The current landform series that I am working on is based on interpreting the interlocking and overlapping of colors and textures that we see in our landscape. The pots come in a range of sizes.
    I first prepare a number of slabs with a slab roller. I use paper clay, which is produce by our own clay company. There is 5% of paper added to a white low fired stoneware body, which is fired to 1200℃. I use paper clay because it has properties of good adhesiveness at joining and its flexibility allows me to manipulate and join the pieces at will.
    Once I have a number of slabs made I leave them to dry to soft leather hard. When they are ready I color each Slab to suit the colors and textures I need for the landforms. I may prepare one with an overall wash base. I will prepare a black slab and the others such as a wavy blue to represent water images, a randomly texture green for forest and so on. Sometimes I use clay decorated with sponge patterns. I then leave these for the colors to dry .
    To give the piece a sense of suspension or lift I cut a slab of colored clay into an oval for a base and then place this in concave mould.
    Now I cut portions of colored slab eg a blue portion or a green grassy trip and join it to the base with a little water. Gradually I build up the picture adding sections to the base and each other. Sometimes I leave holes in the wall. The cut sections depict the interaction of plains, roads, valleys, lines of trees, shadows and the perspective of the landscape. When I join two sections together I press them firmly and then later when the wetness has gone from the  join I paddle the two surfaces together without smuggling the colors. I want to maintain the sharp boundary between the colors, but for it to be a smooth join to the touch. I run a small bead of clay on the inside of the pot behind the join to assist with the union
    I usually insert areas of uncolored clay that can be decorated or textured later using techniques of masking, fine lining or texturing. I find this helps to emphasis a perspective point.
    On the rim I add a small sausage of clay, which helps join all the slab sections. I use this rim to give the effect of some feature of the landscape such as a rock quarry, trees of sheep on a ridgeline.
    I then add final details to the work, sometimes using a pattern wheel to make dotted lines that add definition to areas. These are like fences and boundaries marking changes of use ,crop ,ownership etc. Now I press some clay from the base onto the wall of pt with a spatula to firm the construction and to give a sense of stability and grounding to the piece . The inside of the work is then painted with black stain being careful to leave the rim white.
    The work is bisque fire to 920℃ and then glaze fired to 1200℃ in an electric kiln.