Simon Melican

I started making ceramics in 1994 as I wanted to learn to throw. I have been hooked ever since. My work is quite diverse but the common factors are that it is still all thrown, mostly stoneware fired and reflects my ongoing interests in experimenting with new techniques, glaze ingredients and textures. 

Sgraffito My sgraffito pieces make use of a very matt black slip, which originated as a potential base for a synthetic wood ash glaze, over a white stoneware clay. The designs are generally linear and inspired by sources such as bamboo and in this case a drum from West Africa.

Splatter These are thrown from crank clays and I use various techniques to apply oxides of copper, chrome and manganese. I then use more techniques to apply the glazes in ways which will give rise to many different thicknesses. The interactions between the oxides and glazes give a range of different colours. 

Clouded Sky Blue Is a glaze that seems to be highly dependent on the clay, the thickness and firing temperature. Where thinnest the underlying clay burns through and with crank this gives an iron orange colour, slightly thicker it gives the sky blue and then where thicker the clouds start to emerge. 

Aqua The Aqua range are my latest focus. Again based around the black slip which contains manganese and cobalt with a white glaze applied over it. At sufficiently high temperatures the glaze reacts with the oxides in the slips to produce combinations of colours. To achieve this the glaze has to be applied thickly and fired sufficiently hot to give the effect but not so hot that the glaze runs or drips off the pots. These experiments are still a work in progress 

More examples of my work can be seen on Instagram