Events

CERAMICS at ALFORD CRAFT MARKET MAY 23rd , 24th ,25th 2020

The theme for our Spring May Bank Holiday Working Craft Market 2020 will be CERAMICS with the support of Heather and Michel Ducos of Alford Pottery. There will be many selected pottery stalls (please contact us if you are a potter and would like to attend), a pottery exhibition, a demonstration of different aspects of pottery including Poterie a la corde, throwing, sculpting, a series of films on pottery, and a programme of clay based activities free for the public.

The event will actually kick off on the 1st February 2020 with the start of a very large community effort where we invite everyone in the town of Alford to make a clay bird. We hope to make up to one thousand birds, which will then be displayed at the Ceramics weekend as an installation.
Calling Alford Bird Makers!
Collect your piece of clay from Alford Pottery, Commercial Road, Alford from 1st February which wil come with instructions - see below:-
MAKING BIRDS
There are no rules, no designs, it is totally up to you.
You can make a flat bird, a 3 dimensional bird, a small bird, a big bird, a sparrow or an owl or a duck, anything goes!

USING CLAY

Do not eat it! It’s not poisonous; it just doesn’t taste very good.
Start with clean hands and wear an apron and not your best clothes.
Do not insert anything in your bird, like wood, glass or plastic because it would explode in the kiln and damage lots of birds.
Table, hands, tools, everything can be cleaned with water.

WHAT TO DO...
Collect your clay from the 1st February.
Have a think and decide on your bird, you could always do a drawing or look at pictures or look on the web.
Cut a lump of clay and start making. If you want to add bits like the head or a bigger tail, it is better if you use a bit of water as a glue and press the bits together hard.
Best would be if your bird is hollow as a solid one might blow up in the kiln and damage all the other birds around.
Work on a bit of cardboard and put your finished bird on the cardboard and bring it to the Pottery by the end of March latest.
It will be fired to 1000 degrees and last for ever.
You can always make another one and another better one, no limits! And, if you want, you can scratch your name on it, sign it like a real potter!
After the display, you can have your bird back if you want it.

Participating potters and ceramicists are welcome to improve the installation by giving or lending one (or more) birds of your making and design. Potters, ceramicists and Alford people please contact us for details.

We will also challenge all potters, whether they are able to participate in the weekend or not, to enter a (free) competition in making a JUG, any size, any style any shape, it’s up to you, but it has to pour! These will be on display during the weekend and may be for sale, but will remain in situ until the judging. The winning jug will be chosen by a panel of five judges, including our special guest MATTHEW WILCOCK “Best Potter” in the first series of the Throwdown and the Town’s Mayor - the prize will be £100. There will also be a people’s prize of £100 awarded to the potter whose jug is voted the public’s favourite over the weekend.

Here is a short video of the first birds that have been made in Alford