A new development

wendydiamond20
Oct 3, 2022
1 min read

Updated: Oct 31, 2022

Poised to start week 2 of the Neuro fitness programme, I have been hit my another bus. - or so it feels.

In my restless determination to prove to myself I can still work like a thirty year old, I rather foolishly embarked on the removal of a buddleia bush in the vegetable garden. The gardeners had visited the site during the week and cut it down to ground level ,but if I were to use the land for fruit or move the existing raised beds from one side of the garden to the other, the root would have to come out.

Well, my body overstayed its welcome; once I discovered large pieces of raw teracotta clay I became so excited, that time and reason went out of the window; sitting in the grass, chipping away at the earth with a fork and trowel ( which incidentally, no longer look like either) When I finally tried to stand I could not. Andrew and Sallyanne, our new neighbours at the Canon's House, managed to get me, bit my bit, and finally in a wheelchair, back up to the house and on to a settee. Sallyanne has medical training and expressed concern that my heart rate was not dropping as it should. After phone calls to 111 and 999, Cherry who had been recalled from a conference in Mid Wales, took me to A & E. It was confirmed that I had experienced a heart attack and tomorrow, I am due to have an angiogram to access the situation.

It is unlikely I shall be able to throw for a bit.........

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Realising a Dream..

This is me. Setting out on my journey as a hobbyist potter.

Pottery was an ‘add on’ O level course when I was at school, only offered in the sixth form. In to studying Music and RE to A level, I embarked on pottery ‘O’ level as a bit of light relief. I loved it although I was never particularly good at it. I made a few pots, mainly handbuilding using slabbing and coiling but didn’t really learn much.

What I wanted to do more than anything was throw on the wheel – the school did have a wheel but no one was allowed near it unless they knew what they were doing… an interesting approach to the process of acquiring skill methinks. I do have one of my very first pots – rather crude really, but its mine, with my initials ‘scrauped’ on the base. Over the intervening years, of which there were many, I watched the art of throwing from a distance, always hoping that one day it would happen.

We had bought our little cottage in Halifax in 2009. Six years later the adjoining house became available so we set about creating a home by combining the two halves. The ‘under-dwelling’, a feature of a number of houses in that area of West Yorkshire was a real gem; we converted into a pottery studio for me and there began my journey. I enrolled on a course in Springhead. Oldham and my amazingly talented pottery teacher, Sue Devine gave me one-to-one tuition in throwing. I bought a pottery wheel and was given a small kiln. My journey had begun – 40 years later!

Twelve month ago, my partner and I moved to Newport in South Wales. I am most fortunate have a pottery studio here. Why Andante Ceramics? Well, I work slowly, I go with the flow, I create no deadlines for my self. My world of clay is completely self-asbsorbing and tomorrow, if I am fortunate to have one, is another day.

My media pages give a flavour of what I do and my blog documents my thoughts as I journey through the wonderful world of pottery and ceramics. I wont sell any of my work but I delight in making pieces specifically for friends; I love the challenge that creating bespoke pieces bring. If you would like me to make something special do please ask.

Wendy Diamond

A new development

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