Midsummer news round up July 2010

I could start with a lot more excuses for  another late update  but as   I am not trying to elicit sympathy for my broken wrist  I shall not even start.

Our younger son Josh  has now  launched his website shop, he found that he  missed his trips to the trade fairs with us too much..

http:// www.greenandpresent.co.uk

Do be sure to  have a look.  

He is selling some lovely things -all either recycled, re-used or reclaimed.  We have already bought some pieces from him ourselves and have earmarked other goodies  for later in the year.

2010 in Rye has seen the end of an era for Rye Pottery. The last remaining pottery set up by an ex apprentice in the late 1950’s has finally closed .   At one time there were six potteries in Rye but gradually all the others have shut over the past few years and once more the town of Rye is back to just our original Rye Pottery which  in over 200 years has only moved premises twice.  The biggest snag of this last closure for our  own staff, has been coping with the customers who come into our shop wanting house plaques, something we have not made  for over 20 years and now there is no one in Rye  supplying them.

I have still not quite organised the final Canterbury Tales leaflet but it is top of my list  of things to be done very soon.   I HAVE commissioned the next Tony Bennett figure- this time for our Bayeux Tapestry 1066 series- so I shall hope to have a picture for you in my next news up date.   

We are also busy trying to finish a book about Wally Cole Sculptor, Potter in time for an exhibition of his work here in Rye at the Rye Art Gallery in late November. So you can see we have not been sitting about idly enjoying the lovely weather. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing the book and researching endless new facets to both Wally  and the development of the Pottery in the last century,  but it is hugely time consuming.

Carved Wooden Deer   c 1934                           Stoneware Vase   c 1935

                        Two pieces by Wally Cole made before  World War 11

JANUARY 2010

I have just realised to my everlasting shame that somehow the whole of 2009 slipped past without me  managing to update the  Rye news section.  I can only say in a guilty tone,  that we had a lot of health problems last year which took up huge amounts of time, but which thank goodness do seem finally to be becoming a thing of the past.

So once again we wish you all a happy and healthy  New Year and certainly hope that the rest of 2010 does not carry on in quite the frozen way it has begun for us all in Rye!  At last though, the snow has gone at least for a while and we can  get back to work without  closing early  and  finding that no buses  are running for the painting girls!  Despite all  the above ramblings and excuses,  we have produced the LAST Canterbury Tales Pilgrim, she is The Carpet Maker’s Wife and she completes the collection.

We have a final grand total of 36 Pilgrims plus the Monk’s Hounds and of course Geoffrey Chaucer himself. Now that we  really have come to the end of The Pilgrim’sWay we plan a final Chaucer brochure with everyone pictured,  so please be sure to let us know if you would like a copy so that you can double check your own collection.

We are asked various things about the Canterbury Tales figures and one is often about the Guildsmen, “ Did Chaucer really mention them etc etc?” and the answer is yes he did, not only that, he actually identified all  the particular Guilds to which  they belonged, hence the confusing fact that we have both a Carpenter and a Carpet Maker!  He also talks about  their wives saying that they liked being called Madam and having their  mantles carried when they went to church; so  we have always  imagined them as a bit like Ladies who Lunch!  He does NOT say the Wives were on the pilgrimage but equally important he does NOT say they were not; this has allowed us the fun of producing all these very decorative characters instead of finding ourselves stuck in a groove with nuns and monks ( far less  possibility for flights of fancy in their sober garb!)  This is very important as far as our decorators~ Jane and Karen ~ are concerned as they need to enjoy painting each figure and not find it a bore or worse still a chore!.

Just in case you think we will now sit back and do nothing, we have already commissioned a figure to add to our Bayeux Tapestry 1066 collection from Tony Bennett  as we certainly did not want Tony to have withdrawal symptoms when  he came to the end of the Canterbury Tales for us! We are also hoping to put some of our hand painted RYE TILES designs onto the website as we have found the demand for our individually painted flower, fruit or bug tiles has increased considerably in the past 12 months, perhaps not selling and moving house  has encouraged more people to re- decorate their kitchens and bathrooms, so may we say a big thank you to all those of you who decided to do this using Rye Tiles!

One final reason why I forgot to update the page might just have been because I found myself hooked on watching for  mid 20^th  century Rye  Pottery on e bay; Tarquin and I are trying to finish writing  a book on Wally Cole sculptor and potter  and seeing examples of his early work made at Rye in the immediate post war has been not only a huge help for the book writing, but an enormous distraction from the normal day to day Pottery work! We hope perhaps, when the book is finally finished you will all feel it was worth while too! Here is a 1947-48 teapot we acquired this summer much to our delight. The collector who sold it to us was thrilled to discover it was returning to its original home at last!

Hand thrown teapot 1947-8  by Wally Cole

using pre-war  stock of Rye Pottery  pin dust clay

We are working on a new page for the site showing some of our specially  lettered and commemorative pieces both past & present, but just as a short item  we are putting  some of the standard lettered ware designs on this news page.

We do ask that you allow us 4-6 weeks for lettered pieces- each pot is of course, painted especially so that nothing can be done in advance of an order!

We also ask THAT YOU PUT ORDERS IN WRITING please -  so that we can avoid spelling errors as much as possible

 Green Hop 10 in plate              Blue Floral 10  in plate          Bluegreen Hop 10in plate

 Pink Cottage M1 mug               Floral mug/bowl/plate             Blue Cottage M1 mug