The Great Pottery Showdown back tonight

[EewDavid]

Is anyone going to be watching? I absolutely love it despite only ever having one go at throwing a pot at school, forgetting to take my foot off the pedal and watching as the clay shot off the wheel into the adjoining open-plan science area. Looking forward to the new host too as I felt the last one made it a bit like a vehicle for her stand-up comedy routine.

soup I am with you there. It was a bit colour by numbers

Never done pottery but loving this.
This week's was great, loved some of the tea sets

Some of those sets were beautiful. Nick definitely let himself down with an acrylic handle - too inorganic. Lucinda's save was so clever. I wasn't keen on Tom's myself. It was a bit...simplistic?

I will say, though, this is one of the shows I love to watch but have no interest in trying. All I could make was a coil pot, a vaguely humanoid shape and a canoe!

Missed the end, what happened. Not keen on this Raku thing at all.

I usually love the Raku - it's my favourite week - but I was disappointed this time round.

Nothing seemed to have the grace and elegance of the usual Raku weeks.

Yes - Lucinda's teapot handle was very clever, but overall thee just seemed something lacking t ome.

I agree - they were lovely pieces but lacked the "something" that raku week pieces have had in previous years. I think it was the choice of glazes and the somewhat flat effects maybe....? They didn't have that elemental look.

I think that might be an issue with my understanding of what raku is though.

Have to confess that my understanding is probably not great either, but I do know that in previous series I've been blown away by the sheer ethereal loveliness of the effects, whilst this time I was pretty much - "Meh. It's ok"

The best set IMO was Nick's but the acrylic handle really did cheapen it.

This (long!) article is about last year's Raku week. They are all simply beautiful. You'll need to scroll to the end!

ariadnereviews.com/2021/02/01/pottery-throwdown-2021-episode-4-a-perfect-union-of-man-and-budgie/

I think they bused different combustibles last year didn't they? Like newspaper, wool etc to give really different outcomes. Or am I imagining that?

No, they definitely used more materials in the raku, or the editing went into more detail about what they each used.

@Unescorted

I wonder if soaking the heather would have given Lucinda's enough flex to not stress the lugs. Such a shame it is a beautiful pot.

I thought that. She is so talented. She understood the combination of the raku technique, her applied techniques and the look she wanted to achieve so well. She has a very clear strong vision for all her work. I'd guess she's had art training. I do agree previous raku years have yielded better results. Jodie's raku last year was so beautiful. I liked Tom's: another clear and strong concept. Disappointed by Nick's. Liked Cellan's. AJ's was attractive but had a whiff of craft shoppe about it; a bit too pretty. Christine's pleasantly surprised me; I didn't think her flowers idea would work with raku. Miles's was a shitshow. He had to go.

[quote SoupDragon]This (long!) article is about last year's Raku week. They are all simply beautiful. You'll need to scroll to the end!

ariadnereviews.com/2021/02/01/pottery-throwdown-2021-episode-4-a-perfect-union-of-man-and-budgie/[/quote]
Last year I would cheerfully have bought any of them, but not so keen on this year's.

Lucinda's about the only one that appealed greatly this year, it was stunning - I could have cried for her when those lugs popped off.

I’m going to go against the flow and say that having reminded myself of the finished items in raku week from the last series from Soup’s link, I think they looked a bit samey. This year the finished sets looked much more like what I would like of as traditional raku pieces.
I love raku.

Garden gnomes tonight! I'm quite looking forward to these - they should be fun. This group have been quite good at the "characterful" challenges this year.

Evening potters

Whose Gnome hits the floor with a Splat

Their gnomes all have to have beards? No female gnomes, or did I misunderstand the instructions?

@sweepthenmop

Their gnomes all have to have beards? No female gnomes, or did I misunderstand the instructions?

Maybe female gnomes have beards too. Like dwarves.

I missed the intro sweep, so dont know the answer to that one i'm afraid..

I have a beard in a certain light, so a Gnome-ess of a certain age can have beards!

AJ’s Horror Gnomes

Evening! I actually remembered about this tonight!

I warmed to Tom last week but now I think he is a bit of a silly knob again.

Wondering the same thing , sweepthenmop, very gender conformist.I am lightheartedly wondering what femal gnomes I'd do if I had any talent. Classic British female comics would look great in a garden: Vicoria Wood, Joce Grenfell and Margaret Rutherford, beards optional.