Two Day 'Staffordshire Flatbacks' Pottery Course

Learn how to hand-build traditional style Flatback ceramics as you find inspiration in these humble folk-art pieces. Explore a range of…

Learn how to hand-build traditional style Flatback ceramics as you find inspiration in these humble folk-art pieces. Explore a range of decorative and making skills and create a personal narrative.

This course is an opportunity to explore the traditional Staffordshire Flatback mantlepiece figure and create Flatbacks with your own narrative. By the end of the course you will have gained an understanding of the history of the Flatback as well as experience of traditional skills, such as: sprigging, granulation, impressing, pinching, coiling techniques and multi-hued underglaze painting on greenware.
Rose will explore why this much-overlooked folk-art object was a powerful medium for our collective social history.
Complete beginners are welcome and will be appropriately supported. Students with experience will be able to create more complex work. Students can create either a single or pair of Flatbacks to be fired, and glazed with transparent glaze by Rose, to be ready for collection on Monday 23rd December.
What students need to bring:

Please bring any personal small textured items to embellish your narrative. These could include non-precious jewellery, natural found objects; shells, leaves or domestic items; buttons, lace etc.