Hello, there. It's Week Seven here in the pottery
and we still have seven potters remaining.
What's going on? It's madness. SHE LAUGHS
And this week they will be facing
a floral cha-challenge as... Oh.
Oh! Excuse me. Sorry.
This week, our potters w...
...w-w...
Ooh! Are you OK? Oh, yeah.
Thanks. It's just... um...
...these flowers are affecting my... my hay fever.
But these flowers are ceramic.
Mm? Yeah.
Welcome to The Great Pottery throw down!
Really? They look real.
FLOWER CLINKS Oh.
Last time...
Oh! ..the Potters took on a large-scale throwing challenge...
This is the biggest thing I've ever thrown.
Feel the fear.
...tackling terracotta tagines...
That's a nice loud-hailer.
It's good, innit? Yeah.
...and attempted to throw a chiminea
SHE GRUNTS
...in a fast-paced throw down.
SIOBHAN GASPS ...and in their hardest challenge yet,
Elham's decoration delighted the judges.
Absolutely brilliant.
...and none of the potters were sent home.
No-one! Oh, yeah. No-one.
This time... Flower power.
...it's petal to the metal...
This is nuts.
...as the potters hand-build ornamental flower posies...
Oh, God. Snap, snap, snap.
...and a special guest...
THEY ALL GASP Wow!
...brings a decorative spot test.
You really have done your own thing.
Who will blossom into life...?
It just looks absolutely amazing.
...and whose hopes...
Oh. ..will finally wilt?
Oh! Oh, no, no, no, no.
♪ ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYS
♪ In a spinning world of makers
♪ We're all in the room to make it
♪ So just start the fire
♪ Down to the wire Down to the wire... ♪
♪ I beg your pardon... ♪
It's Week Seven.
And with no-one sent home last time,
seven potters return for a floral challenge
that is their toughest test yet.
I'm back. SHE LAUGHS
I've been really looking forward to this challenge.
I've never actually made ceramic flowers before.
It feels lovely, getting Potter of the Week last week.
I'm just trying to take each week as it comes.
Anything can happen here.
It's literally just a roller coaster.
It'd be nice to be Potter of the Week.
It would be nice. I just want to impress the judges on
my making ability.
Do I have delicate hands? Maybe.
Considering there's probably two people going this week,
I feel very, very positive.
I'm good enough to smash a delicate hand build.
Not literally.
NAVEED LAUGHS ♪ I never promised you a rose garden...
♪ Along with the sunshine... ♪
Welcome back, potters.
Lovely to have you back, Emily, as well.
Oh, thanks!
For your Main Make Challenge this week,
the judges would like you to hand build
a floral posy and throw a vase to display it in.
Now, any advice for our lovely floral potters?
We'd like your posies to consist of at least four different flowers.
Your flowers need to be realistic and celebrate
the traditional ceramic posies that were made
for hundreds of years right here in Stoke-on-Trent.
However, we're looking for a modern take.
So you could even include some weird and wonderful blooms.
Keith? Your vase and your flowers will be fired separately
in the bisque firing
but in the gloss firing,
they'll be fired together to give us that one piece.
When you're throwing the vase, consider how it will
hold those stems to give us that elegant display.
But don't go too extravagant,
because it's the flowers that are the star of the show.
OK, potters.
You have been given six hours to make and refine your floral posy
and your time starts... now!
Potters, get potting!
Week Seven, ready to go.
We've got different elements again.
Loads of flower power.
Today's challenge may be testing
the potters' hand-building skills at serious volume,
but before a single flower can bloom into life...
...they need to hit the wheel.
I'm starting off with throwing the vase.
Try and not to make it too thick.
But I do need it sturdy enough to hold the weight.
Got to work quite quick.
It's never easy here, though.
Time creeps away.
KAYLEIGH LAUGHS
Rich, Week Seven.
And we've asked our potters this week to make flowers.
These ceramic posies might not be to everyone's taste.
Bit of a dust trap... but, you know. THEY LAUGH
Yeah. But you can't take away the skill involved.
We want these flowers to be kind of realistic.
They're using an earthenware clay
but it's got gum arabic added to it.
It will allow our potters to fashion really fine,
delicate elements.
And of course, delicate work means things breaking off.
So they have to really think
about how that clay is going to react in the kiln.
Perhaps making extras so that they've got the ability to adapt.
Now these flowers need
to be fairly stable... Yeah. ...and clay is heavy
so the vase size has to fit this bouquet of flowers.
Ultimately, how they sit within
the vase is dictated by the length of the stem. Yeah.
But equally, that stability is all going
to be about their choice of holder
in terms of how they configure the holes.
And I think it's going to be make or break, that holder.
Then we come to the decoration.
We want to see detail - this wonderful observation of the flower.
This is a very artistic challenge, but also a lot of very precise work.
It'll be interesting to see, come judging day,
who of our potters is going to end up
on the compost heap.
And, I guess, who'll be coming up
smelling of roses.
Well done, Rich.
Hi, lovey.
Hi... flower twins. Yay! It's all happening.
I really... Yeah, I know you really want one.
It's just a question of how it's going to stick in his hair. Oh, OK.
That's the only thing. All right!
Double-sided sticky tape.
Exactly.
So tell us about your design.
I'm basing my floral posy
on my wedding flowers.
OK. Fabulous.
So how are you composing everything?
I kind of want to build as I go.
Arrange as I build... Like flower arranging. Yeah, Yeah.
...because I want quite a tall arrangement.
Is that tall arrangement
the reason for your holder to be that profile?
Yeah. There's more of a risk of seeing that.
But I'm going to try and pack the bottom out with foliage.
I mean, there's a lot of fine pieces here.
Yeah. I'm just going to handle them very gently.
Reigning Potter of the Week Elham's posy
will brim with frosty charm
as a tribute to her winter wedding.
Pussy willow stalks will give height,
while red roses provide body,
sitting proud atop a tall, ribbed vase.
Did you have a theme for your wedding?
I just wanted it to have that warm, wintry feel...
What was your dress like?
Just, like, a white dress with a train.
Gorgeous. And then I had a little white riding hood to leave with.
Oh, lovely. With the sparklers.
And I just want to capture that sort of magical feeling
that we had on that day.
Tell me, how does it feel being Potter of the Week?
Have you got your sassy pants on?
No. Just a little bit more of a sense of...
...ooh.
Whilst Elham is looking to evoke winter's beauty,
Fynn's aiming to bring a touch of tropical heat.
I've chosen sort of tropical plants because I keep quite
a lot of them myself, with my frogs.
Some of the leaves are probably as decorative,
if not more decorative than some of the flowers.
I'm dedicating it to Maddie, my stepdaughter,
as it will be some plants
that she can't forget to water and neglect.
Nestled among large tropical leaves,
bright yellow bromeliad and pink and purple hibiscus
will take centre stage in Finn's arrangement.
And to honour the skill of embroidery
passed down from his mother,
he's adorning his vase with
decorative stitching detail.
How are you going about making the actual flowers?
I'll cut a few shapes out
and then I've also made these out of silicone.
OK. Nice! So I've just pressed...
Yeah, lovely. ..some leaves just so I can get some of the veins...
Have you got an arrangement in mind?
I'll probably end up doing bigger ones in the middle,
because the bromeliads are going to be on quite a thick stem.
They may actually help support and give that extra integrity as well.
OK, great. Sounds interesting, yeah. Good luck.
Thank you.
It looks like one of those pots that you put ashes in.
I might get a job in a funeral place.
I could slab build some gravestones.
Too far. Stop it.
With a vase, a flower holder
and a mass of hand-built flowers to construct,
the deceptively simple posy
demands more individual pieces
than any challenge the potters
have tackled before...
More function over style, really,
I think, with the vase this week.
...meaning pace is paramount on the wheel.
It could be a little bit wider but
I'm happy with the way it is.
And the bigger the vase the potters throw,
the greater the bouquet
it may be able to hold...
I mean, it's quite a traditional shape.
...but the more flowers they'll need to fill it.
The vase is probably a little bit smaller
than some that I've seen go past,
but I want to make it the same sort of size as a cabbage.
Just making the
Savoy cabbage leaves
to put on the vase.
Naveed's posy will celebrate
the beautiful bounty of
his father's allotment
and the flowers that grow alongside vegetation.
A Savoy cabbage-shaped vase
will hold artichoke, courgette and chive blossoms.
My dad, he had two allotments.
And it was the '80s and he was made redundant.
I didn't even know.
And he was just going out every day
at 7:30, 8:00 in the morning, coming back at 5:00pm.
And I thought he was going to work,
but he needed to do it for his mental health... Yeah. Wow.
...and also to make veg... Feed you. ..feed us, as well.
So... It's like The Good Life. Yeah. And then similarly,
I got the keys for my allotment
and it really helped, got us through lockdown... Yeah, I bet it did.
It's lovely how gardening is kind of passed on through
the generations... Yeah. ...and it becomes a really beautiful,
nostalgic kind of thing. Yeah, absolutely.
This is cavolo nero,
which was my experiment.
For some greenery, I've added...
Wow. Lovely.
They're all quite substantial objects in their own right.
What will go in between them, then?
I'll just have to do about 400 chives, I think.
Yes. Naveed may be celebrating the flowers that nourish
but Kayleigh is hoping to capture blooms of a more medicinal nature.
I've chosen flowers
that are kind of a healing type of flower.
Like the dandelion.
That's used to make teas for, like, supporting kidneys.
Daffodil as well,
which help with Alzheimer's disease.
I just love that you can walk past and appreciate flowers,
but they're not just beautiful,
they can have other properties to them.
A gentle remedy brought to life in flowers,
Kayleigh's posy prescribes
a soothing dose of chamomile,
lungwort leaf and
bright yellow daffodil,
all arranged in a short vase
decorated with tiny pills and bottles
of conventional medicine.
I've got my dandelion.
So that's used quite a lot for, like, herbal teas.
Wetting the bed.
Herbal teas, yes. What else?
Foxgloves - used for, like,
heart kind of medicine.
I don't advise picking things like that.
They're poisonous. Yeah.
Have you eaten any? I just need to make a quick call to my brother.
May have explained a few things.
But... Oh, OK.
I'm just throwing the holder.
The holder sits in the mouth of the vase
and helps stabilise the flower arrangement.
I don't want it too thin
because I don't want it to crack.
So I've made it so it can go
either curved on the top
or curved underneath
and it'll have holes in it
so that I can put all the flowers
and start the foundation.
But before it can be pierced to perfection...
I'm gonna put these into the drying room,
keep an eye on them, because they won't need very long.
...it needs to firm up.
Second one down.
It's finally springtime
for the flowers.
And to help the potters hand build
a profusion of delicate petals, leaves and stems...
Feels very plasticky.
...they'll be working with
an unusual clay mixture.
This is the earthenware gum arabic mix.
It's quite sticky
but you can make it quite thin.
It's like playing with chewing gum.
Can't really blow bubbles with it, though.
It's making it super strong.
I've seen ones that have been bisqued
and being dropped from like this high
onto the floor, and they were OK.
Oh, I can't wait to try that. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Fantastic. Please, not with mine...
I just want to get as much as I can get made.
Production mode now.
While most are turning to sprigs
to quickly impart texture in the clay
on a bulk scale.
Make sure the outside leaf is fully patterned...
...so much to do. NAVEED CHUCKLES
Bill's attempting to fill his vase
with a more personal touch.
I've set myself a bit of a challenge
to make everything without a sprig mould.
That's the plan
and hopefully the judges can see
that it's all going to be handmade, all one-offs.
Bill is planning to give permanence
to flowers that usually wilt
too quickly to be displayed.
A squat vase will house delicate poppies,
dandelions and bluebells.
You're the only person here
who hasn't any sprigs.
That makes you cool, I think.
Does it?
Cool or stupid. I'm not quite sure.
Yeah, I like a bit of a challenge. Are you...? I know!
The gum... Yeah. ..takes the water out of the clay
so then it dries even quicker.
Oh, my God. You really do have to work quick.
Yeah. Why am I talking to you? Get back to work.
Potters! Halfway through.
You're halfway through, potters.
Hey, Siobhan. Hey.
All right?
Your dress is lovely. Thank you very much.
So are you. Thank you.
Do we get an extra hour?
No. OK.
The judges are demanding bouquets
bursting with botanical realism.
My daisies look terrible, but...
...it is what it is. We're going with it.
And as flowers are such familiar forms...
So this is my dandelion.
...any inaccurate sculpting could leave
a potter's hopes wilting on the spot.
A little bit cartoonish, but I think they work.
After these are done, I've got to do daisies,
which are even more complicated.
Foxgloves are so pretty,
and they're so magical when they pop up.
Out in the real world, I'm an ecologist
and I spend a lot of time looking at plants.
When it comes to accuracy, Emily has a head start.
Ceramic flowers that I've seen before and they're, like,
not very scientifically accurate
and it rubs me up the wrong way, I think.
Emily's aiming for maximum authenticity
with her showcase of the meadow
wildflowers she's reintroduced
to her garden
in the Scottish Highlands.
And as a guide, she's referencing
a book from her family's archive.
My husband's granny was the first one to live where we now live
and she wrote a book called A Garden In The Hills,
all about what they were doing in the garden. This is about...
What an amazing thing, to have that archive.
Yes. How are you going about making all these flowers?
Foxglove is my main thing.
I'm making, like, the stem... OK.
...and then the main bells, I'm doing separately on their own
with little hooks on them... You're attaching them? Right.
Ah. ..so they sit into little hoops on the main stem.
Fantastic. I mean, it looks like quite a tall posy.
You've got quite a lot of work to do in the flowers.
Yeah. Brilliant. Hope it all works out for you.
Thank you! Cheers.
And Emily isn't the only potter
who's taking inspiration from past generations.
So the name of it is
The Gate At The End Of The Lane.
And it's based on the flowers that my gran had in her garden.
And it's for my sister,
cos my gran used to always take photographs
of my sister in front of her flowers.
Angharad's posy takes a journey
from her childhood home
to the nearby beach.
Composed of the garden and hedgerow flowers
she would gather along the way,
her vase will be adorned
with a hand-painted cow,
a familiar sight in the local fields.
We lived on a farm, which...
Our fields overlooked the sea... Uh-huh?
...and so we could walk through our neighbours' garden
to get down to the beach.
And he had fields full of buttercups. Oh!
So it's kind of... It's all based... Did you do the thing with buttercup,
if you like butter? You have to! Because otherwise you don't
know if you like butter.
Well, exactly. And I can never trust somebody...
Show me the buttercup. Exactly.
I've not gotten as far with this as I would have
hoped to by this point.
I guess I'm a perfectionist with the things I really care about,
and scientifically accurate flowers is something I do care about.
Potters, that's one hour left.
One hour left.
Oh, hi, Siobhan.
One hour.
With the thrown elements sufficiently dry...
We're all good. ..the potters must pause piling up petals
to map out their bouquet on the holder.
So I'm just making sure the holes are big around the outside,
and then I'll go smaller in the centre.
The position of the holes will impact how
the flower stems can be arranged in the vase.
Holy Moley! This is quite crucial, actually.
This has to be in the right way,
or it will be a balancing act with no safety net.
And any mistakes they make at this point will be
locked in place when the holder hits the kiln.
Just kind of make as many as I can without knackering up
the structural integrity of this.
Might make these a little bit bigger, and we're good.
I think the enormity of this challenge
is slowly dawning on many of our potters.
I guess they're getting more of an idea
of what they need to fill their vases. Yeah.
And to make that lovely statement piece that we're looking for.
I think Emily has got some quite nice, delicate work. Right.
I just hope that there's enough.
It doesn't seem like a large quantity at the moment.
I mean, I'm not going to have a huge number of anything,
but I'm just going to shove loads of foxglove leaves.
Shove loads of foxglove leaves.
Whereas Kayleigh, her flowers,
they look fairly robust,
so you'd be able to sit them on top of each other.
Yeah. I went past Naveed's,
and some of his cabbages are looking...
...staggeringly beautiful. Yeah.
I'm just concerned he's got a lot of big elements.
I don't know what he's going to use
to kind of fill that whole posey out. Yeah, yeah.
I started doing the bluebells.
Bill's getting on OK,
but the flowers, they were quite small and delicate.
This is going to take me a while. Really is a numbers game now.
They want a lot of volume.
Potters, you're nearly there.
Half an hour left.
Keep making those leaves, those blossoms,
those flowers, those cabbages.
How is there only half an hour left?
I've got more holes in that than I have actual things to put in it!
With the finish line fast approaching...
Time is just ticking and flying away.
...it's crucial the potters keep their momentum in full bloom.
Back in the day, there would be a whole production line.
With such fragile pieces,
the bisque firing could prune their efforts without warning...
They'd have to make so many per minute.
It's incredible how they did it.
...so they're going to need all the flowers they can get.
Any amount I think I could make in this time,
it would be really nice to be able to double it.
I hope I don't get any snapped stems
because I think they're a little bit on the skinny side.
Buttercups now.
Oh!
Potters, five minutes left. One final push.
Right, this is going to be my last one.
I hope the flowers are realistic enough.
Don't bend!
Potters, everything needs to be in the drying room.
Lovely. Gorgeous stuff.
Ooh! Hello!
Behold the cabbage!
Oh, God! I've got to transfer so much.
One minute left, potters, final minute.
I've got one more!
This is too stressful. Elham, do you want a hand?
Now, just the amount of stuff they've made.
Guys, well done.
Coming in.
Five, four, three, two...
...one! Well done, well done, well done!
Wow. Yay!
Oh... Wow.
Well done, everybody. Well done, everyone.
Oh!
That was intense, but fun. Cavolo nero went well.
I don't know if I've got enough,, but I think that's probably
something that most people are worried about.
I hope I've gone for quality rather than quantity.
Little bit scarce on the flowers.
The bisque firing, I can deal with small cracks,
but big cracks is a bit of an issue.
But as long as I've got at least 90% of them, it's a win-win.
Yeah, that was fun.
I'm looking forward for the bisque being over
and becoming a florist and putting it
all together to make a beautiful posy, yeah.
♪ I'll keep working my way back to you, babe... ♪
Ooh! No wheels.
The potters are back to face their second challenge...
Oh.
I'm so intrigued.
...which, as ever, is yet to be revealed.
Welcome back, potters, to your second challenge.
And this week we have a very special judge joining us.
Please give a warm pottery welcome to Jo Taylor.
Hey. Oh!
Hello. Hello. Hello.
It is so wonderful to have you here. Thank you very much.
Jo Taylor is an award-winning ceramic artist
who specialises in hand-building, thrown and sprigging techniques
to create expressive sculptural vessels.
Her swift mark-making methods shape natural forms
that bring a sense of flow and movement to each piece.
Ooh! Wow! Gorgeous.
The challenge this week is to embellish a pot.
Wow. The first piece I'm going to make is a leaf form.
I'm pushing the clay onto this former here.
Really push that down.
And then, using your fingers with the water, make a pattern.
Isn't it amazing? It's so cool.
And I'm tidying up any kind of messy bits with the brush,
just so that I've got it as neat as I can do.
Once I've done that, go round it with a knife.
And then I'm just going to leave it to dry a little bit
while I make some more.
Is it always important to cut it with a knife first
before leaving it? Yeah. I've learned the hard way.
Haven't we all, lovie? Yeah!
I like getting a big piece and then adding a small piece,
and you can start to build up. Oh.
It's playing, really, isn't it?
When it's had a couple of minutes to dry,
it will pop off really easily.
Just like that.
And when you come to join things on,
slip and score, as you would join a handle to a mug.
And then get it really nice and smooth all around the edges.
What I'm looking for in this task is originality,
expressiveness and, finally, neatness and a good level of finish.
So I will be looking at the edges,
because you don't want it to be too thin or too sharp.
And are you looking for the whole pot to be covered?
It's entirely up to you how you use the technique
and apply your own creativity.
Thank you very, very much.
Right, back to your benches, potters.
This is going to be judged blind, so you know what that means.
Get out of here.
Good luck, everyone.
We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Cheers. Bye.
Potters, you have been given an hour to embellish your pots.
Ooh!
You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you.
And your time starts now.
Remove the Hessian!
Embellish! Embellish!
Oh. I'm so excited for this one.
I do like joining things together in sprig form,
so this is a really lovely and unique way of doing it.
I don't know how I'm going to get on with this one.
It's very much out of my comfort zone.
I've never done this before,
so it's completely uncharted territory.
Just make something
that doesn't look terrible, is the vibe I'm going for.
I'm just going to do like a load of leaves, I think.
This is the design that I want to do.
Make the pieces follow that sort of trail around.
I've got a rough design that I want.
Share it. I won't tell anyone.
It's faded away now. I made it here.
In water? Yep. Yeah.
Your cunning plans that have... dried into the table.
I'm building up some filigree designs with, like, oak leaves.
William Morris sort of thing.
I don't know how she did it so beautifully.
That's quite nice, actually.
I've got the fleur-de-lis in my head.
So, you know, they've got these round, spiky bits.
I'm sorry, France, if you see this.
I have no plan. No plan - great.
And... I like you with no plan. SHE CHUCKLES
You're cheeky, but I like it.
It needs to be original. So just being brave to make marks.
I definitely think I'm expressing myself.
Expressing myself in a very panicked way,
but I'm doing it. HE LAUGHS
Eugh, this is really hard. Is it?
What's hard about it?
Just making it look like... Just not that.
That looks brilliant. Thank you, Siobhan.
Can you judge it? SHE LAUGHS
Oh, I'm judging all the time.
THEY LAUGH
I want to create this kind of organic, gentle movement,
but I won't really know until I start putting it together.
Potters, you're halfway through.
Whoa! Halfway?
Whoa!
THEY LAUGH
That is a joke, isn't it?
Jeez, Louise!
Getting a better idea of how to make some slightly more flowy forms.
They were all a bit stilted at the beginning.
I'm going to make another two leaves and I'll start assembling it.
I'm going to start applying.
She was looking for originality, expressiveness.
Can't imagine she'll like it if it's plain.
Getting that first piece down,
it sets up how the rest will flow around the pot.
I'm not aiming to cover it all.
I'm just sort of building up layers as I go along, I think.
Yeehaw! Don't look too closely.
It's a bit messy.
Do you remember that footage of when they drew an ear on a mouse?
Potters, you have 15 minutes left.
I'm going to start sticking on. SHE LAUGHS
I decided to break out from the pot edge a little bit.
It's depicting a little walk along the coast.
Quite poetic, isn't it? HE LAUGHS
Ah!
Did you cut a hole in it? Yeah. Am I allowed?
Yeah, you can do whatever you want.
It looks like a tropical fruit. Yeah! Something, doesn't it?
A fruit salad.
You really have done your own thing.
SHE LAUGHS
HE LAUGHS
I'm hoping that when they go together,
it's going to give more flow and flourish.
Oh, aren't you a clever lady?
Don't know. Am I?
The brush is just smoothing out those lines.
She said she wants it to be tidy.
It's amazing how she can achieve such a smooth look.
I don't know whether mine will be anything like it.
Finish is important. It's not good, though.
Five minutes left.
SHE GASPS No!
Oh, my goodness.
I've gone round the edges. Blend is your friend.
This is so satisfying. I could spend all afternoon doing this.
Final minute.
Argh!
She wanted originality, and she's definitely got that out of me.
These last bits are far from perfect,
but hopefully they'll be enough.
So I'm not going to give neat edges,
but that's just the way it's going to be.
It's just been really, really hard.
Oh... This has been a disaster.
HE LAUGHS
I just want to carry on. I don't want to blooming stop.
Hah!
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.
That's it, potters. Step away from your benches.
Well done. All right, bring your embellished vessels
up to your ware boards.
Jo will now judge the potters' decorative plant pots.
Everyone's is so neat. Mine's really rough.
Fantastic. This is not going to be easy.
SHE LAUGHS
She's looking for originality, expressiveness,
and quality of finish, with smooth edges.
This is really imaginative, going right over the rim
and cutting holes and going through.
The only thing I'm slightly concerned about is the sharpness
if something was fired.
And the definition's not quite there.
Next one... There's a really
nice composition coming through there.
Some of the edges are very thin.
And when that's fired, that would be pretty sharp. Right.
Is that something that you're really conscious of
when you're making your pots?
Yes, because you don't want to injure people with your work.
OK.
Here's another one that's gone through and in and out.
And these marks are really interesting.
They're like bunches of grapes.
Again, we've got sharp bits.
Let's have a look at this one.
That's very nicely finished off. Oh, yeah.
It's nice and smooth. Not a sharp edge in sight. No.
There's a very nice flow to this one. Yeah.
It kind of seems to all be emerging and kind of swooping round.
The only thing we don't have is full coverage.
Next one.
This is quite original but isn't completely blended.
It could have just done with a little bit more finishing off,
couldn't it? Yeah.
This one.
I really like this motif and leaf here.
A mo-leaf. SHE LAUGHS
There's a really nice composition there -
how everything springs from one source.
Last but not least... Oh, that's really expressive,
how the decoration starts from right inside
the pot and then comes all the way around.
Some of the marks there, it needs to be a little bit crisper,
but I like the way it comes out at you.
They've done a fantastic job. They really have.
Now Jo will rank the potters from worst to first.
So, in seventh place... Ah, Naveed.
Unfortunately, the definition of some of the marks
and the sharpness would give me a concern
putting it through the kiln.
In sixth place...
Oh, Emily. I really liked what you'd done with the composition.
Just sometimes the definition and the thinness
and the sharp bits worried me.
Bill is fifth, Elham fourth,
and Finn takes third.
In second place... Ah, Angharad.
Well done. It was the composition that really stood out with this one,
and how you combine the leaves with the flourishes
to kind of spring forwards.
Oh, thank you. Well done.
And in first place...
Kayleigh!
SHE CHUCKLES
It's just beautifully finished. So defined.
And the way that composition flows, it's really lovely and clear.
Thank you so much. Well done, Kayleigh.
That was tough. Everybody's done a really amazing job.
Thank you, Jo, so much.
A great honour to have you here. My pleasure. Thank you.
And well done, everybody else.
Potters, dismissed.
Oh, my God! Number one!
SHE SQUEALS How did that happen?
Hey!
It feels so good to be top of the class for a spot challenge.
It was worth the wait.
Oh... Oh.
Someone has to come bottom.
I am concerned, obviously, about my flower arrangement
and, you know, it could all go wrong.
I did my best.
I'm not sure if my main make is going to have enough of an impact,
but we'll see.
♪ Why do you build me up... ♪
It's day two and, after the bisque firing,
Princess is laying out all the parts of the posies,
ready for decoration and assembly.
♪ Baby, when you say you will... ♪
But the potters won't know what survived the heat of the kiln
until they lift the hessian.
I didn't sleep that well.
I was worried that my cabbage leaves were going to fall off.
I know roughly what I'm doing. It'll just depend on what survived
and how all the stalks are on them and the stems.
I'm also sort of concerned about the dome shape that holds it all up.
If that's in two bits or three bits,
it's going to be a bit of an issue to put back together.
I really hope this comes together nicely
cos I really don't like it when they look wrong.
So...
♪ Build me up, buttercup
♪ Don't break my heart... ♪
Welcome back, potters.
Now, your flowers and vases have been bisque-fired
and are lying under the hessian, waiting to be decorated.
Judges, any advice?
As well as decorating your flowers,
this is where you'll be assembling your posies,
so make sure you take time to step back
and assess the overall composition of your arrangement.
Keith? As you know, your individual pieces
will be fired together in the gloss firing.
Take care when you're glazing.
Too little glaze and they won't fuse together.
Too much glaze and you'll lose that colour and definition.
All right, then, potters, you have three-and-a-half hours,
and your time starts now. Remove the hessian!
Oh!
Ho-ho! That's good. SHE LAUGHS
Oh, no.
It all seems to have held up OK.
It looks like a graveyard.
Everything's here.
There's no cracks. It literally is a miracle.
But not everyone has been quite so lucky.
I have got a broken one.
This was the one I've made last-minute,
so I just don't think I smooshed it together.
And while most have only suffered minor breakages...
Oh, no.
What? It's just my stem.
Oh, it could be worse.
Oh! I just broke it.
Emily's fine handiwork has seen significant losses.
I've got loads of breakages, and my moonwort is in every piece
it almost could be. Oh, no!
One of my flowers fell off, and then when I picked it up, broke.
Have you got enough to make a posy? A display?
I hope so. I mean, I'm gonna have to use absolutely everything. Right.
So you've not made many spares kind of along the way?
I just didn't have time with this level of detail.
Well, I mean, they are beautifully, beautifully detailed.
I wish you the best of luck with the decoration. Thank you.
Very, very steady hands!
Oh, my God, so many things to paint.
These are all my cups and I've got all the colours
written on them that I need to make.
To bring their posies to life...
There's three different colours on this paeony.
...the potters have been given a full palette of underglazes and oxides.
So I've done a real light pink as a base.
There's lots of tonal colours in bluebells, so with this I am
layering three, four layers of different blues.
But while some are attempting
to create realistic depth with layers of underglaze...
This one's a really dark green. ...Emily is taking the time
to define her wild flowers with a base coat of oxide.
I mean, it's not exactly leaf-like to have black lines on it,
but it does highlight the texture.
And while most are kicking off with their flowers...
It's the painting of a cow.
...Angharad and Naveed are working their way up from the bottom.
So I was brought up on a dairy farm.
So technically, this is our front garden.
Ta-da!
Oh, that's come out very lovely.
It's good, isn't it? I'm quite surprised.
Show me the picture of yourself and your dad. That's my dad.
Oh! That's me with the three-pronged monster carrot.
It's good, isn't it? Er, who's looking at the carrot
when you knew how to pull a pose?
Do it again. One, two, three...
Emily? Yeah?
Do you know them berries called hypo... hyper...?
Hypericum. OK, I knew that. Thanks.
So these are Hypericum.
They just bring that real light, wintry feel.
Everything's very tropical, so it's very bright.
Everything needs to have at least two coats of underglaze on.
I'm going like lightning now.
I don't want it to be kind of flat with the colour.
I like things to feel alive.
Dry brush. Dry brush. Dry brush. Dry brush.
It's so important to get colours right.
Poppies, I'm going kind of like bright red-orangey,
but I'm trying to do different tonal.
Potters, guess what? Oh, no. No! Yes! You're halfway through.
Halfway through! Oh, no!
Really, really need to get a very fast move on now.
Rapidly slapping on the underglaze for my remaining leaves
cos I haven't even started putting the colour on my flowers yet.
Flower?
They're beautiful. You've got quite a lot there.
I'm just gonna try and glaze the majority.
And you've done your decoration on the...
So that's my little nod to the kind of medicinal properties.
That's marvellous. Yeah.
Oh, my God, there's so much to do!
Just doing, like, the little dibby bits.
I don't know what they're called. The pollinators.
Hello. Huh-huh! What's happening?
I just need to get everything painted.
Yeah? It's fine. That's a toothbrush.
That is a toothbrush. What are you doing?!
SHE LAUGHS
I've got to make sure that literally every speck
of this leaf is covered, because the last thing I want
is a big, glaring white part of clay sticking out.
It's difficult to keep the quality when you're working
in volume and at speed.
But it's not just quality the potters need to keep an eye on...
Oh!
Just broke one.
...because even a heavy brushstroke
might be just enough to snap their fragile flowers.
Oh, no.
Clumsy.
Yep! I just broke something else.
It's OK.
It's so fine. So fine.
Hey, how are you doing?
I'm fine! I just broke another leaf. You have spares?
No. No! Of course I don't have spares.
And, I mean, you've deliberately picked native wild flowers.
They're not meant to be in a vase. No.
Maybe they're resisting. Yeah, no, they are.
And they're always, like, quite splayed.
So you can throw them any old way in there. Nature. Yeah.
Hashtag nature!
I'm really trying to get all this
done now because I don't want to be rushing that glazing stage.
I hope they like rustic charm.
Potters, that's half an hour left.
Oh, no, no, no, no!
This is nuts.
I just wanted to get something on the vase.
This is the hills and Loch Ness around where I live.
Whoop!
So it's just sort of some patterning
and some sort of decoration type things.
As soon as I've done this,
I need to get it glazed and start stacking my design up.
Transparent glaze is normally applied for a glossy finish.
Don't like this bit. It's too stressful.
I just want to make sure I get it all glazed.
But today its main role is to act
as the glue that locks the posy in place.
Time for arranging.
I'm gonna put a good amount of glaze there and hope that that sticks.
Foxglove on first because it's the big centrepiece
and then arrange everything else around it.
I need to, like, place them while they're still semi-wet
so they definitely stick on.
But despite its structural duties,
the glaze still demands a delicate touch.
If the clear glaze is too thick,
it will sort of pull and almost look like milk.
And the more ambitious the arrangement...
It's like a delicate operation, basically.
...the more the potters challenge the holder,
their own construction skills...
Oh! That's not what I wanted to do.
...and the bonding power of the glaze.
And we're just hoping that everything just sticks together.
I'm just currently just using the bigger holes...
Oh, just broke there.
Once I've got my big bits in, then I can
just keep putting smaller things in gaps.
It looks cute up to now.
Oh, I might not give it to my mum after all!
I might keep it!
Potters, that's ten minutes left.
Waa!
Squeaky bum time.
It's quite gappy. I wish I'd done more small holes.
Just shaving off some of the glaze
because the holes were a bit tight.
It's just chucking things in.
Final minute now, potters. One minute left.
Just double-checking everything's there.
Oh, God. Snap, snap, snap.
30 seconds!
Bother with the moonwort.
It's covered in glaze now.
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three,
two, one... Step away from your benches.
Oh, my days.
Oh, it's like a room of granny stuff.
I need to sit down.
The potters must now take their posies to Princess
for one final firing.
When they next see them, it'll be judgment time.
The last sort of hour was a bit hodgepodge.
A little bit concerned about things shifting in the glost firing.
Hopefully we'll have a posy.
I got everything decorated and in the vase.
I'm a little bit concerned that
my plants supported on long, thin stems might droop.
Yeah, if they don't stick, it's going to be a problem.
♪ If you're going...
It's Judgment Day and the potters are about to unearth how their
posies have fared in the glost firing.
Good luck, everybody.
♪ ..to wear some flowers in your hair... ♪
I was happy yesterday.
The kiln is always an unknown, especially with the glost firing.
Oh, my God.
But I'm going to try and remain positive.
Oh, my God. Look at your Cavolo Nero.
That's beautiful!
I hope the judges see the sentiment behind it.
It is... Or, you know, memories of my dad gardening.
Yeah, it does mean a lot to me.
I thought it would be heavier!
I had a very strong feeling after I'd arranged it
that my long, tall stems were going to flop
and they have done. Um, but I am actually pleased
with, like, the detail on the flowers when you see them.
But you do have to kind of crane your neck to see them.
It's shifted quite a bit. There's some bits I really do like.
Yeah, there's lots of things I can see wrong with it.
Oh, my gosh, they look absolutely wonderful.
Well done, well done. Let's get on with the judging.
Kayleigh, if you could please bring your posy up to the judges.
It just looks absolutely amazing. Thank you.
Absolutely incredible.
You're looking at that rose there,
it just looks so lifelike or flower-like.
It's small, but perfectly formed.
That's the only thing that I could actually fault it on.
It's brilliant.
Yeah, I mean, it is compact, but it feels so well-arranged.
It really does.
It doesn't feel like there's a leaf out of place.
They've been placed with purpose and they've kind of remained.
I just think the level of realism is extraordinary.
I had the best time making it. I would do it all again tomorrow.
Well, surprise...
LAUGHTER
Sorry, guys!
Everything just feels
so beautifully finished, so well-observed and so realistic.
I mean, the shape of the dandelion leaves. Mm.
That subtle shape. You managed
to achieve the texture behind the petals of the rose.
You've not only done it, but you've excelled, lovey.
You've excelled. It's... It's absolutely wonderful.
Thank you. It's a joy to look at. It really is.
Well, you know, as you were bringing it up to us,
the composition seemed to really work.
And these pussy willows,
they're just at the right angle to actually accentuate
the overall structure of the rest of the flowers.
It feels like a really ambitious arrangement.
It's very tall, very upright,
and you've kind of retained quite a lot of structure there.
The glaring thing that I notice - the vase is not a bad shape,
just a bit of an afterthought with the decoration.
I think the poppies are lovely, actually,
where you've kind of got that very subtle texture.
You've got areas where the glaze
has gone a little bit milky on some of the leaves.
I love the bluebell bells.
I just feel like the stems are perhaps a little bit chunky.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Well done, Bill.
Oh, thank you. Well done.
Are you pleased with it? I'm over the moon,
to be honest. It's all little pieces until you put it together,
and then it's just seeing it come to life.
The first thing I notice about it, it's the overall structure.
The pussy willow's really lovely,
and they have actually sort of stayed upright
to create that lovely height to the whole thing.
It's a really beautiful silhouette,
just creates such lovely spring from the middle.
It's a really, really lovely arrangement.
When you look into it, there's more
and more layers upon layers of detail.
Like the centres of the thistles have got lovely texture. Mm.
And there's some lovely texture on the leaves around them.
You've got one wayward flower, perhaps.
Was that lacking a hole? No, it was in there.
I think it's just slipped.
I think it's worked really beautifully well.
And you don't see stems. It's full. There's lots of foliage.
The shape and the form of the vase to go with the flowers,
brilliant. Yeah, it looks great.
Well done. Thank you.
You pleased? Yeah, I really am. Great. Great. Thank you.
Let's just talk about the glaringly obvious. That. That, yeah.
I quite like the way it's hiding the cow's modesty.
It's a bit like, "I'm just hiding behind a leaf! Do you mind?!"
SHE LAUGHS Yeah.
Of all of the places for a leaf to drop, I cannot even!
I know, because that illustration's really lovely.
The display looks quite chaotic.
It's basically about growing up on the farm.
And it's all the flowers
that were either in the garden, in the hedgerows.
As if you would grab those flowers
at the end of the lane and just shove them in a milk jug.
Yeah. There's some wonderful, wonderful elements to this.
I mean, the poppies... Oh!
They just look absolutely fabulous. Beautiful.
The daisies are staring me down in a way I don't like.
Yeah. Bit odd. Mm. Bit stiff.
The buttercups... The buttercups. The inside of the buttercups.
I don't hate the buttercups.
The buttercups look really great. They're gorgeous. You can just...
Yeah! See them under your neck.
Do I like butter? You do like butter!
You do like butter! Oh, good. That's nice. He does! He does!
A few of the flowers, I guess where the petals in the top
have been a bit heavier have just sort of pulled the stem over
and they've kind of lent out of the arrangement.
But, yeah, you wouldn't notice it
because it's such a feast for the eyes.
Really competently thrown, that. Thank you.
Thank you. Well done.
Yeah, I've got my moonwort on there, just.
But, um, didn't quite survive bisque as planned,
so he's kind of resting on a leaf, but, um...
OK. And how are you feeling about it?
It's not what I wanted to present today,
but I've learned so much from having done this.
Like, I know how long I can get away with making those stems
before they droop. Yeah, it's kind of a shame. Yeah.
Because when you look at the individual components,
they're really extraordinarily beautiful. Yeah.
And I think the way you've created this foxglove,
like hanging the bell, I mean, that is inspired.
It is just unfortunate that, yeah,
they've all sort of started to kind of slightly wilt a little bit.
It looks like a roe deer has sat on it. Yeah!
The individual flowers themselves
are really, really well-observed.
This is a triumph for you. Aw, thanks!
This works really, really well.
I love the veining. And obviously you notice that straight away
because there's nothing much around it.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think the vase works quite well.
But, yeah, it would have been nice
to see a bit more body in the actual display.
It's just a shame that green is sort of a little bit flat.
I would say the colour on the outside of the foxgloves
perhaps is similarly flat. Could have done with more depth, yeah.
I really, really want to do this again
because I've really enjoyed the process of making these flowers.
Yeah. I'm delighted with the way some things have worked with it.
So, yeah, I honestly can't wait to make another one.
Great. Well done. Thank you.
It's an absolute feast for the eyes.
It's so much to see.
It's a really full display.
I think actually the biggest triumph for you is the little flowers.
They work really, really well. They were very fiddly!
If truth be told, they're probably the most well-observed
and the most realistic of all the flowers. Yeah.
It was a really brave choice
of flower species that you went with.
These seemed a bit stylised.
I think it casts quite a striking silhouette.
These are very graphic.
I'd say you've sort of made it difficult for yourself.
You know, a lot of these are surreal-looking.
Yeah. You know? So I think it's really difficult
to kind of build in that sense of realism.
We can see a leaf here has fallen back off itself,
hasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And do you know, it's probably the only one on
there that I haven't painted the bottom of the leaf.
I can't fault you for ambition.
And actually, I think the actual holder that's underneath
all this is a testament to
the way you you've arranged it
because that clay has moved in
that firing, and that holder
has actually held it all in place, really.
It's astonishing, the amount you've got done. Brilliant.
Well done. Thanks. Thank you. Cheers.
That's for you. Aw!
Favouritism will get you nowhere!
Well done. You've won.
Thank you.
Sorry!
LAUGHTER
I mean, I'm a really, really keen vegetable gardener,
so, I mean, I recognise all of these immediately as what they are.
I make for my dad, who was a keen gardener,
had a couple of allotments.
It's such a great way of rethinking the brief,
just thinking outside of that standard posy.
This is amazing, lovey. This. Yeah.
That Cavolo Nero is just beautiful.
There's a lot of things that are amazing about it,
but this is just incredible.
I just want to eat it!
And these artichokes as well. It's just brilliant.
I really like the chives, actually. Yeah.
I think they have a really lovely, fine graphic line that kind of
draws everything together somehow.
The vase - brilliant!
The vase... It's beautiful,
but it kind of it all melds into one.
It feels like part of the posy somehow. Yeah.
Are you pleased with how it's turned out?
I am really pleased. I'm really proud of it.
You should be, mate. And more to the point,
do you think your father would be proud of it? Oh! Eh?
KEITH LAUGHS
I think he would. Yeah.
It's brilliant.
It's fabulous. Well done.
Thank you.
I did get a bit emotional in there. It's just, yeah,
it does mean a lot to me. I'm feeling really proud of myself.
I'd love to be Potter Of The Week. Yeah.
Also there's the second challenge, didn't go well, so who knows?
Oh, that was lovely. I really am chuffed with that.
So, who knows? I'm just happy. I really am.
It could have gone better, but I didn't get
the colour application right on the leaves,
picked and made flowers that were too spindly.
For that to have been my first floral posy that I've made,
yeah, yeah, I'm chuffed with it.
Contented now.
Sort of more contented than I was when I first saw it.
It was like, what the hell is this?
You know, we might have two people going, so I might be going today,
but, you know, I'm very happy with what I've done.
Week seven!
And we have seven potters left.
We do.
You sent nobody home last week and it was quite nice, actually.
It was. Is that an option for this week?
Yeah. Keep them all in till the final. Yeah? Why not?
Well, I mean...! Actually, our potters have had an amazing week.
One of the best second challenges I've ever seen.
You liked that one, did you? I... Not only did I love it,
but I could see the potters loved it and they really,
really did extraordinary work this week in both the challenges.
Yeah. Let's start with Kayleigh.
Stunning. Stunning. It was the most
lifelike of all the posies.
It didn't perhaps have that very striking silhouette,
but the moment it was in front of us,
it was just pristinely perfect. Good for her.
She's done stunning work this week. Well, if we're talking about
stunning work, we have to talk about Naveed. What a triumph.
And one of the briefs was a modern... True. ..interpretation.
And we're seeing that from Naveed, aren't we? Really bold decisions.
It had a very striking silhouette.
Is he in line for Potter Of The Week? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Let's talk about Emily's arrangement. At the biscuit stage,
Emily's held probably the most promise of that sense of realism.
Mm, yeah.
But the colours were, on occasion, a bit flat.
Yeah, a lot of green going on. Bill has had a very interesting week.
He also chose wild flowers. Yeah, the pussy willow was lovely.
Gorgeous. Beautifully decorated.
It just lacked that final level of finish,
I think. The vase, perhaps, contentious.
It sort of smacked of, "Oh, quick, I'd better decorate the vase."
I think it's interesting with looking at Fynn's final posy,
there wasn't the same attention to detail with the decoration.
The plants, they did seem a bit stylised.
They weren't that realism that we were looking for. Yeah.
Now, while reminding you of the fact that we have seven potters,
you don't have to get rid of two this week.
It would make organisational sense.
When do we ever make sense? Yeah. No. No, no. That's true.
Make your final deliberation and I'll see you in a bit.
Welcome back, potters.
Now, the judges eventually have made a decision.
So, first, the good news.
This week's Potter Of The Week is...
Kayleigh! Ooh!
No way! Oh, my gosh!
Well done, Kayleigh. Thank you!
Well done. Thank you.
And now... Ugh!
...the person who is going
to leave the Pottery this week is...
Emily.
Yeah. No, that's all right. Yeah.
I'm ready. I'm ready.
These tears are not a reflection of how I feel inside
because I am actually, like,
totally at peace with what I've done and proud of what I've done.
Thanks for being such great craic.
It's been... It's been a really, really fun seven... Seven weeks!
Yeah. Yeah.
I don't think there's another experience quite like it
on the planet!
It's been amazing.
I wouldn't change it for the world.
Best friend potters, forevs.
Oh! Seven weeks. Aw! Oh, my gosh.
Unfortunately for Emily, the arrangement
just didn't really work for her. That foxglove was really prominent
and there was literally nothing around it.
This week, we could only justify one potter going home,
so two potters may go home next week.
And so, as Emily bids farewell to the Pottery,
Kayleigh's posy becomes her second piece
to take its place in the Throw Down Gallery.
It was between Naveed and Kayleigh.
You had Naveed with this really ambitious
arrangement with all that Cavolo Nero -
beautiful texture. It was a feast for the eyes.
Lovely comments. I'm through! Quarterfinalist.
Just mad.
Then you had Kayleigh, who really proved
that beautiful things can come in small packages.
Wow, that was a lovely surprise!
Her posy just had a sense of realism that none of
our other potters managed to achieve.
I really loved making both those things in equal measures.
Links to nature, you know, stories. I just loved that.
So that feels extra special.
I need to phone my husband, but he's at the chiropractor, so...!
THEY GROAN
Next time, it's the quarterfinals.
It's gonna be a crazy day.
The potters face their most personal challenge yet,
sculpting themselves in clay.
Never drawn myself, never sculpted myself.
And the heat is on
as they build their own brick kilns in which to fire them.
Bring on the fire! Who will crack under the pressure?
Oh! It is what it is, isn't it?
And who will make it through to the semifinals?
It's fantastic. Absolutely a celebration of you.
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