The Great Pottery Throw Down

# My darling

# I've hungered for your touch

I# A Long, lonely time... #l

Not bad for a first effort!

Wetcome to The Great Pottery Throw Down.

I got into pottery when I was doing GCSEs.

They was, Like, "You have to pick a subject."

"Cool. What's ceramics?" "Oh, it's cLay."

"Yeah, all right, I'LL have a bit of that."

And here I am. I'm here!

In the biggest Pottery Throw Down yet, 12 of the nation's

finest home potters have been selected to walk the haLtowed

cobbtes of Middteport, right in the heart of British pottery's

spiritual home, Stoke-on-Trent.

I've been wanting to see this place for a Long time.

This is a Mecca for potters,

because so many beautiful pieces have been made here.

In our Throw Down studio, they'll be Let Loose on wet cLay

to transform it into unique and beautiful items for the home.

I can Lose days, fuLLy immerse mysetf in my pottery and get Lost.

Everything they conjure up will bejudged by maverick

master potter Keith Brymerjones

and world-renowned ceramic designer Sue Plyke.

The majority of homes in the UK have something that

I've designed in their cupboards.

I've been designing for high street retailers

Like Marks & Spencer's and IKEA for over 20 years.

If you haven't drunk a cup of tea from a month that I've designed,

then you clearly don't drink enough tea.

functionality is a Large part of what I do, but over

the 35 years I've been doing it, it's not just about function.

It's about the emotional connection you're trying to convey with what you make.

For me, pottery is incredibly emotional

Fantastic, mate. It's fantastic!

I'm an emotional person as well, so I'd Like to meet Keith

I and we can get emotional together. I.

So, are these potters ready

for 20 brand-new challenges?

The Last time I was this nervous was probably before Labour.

And who will go on to be named champion...

My secret weapons, these bad boys.

Not The Great Patten; Throw Down ?

Don't drop 'em!

A bit fraught at the minute. Argh!

L I am sweating fuLL-on.l

Get your hand nice and wet for some Lubrication.

Don't Look, really!

I knew this would happen to me.

# Making time

# Shooting Lines

# People have their uses

# People have their uses... #

It's the first day for our new potter recruits,

and what a northern welcome we've Laid on.

Time to don their overalls, straddle their wheels

and get ready for the pottery ride of their Lives.

Let the game of pots begin.

The potting battle will commence here at Middteport,

one of the oldest surviving potteries in Britain,

where skills dating back over BOO years are still being used.

Over three days, our potters will face two challenging tests to

determine their skills and creativity.

Who will be the first potter of the week,

and who will judges Keith and Sue send home?

Good morning, potters! Hi!

Wetcome to your first day in the pottery.

Now, for your main make challenge this week,

Sue and Keith have set the perfect start to your morning,

because they Like you to buiLd a six-piece breakfast set.

This must comprise of a cafetiere. We've provided the plungers.

Aren't we kind? Two espresso cups and two sources, and a toast rack.

You've got four hours, and your time starts now.

Potters, get potting!

Throwing on the wheeL is my preferred style.

I'm going to enjoy doing this task, yeah.

Throwing's not really my thing. I'm a sculptor.

But I'm going to putt it out of the bag and make something respectable.

But before the potters can throw their six-piece breakfast

sets on the wheat, they have to prepare the ctay .

I've forgotten what I'm doing. I'm worried my weights are all off.

I think we're all in the same boat, mate, don't worry.

After carefully weighing the cLay...

It's got to be exact.

...each Lump must be kneaded, a process called wedging.

This is more Like it. It's not flopping around any more.

A breakfast set before.

I didn't even know you could throw a cafetiere.

Have you ever seen a ceramic cafetiere? I haven't.

So, this is the first main make challenge, a breakfast set.

It's right up my street. It's a throwing challenge.

It's pretty exciting, isn't it? It is.

It's a tough challenge, too.

There's a Lot of things for the potters to consider.

These items need to be fit for purpose. It's a functional range.

So I want to see that the plunger really fits

well into the cylinder of the cafetiere.

The espresso cups have to be small. I don't want to see mugs.

And then we've got the toast rack.

There is a myriad of ways they could construct this,

but we don't want sweaty toast. No, not nice.

So I really want to see the potters working on the wheeL,

I work with the cLay.l

It's all about the breakfast set having that design follow all

the way through the pieces.

Soft, soft, soft, soft.

I'm just centring the cLay at the moment

so that I'm able to putt it up nice and easy without it wobbting around.

I'm trying not to make it Look Like something!

This is the bit that everyone gets very excited about.

That takes out all the air bubbles.

You start with the difficult one, don't you?

The cafetiere's definitely my main concern.

I've only managed that once so far out of about ten attempts.

L Hiya, Tom. HeLLo.l

Can you tell me about your breakfast set, Tom?

My theme for the challenge is a song.

So I'm a musician, and I wake up singing

and I go to bed singing, just to myself, I don't sing property.

Tom Lives in Sheffield, where he composes and teaches music.

It's hard when you're Laughing, isn't it?

His Love of music will inspire a toast rack of notes

and a cafetiere handle pulled into the shape of a treble cLef.

I'm Looking forward to seeing this. I'm quite musical.

I play a brass instrument. Oh, so do I! What do you play?

I play a baritone. Oh, do you? You are a reaL brass bander, then.

Proper brass band, yes. I'm a French horn player, you see.

Yes, we don't have those in brass bands,

but I do Love a French horn, I Love the sound.

Shall we just Leave them to it, Sue? Sounds Like we should do.

The biggest challenge is actually Lifting this to the height

that I wanted to come to.

The potters must putt up enough cLay to get the cafetieres to the

required height.

I'm not used to doing big throwing things.

But if they putt up too much, they risk their watts becoming too thin.

There is absolutely zero room for error.

And their cafetieres could cottapse.

Nope. ALL gone.

L Too much pressure! I

Get out, you naughty boy. I should stop talking to the cLay.

This is what happens because I'm on my own all the time,

so I just talk to myself, or the dog. One, two, three!

27-year-oLd Rainna Lives in Dover

and pots whilst caring fuLL-time for her mum, TreLina. Cheers.

Rainna's breakfast set will be decorated with cogs

and rivets in her design mashup of steampunk meets recycling.

But first, she's got to throw the pieces.

Look at you! You're the messiest Potter in the pottery.

Is it really, really bad? Everywhere.

I'm not really good at throwing. Oh, OK.

I've only sort of started in the Last year,

so I've just been practising, practising, practising.

But, you know, I'm getting there.

ALL my training really has been in throwing,

so I prefer throwing Large Lumps of cLay on the wheels.

This is where the muscles come in.

CLaire's a body-builder from Northern lreLand.

When she's not Lifting weights with her former Mr Universe

boyfriend PauL, she Likes throwing big pots.

CLaire's hoping to show off her throwing skills with a simple

design and muted coLours across her breakfast set,

enhanced by shaping the cups, saucers

and cafetiere to Look Like LiLy pads.

My granny's also called Lily,

so there's a bit of a family element in there as well.

As Long as the cLay plays baLL with me, it should be OK.

Gone.

I can do it a thousand times at home.

flea's from London,

and mum to five-year-otd Iris and two-year-old Jimmy.

And it was her own artist mum who first introduced her to pottery.

Well done.

Her bLue-and-white set is inspired by the Moroccan plates that

her mum would serve the family breakfast on.

Breakfast was definitety quite a thing for us,

and it was always a pleasure eating off beautiful things.

That's a better attempt, so I'm happy with that.

To throw taLL and precise is a reaL test

for even the most experienced potter.

I'LL be gLad when I've done this big one.

It's up there now, Let's keep it up there.

But it's not just the height that matters here.

It's going to have to be so precise getting that diameterjust perfect,

otherwise you're just going to have a cafetiere that doesn't work.

Width is crucial if the plungers are to fit.

And if that's not challenging enough, once it's fired, the cLay

will shrink, which the potters need to factor into their measurements.

This cLay shrinks by 12%.

Luckily I got a shrinkage ruLer, which is

something that probably every man shoutd have.

HeLLO. Hi, Rosalind. HeLLo, Lovey. Oh, it's so Lovety to meet you. Aww.

How are you getting on?

I've enjoyed doing the measurements,

something I haven't used before, because it actually works.

When you measure and weigh, things tend to match!

Funny, that, isn't it?

I wished I'd done it years ago!

Retired antiques shop owner Rosatind from Essex pops in the garden

shed next to her husband Ken's pigeons.

Oh, Look, he's still got his fluff on.