October 2025
OCTOBER 2025 | ISSUE #061
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Hello Potters
From the President
The club is thrilled to have been selected as one of the 52 recipients of the 2025 Kedron Wavell Community Grants program. The $5000 grant will be allocated to replacing the kiln shelves with new ones that are lighter, stronger, and more sustainable. This upgrade is intended to support the work of the kiln team, which is essential to the club's operations.
The highlight of the year for the club is the Creative Trail, held over the last two weekends of October. There are still a couple of volunteering spaces left so jump on Helloclub to sign up today.
The Creative Trail brochures are hot off the press; you will find copies in the studio and in prominent places around the town. This year there is also an app to help you plan your trail. Check out SasArts Facebook page and website for all the details on the artists and artspaces you can visit on those weekends.
The studio is excited to be presenting a number of workshops during the trail. From mugs to platters there is lots for you to try – no experience necessary! See our website for session times and booking details.
workshops — Shorncliffe Pottery Club Incorporated Brisbane
Happy potting
Suzanne
October
11th – Cleaning Bee (volunteer opportunities)
12th – Green Man/Woman workshop
13th - Plinth Painting (volunteer opportunities)
17th – Mug and textured plate workshop – open to the public
18th and 19th – Beginners wheel workshop - open to the public
19th – Mega mug workshop - open to the public
18th and 19th - Creative trail weekend #1 (sales and volunteer opportunities)
25th and 26th – Beginners wheel workshop – open to the public
25th and 26th - Creative trail weekend #2 (sales and volunteer opportunities)
26th – Platter workshop - open to the public
November
22nd and 23rd - Sunshine Coast Art+Design Fair
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CLEANING BEE
11th October
Please join us at the club from 1pm to 4pm for a cleaning bee to prepare the studio for our annual creative trail. Various activities included so there will be a job to suit your talents
Thanks
SPC
When
Saturday 11 October 13:00 – 16:00
Where
Shorncliffe Pottery Club Inc
SIGN UP HERE
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Plinth Painting
Hello
We are looking for a small team of volunteers to move the plinths outside and refresh them with a new coat of paint. Monday 13th October from 10 am to 2pm. Come prepared with painting clothes and a sun hat.
Thanks
When
Monday 13 October 10:00 – 14:00
Where
Shorncliffe Pottery Club Inc
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Congratulations to the Grant Application team in securing a cheque for $5000 in the recent Community Grants Program. This will come in handy to replace the heavy Cordierite Mullite kiln shelves with new lightweight silicon ones. I think the kiln team will be very relieved.
Silicon Kiln Shelves
Nitrogen Bonded Silicon Carbide (NBSiC) kiln shelves are the gold standard in kiln shelves. Here’s why.
Key Properties:
Rated to 1450°C
Strong
Lightweight
Thin
Won't sag or warp
Kiln Wash not required
Things to note:
They will short circuit elements on contact
They can be brittle, so handle with care
Can't be cut to shape, may need to be made to order
Kiln wash can stain the shelves
If the shelves are fired when wet, this will likely result in cracking
Silicon Carbide shelves can absorb water and just like a damp pot being bisque fired, crack or explode. Never leave them in a damp or humid environment or on a floor where they may wick up water.
Green Man or Woman Workshop
Come along to learn how to sculpt a wall plaque Green man or woman.
Facilitator Lyn Woodbridge is a ceramic artist and teacher based on the Gold Coast Hinterland.
All levels of experience invited as Lyn will take you through a demonstration and provide hands on help.
When
Sunday 12 October 09:00 – 16:00
Where
Shorncliffe Pottery Club Inc
Here’s the link to helloClub to book
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Mug and Textured Plate Workshop
open to the public
17th October
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Beginners Wheel Workshop
open to the public
18th and 19th October
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Mega Mug Workshop
open to the public
19th October
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Beginners Wheel Workshop
open to the public
25th and 26th October
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Platter Workshop
open to the public
26th October
Here is the map of this year’s Creative Trail from SAS. 23 studios will be open across the two weekends. So why not spend some time in your neighbourhood and explore what the art’s scene is really like in 4017. Full details are on their website. more information
Georgia Furniss - Wild Lyf - winner People’s Choice Swell Smalls Gallery
Swell Sculpture Festival 2025
The 2025 Swell Sculpture Festival concluded in mid September. As usual there were a lot of ceramic sculptures created as Marquettes for the final sculptural version. Below are the highlights of the smalls exhibition featuring of course Monte Lupo’s “The Shanty Men”. The extra large banksia vase was also of special note as was the People’s Choice Winner “Wild Lyf”.
click on an image to view larger
Current Clay in Stock
We have a large range of clay in stock, all at great prices. Just ask your supervisor next time you are down at the pottery shed.
Blackwattle White Raku Paper
Blackwattle Earthenware White
Blackwattle Stoneware Paper Clay
Clayworks Yellow Stoneware YG
Clayworks Yellow Stoneware YG Speckle
Feeny’s Buff Raku Trachyte
Feeny’s Buff Raku Sandy BRS
Feeny’s Red Raku
Feeny’s Fine Blend FFB
Feeny’s School Earthenware Stoneware White SES
Feeny’s Raku Gold RG
Keane’s Stoneware KC575
Keane’s White Raku KC585
Keane’s Mid Fire Black KC633
Keane’s Ironstone KC535
Keane’s Dark Matter KC638
Keane’s Ceramic White
Keane’s White Earthenware 37
Northcote Cone 6 White
Northcote Granite
Northcote Sculptural Fine
Walker’s Fine White Stoneware PB10
Walker’s Fine White Stoneware PB103
And don’t forget, we now stock
a large range of glazes to buy.
We have popped all of the published tips, hacks and techniques onto the ‘Tips’ page on our club website so that you can search for them easily.
How to Make an Underglaze Pencil
To make underglaze pencils and pastels, use a porcelain-type slip with 50 percent white firing ball clay or plastic kaolin. For dry strength in the green state, 3 percent macaloid or 5 percent bentonite should be added.
The materials, including colorants, should be dry sieved through an 80-mesh screen to ensure thorough blending. For color, you can use mineral oxides, carbonates, and prepared stains. A variety of combinations will produce a wide range of colors, although it’s important to select colorants that won’t burn out at high temperatures; not many will, but cadmium/selenium and potassium dichromate are likely to do so. The amount of colorant can be up to 15 percent. More than that will cause loss of plasticity in the raw state, making it difficult to form the pencils. The more colorant used, the more intense the color.
Mix the dry materials with approximately 45 percent water, to which 1 percent of sodium silicate per 100 grams of dry material mix has been added. This will slightly deflocculate the slip, giving additional green strength while also intensifying some of the colorants.
Form the pencils by drying the colored slip to a plastic state, and then either rolling out coils or extruding lengths of the desired thickness. These then can be left as pencil lengths or cut into shorter 5 - 6 cm lengths. When dry, fire the pencils to between 800°C and 950°C, depending on the desired hardness. A lower firing will produce softer “lead”; higher firing, harder “lead”. The short lengths can be placed in a claw grip drafting pencil (the Koh-I-Noor No. 48 drafting pencil can hold leads up to 5 - 6 mm in diameter.
Pastels normally are used from the greenware state and are not prefired unless they disintegrate with use.
excerpt courtesy of Robin Hopper
Our Committee
President: Suzanne Bell
Vice President: Melina Wales
Treasurer: Sandra Roveda
Secretary: Laura Ogden
Committee Members:
Rebecca Mason, Steve McConnell, Kylie Smith
Newsletter Editor: Ed Trost
edtrost1961@gmail.com
email: shorncliffepotteryclubinc@gmail.com
follow us on
website + instagram + facebook
…Until next month…
HAPPY POTTING!
