We have made our hand-painted stoneware ceramics here in Fearn for almost 35 years; by now we consider ourselves experts. We make it almost entirely by hand using the same tools employed by potters in the 19th century. Specialising in a decorative technique known as spongeware, which was popular in the 1820s and remained so for the next three decades, ANTA revived the technique in the 1980s and developed a similar system of applying tartan designs to stoneware pottery. Surprisingly, considering Queen Victoria’s enthusiasm for all things Scottish, tartan pottery was not previously made in Scotland. ANTA were the first to make it and have produced a unique range of hand painted tartan stoneware since.  Far from hi-tech, we celebrate the Arts and Crafts and identify with William Morris who famously declared that we ‘should have nothing in our homes that we do not deem to be either useful or beautiful’. Taking this sentiment a step further we suggest that everything produced at ANTA is both useful and indeed beautiful. Our ceramics are freezer, oven, microwave and dishwasher safe; they are designed to be used.

Making ceramic stoneware is merely cooking on an industrial scale. First we select our raw materials; ball clay, which comes from Devon, is dug from the river bed. We weigh it, add porcelain and water and blend it in a huge mixer. We sieve it to remove any impurities and pump the liquid clay into the press. Similar to a cheese press, once enough liquid is squeezed from the clay body to form slabs, the ‘cheeses’ are removed from between the cloths.

The consistency is plastic but not yet ready to mould into shape as the air must be removed first by forcing it though the vacuum chamber contained within the pug mill. This looks and functions in a similar way to a giant mincing machine. Dies of varying dimension are placed at the opening of the pug mill to allow ‘sausages’ of different diameter suited to different shapes to be extruded. The correct length is cut and placed in a plaster mould designed to fit the outside profile of each piece. The mould is fixed to the machine and the inside profile is formed by the metal tool, using centrifugal force, to shape the clay. The mould is removed and left overnight to dry, time enough to allow the plaster to draw moisture from the clay and for the pot to shrink from the mould. The pot now exists in a state known as leather and is ready for finishing. If it is destined to become a mug, it is at this stage that the handle is put on, the spout is formed if it should be a jug and the foot rings are turned on the bowls. Some methods of decoration can be applied to the leather including incised or carved patterns, a technique known as scraffitto, similar to the decoration of the ANTA ridged bowls and lamps which at this point is applied by hand.

Certain of the shapes we use are better cast rather than moulded and for this method of production we prepare the clay differently. We still use plaster moulds, but these are filled with slip which is liquid clay rather than clay moulded from a pre prepared paste. Once the moulds are filled with slip, the excess liquid is drawn out by the plaster and the clay is left to set. As soon as the correct thickness is achieved the excess slip is poured from the mould and the hollow clay shell is revealed. The leather pieces are removed from the moulds finished, air dried ready for firing. They are fired to 1,000°C in an electric kiln (more than four times as hot as the maximum temperature of a domestic oven). After this first firing each piece is hard and much more robust than the leather. Now known as biscuit, most of the moisture having been removed, the biscuitware is ready for glazing and decorating

We mix our own glazes which we apply by hand to each piece. First we glaze the inside and then the outside. This technique allows us to vary the colours of both to create a different look. Spongeware decoration is applied on top of the glaze. The surface is porous and chalky and the process is similar to painting on blotting paper. Glaze is effectively ground glass and we fire each piece again, for a second and final time, this time using gas in order to reach the necessarily high temperature required to melt the stoneware glaze. The colour of some of the glazes differ quite dramatically after firing. It is the alchemy of hand made, hand decorated, stoneware ceramics where the excitement remains for me.