From the purple dyeshed...

For ages I have been meaning to go into our local pottery, Highland Stoneware, and spend time chatting to those who work there and having a proper look at how they work.  I had a couple of hours free this afternoon, so I arrived, unannounced, and Dorell was happy to stop what she was doing to show me around - so thank you Dorell.



I have known about Highland Stoneware ever since we first started visiting this area back in the early 1990's.  Their style is distinctive.   All their pieces are hand made and hand painted in either the Lochinver or the Ullapool workshops.  The company was started in 1974 by David Grant and is one of the largest employers in this area, employing 18 people in their Lochinver branch, and a further 5 in their Ullapool branch.

The whole process begins with clay, which the pottery mixes themselves to their own specification.  Once mixed it gets put into a concertina style machine where much of the water is squeezed out, after which it passes through a machine which forms it into extrusions which is what the potters work with:



Some of the pots are hand thrown, such as these large storage pots:



Whereas other items are moulded:

[caption id="attachment_6990" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Plate Moulds[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_6991" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Handle Mould[/caption]

The next stage is the items go over to Susie who checks them over, adds handles to those which need handles, and does some smoothing before they go into the drying room.



Dorell was explaining that throughout the whole drying and firing process each item was expected to shrink a certain amount, and being an awful journalist I've forgotten the percentage she said, but this photo gives you a good idea of what I'm talking about - the before and after sizes of the mugs produced:



The items then move over to the decorators for their steady hand and skilled drawing.



This one looks like it is destined to be a Christmas turkey platter:



Once painted and slipped they then move to the kiln, a huge structure in the centre of the building:



Once out of the kiln the kitchenware travels all over the world.  One of my favourite patterns which they do is the machair pattern:



 

And I love the delicate and intricate colours in this scallop shell illustration:



They also make some large tile works of art for putting on your wall, or behind the aga in kitchens.  My favourite was this one of field mice:



I also got a sneaky peek at one of their newer designs - which, of course, gained my full approval because of their colour choices:



2014 will be the 40th anniversary of this local firm.  I hope there will be a huge celebration.  I have more to show you, but I'm saving that for Part Two.