Why buy handmade?

All pieces are handmade by myself, in my ceramics studio based in Buckinghamshire, UK.  

I understand the ease of buying cheap and cheerful mass-produced products leading to the question – why pay more for handmade?  

To answer this, I’d love to share the process that goes into making each piece... 

Firstly, I ‘wedge’ the stoneware clay to remove the air and then throw the shape on the wheel. The techniques differ depending on which item I’m making, but I fell in love with ceramics because of the immediacy of clay and the ability to create something useful!  

I then wait for a few days for the clay to be dry to ‘leather hard’. At this point it’s ready for ‘trimming’ which means taking out imperfections, smoothing the sides, creating special features and other decorative details. It’s also the point that I add handles or spouts. The piece then dries further (depending on the weather this may take days or up to a week) so that it is bone dry. 

Then comes a full day of ‘bisque’ firing in the kiln to 1000 degrees centigrade – this turns the clay into a ceramic, a process called ‘sintering’.  It takes around 30 hours to get to the point of being able to open the kiln, an excruciatingly long wait for anyone! 

But eventually the kiln is cool, and if the piece has survived and not cracked or warped, I can begin glazing, either painting or dipping the glaze. I wait for the pieces to dry fully before another firing in the kiln, to anything between 1200 to 1300 degrees centigrade. At these temperatures the glaze melts, creating the myriad of beautiful colours and patterns, singularities and flaws that I love to see in finished pieces.  But not before I've had to wait for another two days for the kiln to heat and cool. It’s such an exciting moment to open the doors of the kiln and see the results of what can be weeks of work. 

There are many good reasons to buy handmade bespoke products but none better than the joy it gives to admire and hold specially crafted items, with all their one-of-a-kind beauty, unique flaws and the love that has gone into each piece. I hope you found this interesting and thank you so much for supporting handmade! 

Care instructions

Stoneware is very robust but I still recommend to handwash pieces. All products are food safe.  

For all further enquiries please email davidlonergan@live.co.uk