David Fry

"My work is inspired by the glazes and forms of the early ceramics from China and Japan. I have spent many years studying and working out recipes for the ancient glazes and have used my own intuition to increase their depth and beauty, achieving layers of colour within colour.

I have developed a 'Lang-Yao' or Red Flambe glaze, a rich Blue Flambe, a Blue 'Jun', a Green Celedon, and a Black 'Tea Dust' Tenmoku. On some pieces I overlay two or three glazes, others have a single glaze, all have their own unique characteristics, and no two pieces come out of the kiln alike. My kiln is of my own design, fired with a single gas burner. My firing technique is called 'Reduction' firing; this means that during the firing I reduce the amount of oxygen going into the kiln to burn the fuel.

The glazes are mixed from raw materials and mainly comprise: feldspar, whiting (calcium), flint, clay, and wood ash which I collect myself from local farms. The colours of my glazes come from very small amounts of copper and iron in the glaze mix - reduced copper turns red and iron blue/green. However, the result of using a single burner gives an uneven reduction, therefore I have some pieces reduced on one side and oxidized on the other, giving unique flame marks. The firing takes approximately 24 hours to reach the top temperature of 1350°C. The kiln is then shut off and allowed to cool slowly for 48 hours before opening. On cooling, however, the process is still ongoing. Oxidized crystals form within the glaze matrix and can give the rare effect of green crystals in a rich, red glaze.

On some of my work there are simple impressed decorative motifs. The Twin fish motif is the Chinese symbol for good luck and marital bliss, and comes interestingly, from both the early Chinese Sung wares, and also from the motifs I found impressed in 13th Century English pots that I excavated on the site of my present studio.