What’s in a number?

Under almost every lustre pot we have made you will find a number. Why is it there? Number one was made in about 1998, and we are now in the nine thousands.

A unique number allows us to record what we did to make that pot. Which colour did we spray on it, and which lustre pigments we used to decorate it? We have about 15 different colours, some with silver in them, some without, some which can be sprayed over, or under another. That creates hundreds of possibilities. Add to that, the fact that we have half a dozen lustre pigments, and you can see we need to keep track of what we have done or making good lustre would become a matter of chance.

Our aim is to improve our success rate, and to this end, we also record where each pot is placed in the kiln. Kerry’s bright idea was to use a computer to keep these records, to store them and to collate them, and we have done that for the last 8 years or so.

There is a dilemma here- by constant repetition, we can become so consistent as to be predictable. But that state also takes much of the interest from the process. So we keep experimenting, trying new mixtures, changing the firing schedule a little and so on. That way we tread the narrow path between manufacture and exploration, avoid boredom, and interest out customers as well as ourselves.

Whether our results are better than they were is a matter of judgement, but as makers, we think it is all worth the trouble.