Grotesque Shop

These Martin Brothers inspired grotesques, are hand-cast in high fired stoneware.  Each piece is made from several mould castings these are then stuck together using a slip mixture.  Then the seams from the moulds are cleaned off, a process that can take hours.  The piece is then left to dry, it has to be completely dried before we can fire it to biscuit, if not it may crack.  After biscuit firing the figure is painted with coloured oxides by hand, these oxides change colour in the kiln.  It is then fired for a final time.  All the grotesques are cast and painted by Tracy Bentley and Dave Jones in our studio pottery in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, the heart of the Potteries.