Jan Bunyan studied French at Manchester University and only became a potter in her thirties. She set up her first studio in 1980 and moved to the pottery at Butlers Marston in Gloucester in 1992. She makes a range of strong practical oven- and tableware. The works are hand thrown in red earthenware and dipped in white slip before being decorated with freely applied coloured oxides and stains to give the quality of watercolour paint. The works are clear glazed and fired in an electric kiln to 1100ºC.

Glossary

  • Earthenware

    One of the three major types of pottery, the others being stoneware and porcelain. It is opaque, soft and porous unless covered completely with glaze. The firing temperatures can be low - 800ºC or high - 1200ºC, when it starts to vitrify, becoming stoneware.

  • Slip

    A mixture of clay and water mixed together to the consistency of single cream. Used with metal oxides to produce different colours for decoration and to dip pots for an overall coating. Slip can also be trailed, sponged, stencilled, poured and painted onto the pot; and for binding clay surfaces and casting.

  • Watercolour

    A paint composed of water-soluble pigment, which has been ground in gum, usually gum Arabic. When made opaque with white, watercolour is generally called gouache. Colours are usually applied and spread with brushes and water, but other tools can also be used. Most watercolour painting is done on paper, but other absorbent grounds can also be employed. The term also denotes a work of art executed in this medium.