please continue to check back here for further updates on the effects of Covid-19 for Potterycrafts Customers.

Most of all stay safe and feel free to contact us with any queries.



Craft&Design Magazine - Choosing your electric pottery kiln



If you are looking to purchase an electric kiln and could really do with some tips and expert guidance, then please take a look at our 'Choosing an Electric Pottery Kiln' guide, featured in the July/August issue of Craft&Design Magazine. Click on the image to read the article.

Our pottery expert Ken Shelton has put this together to give you some advice on what to consider when making a decision on which kiln to purchase.

Any further assistance we can provide, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are only a phone call away from starting your potters journey!



Our Big Kiln is Big News!

We were featured in The Sentinel newspaper last month, as we are currently in the process of building our biggest kiln to date! A massive 3,300 litres capacity has certainly caught the attention of our local media. We thoroughly enjoy taking on projects like this and are proud to be able to meet our customer requirements. Do you have any special projects we can assist with? Just call for a chat or email any enquiries, we are always happy to help.


Potterycrafts Article in The Sentinel Newspaper

Yesterday, on Wednesday 1st October, Potterycrafts were featured in the local Staffordshire newspaper, The Sentinel. We wanted to share our global demand for the best kilns in the country, manufactured in our warehouse in Stoke-on-Trent. Recently, we have built a huge 1060 litre kiln for a business based in France. From our small kilns for the indivual hobby ceramist to our larger kilns for businesses, we build all sorts to meet the demands of every customer. Not only that, we can build kilns to any customers specifications. Click on the image above to go to a PDF version of the article.


Potterycrafts Lifetime Achievement Award

Potterycrafts were proud to present the Potterycrafts Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent International Festival of Ceramics in Aberystwyth www.internationalceramicsfestival.org. The Festival started in 1987 and has evolved to become one of the most important ceramic events worldwide. It offers teachers, students, ceramic artists, collectors, working potters and amateurs the chance to meet and study the work of distinguished, internationally known potters and ceramicists from Wales, the UK and around the world. The Festival attracts about 1000 people who attend lectures, watch practical demonstrations and visit special exhibitions over three days. International potters of the highest calibre demonstrate skills and techniques and also have their own workspaces - enabling personal discussion about their work. The focus is both practical and inspirational - kilns are built, pots are made and fired. The biennial festival is organised jointly by North Wales Potters, South Wales Potters and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

The winner of Potterycrafts Lifetime Achievement Award this year was Walter Keeler, seen here at the award ceremony with Ken Shelton from Potterycrafts who presented the prize, Jim Robison, MC of the show and Wally on the right. Ken first met Wally when he gave a seminar to Potterycrafts customers thirty years ago, he praised Wally's skill as a potter, teacher and innovator, he particularly mentioned Wally's wonderfully precise assembled pieces and his magical control of salt glazing techniques. Wally has been an inspiration to a generation of potters and richly deserves the award. The award was a sculptural ceramic piece specially commissioned by the Festival from renowned American ceramic artist Richard T. Notkin.

Ceramics Festivals in Aberystwyth and Hatfield 2013

International Ceramics Festival Aberystwyth 28th - 30 June 2013

The International Ceramics Festival is a biennial event started in 1987, it is the UK's leading ceramic festival and offers demonstrations and lectures by some of the world's leading ceramists. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet distinguished practitioners and this year the festival hosts potters from Korea,China, Spain, Poland, New Zealand and the UK. The event will be opened by Henry Sandon, world authority on ceramics and hugely popular TV presenter. Potterycrafts will have a trade stand at the show where you will be able to view a selection of our front and top loading electric and gas fired kilns as well as some of the finest potters wheels and equipment. Potterycrafts are proud to support the festival and in particular to sponsor of the Potterycrafts Lifetime Award.

Art in Clay Hatfield House Hertfordshire 5th - 7th July 2013

The 19th annual Art in Clay takes place in the beautiful grounds of Hatfield House, each year more than one hundred and fifty of the country's best potters, and also many from overseas, will be gathering to sell their ceramics. No other ceramics show offers such a large selection from some of the best know names in the business alongside exciting new work from students supported by their colleges. Potterycrafts will have a large stand at the show with examples of our front and top loading kilns, wheels from Brent Roderveld and Cowley. Our technical experts will be on hand to offer advice; Valerie Shelton will be demonstrating the art of underglaze painting and Kevin Millward possibly the country's finest thrower will be demonstrating his art.

Ceramics in Charnwood 2013

Ken Shelton from Potterycrafts at last years' event

Back for a third year, Ceramics in Charnwood returns to Loughborough Market Place on Sunday 19th May 2013 from 9.30 to 4.30. Over 40 potters and ceramic sculptors from the East Midlands and beyond will be selling their work in the open air at the only town-centre ceramics market in the UK there will be throwing demonstrations on the potter's wheel and have a go tile making sessions for children and grown ups. This years market will feature a charity 'Piece of Cake on a plate' stall where customers can choose from a selection of hand made plates' donated by the potters, and cake for only £10! The money raised will go to cancer charities and some fans to cool down the oncology nurses who are treating co-organiser Louise Salsbury at Leicester Royal Infirmary. see more at facebook.com/CeramicsInCharnwood and www.craftanddesignmonth.net

Art Competition in Bahrain

Potterycrafts are proud to have spondored the 2013 Art Competition on Saturday 6th April at the Bahrain Art Society. The competition was divided into 2 classes of entries: Junior (Open 12 to 16 yrs.)and Adults (17 yrs. and above). A total of 28 entries was received and the winners received vouchers for Potterycrafts products.

To all the winners and to those who participated, Congratulations and well done..

Crafts Council Firing-Up Project


Manading Director Andrew Carter appears in this video for the Crafts Council's Firing-Up project.


London Potters Association Award


Congratulations to Richard Heeley, winner of the Potterycrafts award at the London Potters Association 26th Annual Open Exhibition. We are delighted that Richard has won this award for his wonderful, evocative ceramics with such highly skilled brushwork. richard is now part of the Potters Gallery and his work can be viewed here: potterycrafts.co.uk/heeley


Christmas Competition 2012


We're running a competition for the best christmas craft project on our Facebook page. You can see all of the entries here or submit your entry on our facebook page at facebook.com/potterycrafts

New Clays


Potterycrafts offer over eighty different clays but even with this choice we have identified gaps in the market and have just announced the introduction of four new clays as follows.

Make your own pizza and tandoori oven! Potterycrafts new "Oven and Sculpture clay" P1506 has been designed for just this purpose. It has a coarse texture with very low shrinkage so won't warp and it has good thermal shock resistance. Now's the time to start planning your oven, get it built in time for the summer.

"St Ives clay" answers the need for a smooth white stoneware throwing clay that is suitable for both small and large work. Based on three white ball clays it has great plasticity and fires to a beautiful warm white. St Ive is not the patron saint of pottery but given the association with the eponymous Cornish centre of pottery perhaps he should be!

Once upon a time production throwers were the heart and soul of the pottery industry, craftsmen so skilled that they were capable of making a thousand pots a day. Potterycrafts new "Production Throwers clay" celebrates these masters with a clay that has a huge firing range from earthenware to stoneware but most of all is a forgiving and easy throwing clay, good for professionals and absolutely ideal for beginners.

The whiter the clay the more difficult it is to throw on the potter's wheel, this has always been a dilemma in the craft pottery world but now with the "Superior White Earthenware" the circle has been squared. Made with white ball clays this is a very plastic, easy throwing clay and it also has great green strength so is easy to turn. Turning is the process of trimming away surplus clay, refining the shape and enabling fine light pots to be made like the example illustrated.

Click here to visit our Professional Clays section where you can buy the new clays

2013 Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Ceramics Festival


Potterycrafts are sponsoring the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Ceramics Festival. Click here for more info.

New Clay Prices


After a review of clay, we have revised the entire of the Earthstone and Professional Clay ranges down to amazingly low prices. Please check out the new pricing on the website where you can order everything a potter needs.

Sale Day 2012


Potterycrafts will be holding a sale in store on Saturday 6th October between 9AM and 1PM. A selection of reduced price refurbished kilns and equipment will be available to view and buy in the showroom along with a special selection of discounted products. We are also offerring 15% discount on all orders taken in-store on Saturday.

Art in Action festival 2012


Potterycrafts are proud to have sponsored the Art in Action festival with several potter's wheels.
Art in Action is inspired by the simple principle that people are fascinated when artists and craftsmen openly demonstrate their skills and discuss their work.
Approximately 25,000 visitors come over four days to learn, buy and enjoy, exhibitions, classes and performances of 400 demonstrating artists, teachers, musicians and performers.
This year's event was a great success despite the disruption with the usual parking areas becoming waterlogged and alternative arrangements having to be made!

Potterycrafts Laser Gas Kiln Range


We are pleased to announce that there are three kilns in the new Potterycrafts Laser gas kiln range, each will be available in both propane and natural gas.
To view our fantastic new kilns visit the kiln page on our website www.potterycrafts.co.uk/laser

Potterycrafts are pleased to support Pottery Jamboree


June 2nd, 3rd & 4th 2012

A pottery weekend will take place at the Manor house gardens as part of the Alford Craft Market.

There will be demonstrations, exhibitions, Raku firings, Children's pottery school, historical display pottery and the first ever "Pottery Question Time" when a panel of experts will answer questions from potters, enthusiasts and the public on Sunday 3rd June in the marquee from 2pm, followed by "Bring your favorite pot" an opportunity for all to bring a piece of studio pottery you own and find out how, where and by whom it was made. (no valuations!)

The panel will include Ken Shleton, potter and technical adviser from Potterycrafts Ltd.

For more information about this event, please contact: Heather & Michel Ducos. Alford Pottery. Commercial Road. Alford. LN13 9EY. www.alfordpottery.co.uk


Exhibition in Amwaj Lagoon Bahrain


Potterycrafts sponsored a pottery themed Art Exhibition in Amwaj Lagoon, Bahrain organised by Things To Do.

Ceramics in Charnwood 2012



'Ceramics in Charnwood' is an open air potters market to be held on Sunday 20th May 2012 in the Market Place, Loughborough from 9.30am to 4.30pm.
The event is being held as part National Craft and Design Month which aims to raise the profile of crafts in different communities throughout Britain.
Our Market is a gathering of up to 40 potters and ceramic artists from the Charnwood area of Leicestershire together with invited colleagues from the surrounding counties and beyond.
We first held the market last year and it was a big success with much interest not only from the local community, but also from ceramics enthusiasts further afield. The show was officially opened by the Mayor of Charnwood, Jill Vincent, who even took the time to throw a pot on the wheel!
This years Market promises to be bigger and better with a wide variety of work for sale from decorated domestic ware to beautiful animal sculptures. We also have childrens hands on workshops.
All we need now are crowds of shoppers and a sunny day!
For further information see the facebook page at www.facebook.com/CeramicsInCharnwood and also www.craftanddesignmonth.net

Craft Hobby & Stitch Trade Show 2012


Once again Potterycrafts had a successful show exhibiting at Craft Hobby & Stitch International. The NEC Birmingham, was the perfect place to introduce the craft trade to the newly launched Bramwell Crafts business since its takeover by Potterycarfts Ltd.

Bramwell Crafts featured its own products along with the strong brands which it it distributes in the UK, including AMACO, The Paper Company, Bo Bunny Thermoweb and Jones tones and Kaisercraft.

All of these innovative brands created a huge draw for the trend hungry trade and record order levels were achieved during the 3 day show. Alison Park Group Craft Sales Manager Bramwell/Potterycrafts said it was a record year in terms of order taking at the showand interest in new innovation not soley linked to the paper crafting sector.


Laser Kilns Announcement


Potterycrafts are pleased to announce that we have completed purchase of the assets, goodwill and designs from Laser Kilns Ltd. We will be working with Laser's design team to produce the next generation of gas fired ceramic kilns and electric kilns for glass slumping and fusing. These will be made at our factory in Stoke-on-Trent and we will have the first models of the new ranges ready for the launch in March 2012.
We will not be making the present Laser range but we aim to supply spares for previous models; parts and equipment are in the process of being moved from London and we hope to be able to start supplying spare parts by the middle of February. If you have any request for parts or technical queries please call or email and we will do our best to respond as quickly as we can.
For over thirty years Laser has been the leading British manufacturer of gas kilns for potters in craft and education; they enabled potters both professional and amateur to enjoy the benefits of reduction firings as well as the speed and satisfaction of working with gas. Laser pioneered many innovations in glass kiln technology and has been the company of choice for glass slumping and fusing not just in the UK but throughout Europe. We are very pleased and proud to be a part of the continuing Laser story and look forward to working with these new markets in the future.

London Potters Annual Open Competition 2012


Jo Rowley was this years prize winner at the London Potters annual open exhibition. Potterycrafts are proud to sponsor the competition, and now display Jo's work in the potter's gallery here.


Potterycrafts sponsors the Crafts Council's Firing Up


Interest in ceramics education is dwindling: the Crafts Council's response is a national clay programme to 'refire' kilns in schools and inspire learners. The core elements are: Read More



MP Tristram Hunt thanks Potterycrafts for their sponsorship of the Firing Up programme.
Left to right: Theresa Holmes, Tristram Hunt MP, Ken Shelton and MD Andrew Carter