My love for the material I work with has seen me move from a densely populated urban area to this quiet corner of rural Galloway. After my degree the desire to continue to learn about clay and its potential led me to find an apprenticeship with earthenware potter Jason Shackleton. Jason introduced me to the traditional techniques of slip trailing and sgraffito which just felt fantastic to me from the very beginning and which have formed the basis of my work since then.

I make pots with a purpose, pots for use in the home. I love the challenge of creating a pot that will perform its task well, will be attractive to look at and be comfortable and warm to have around the house. My work, thrown in red earthenware is decorated using coloured slips and a rich honey glaze. The decoration is trailed on to the surface of the pot whilst the slipped surface is still glistening wet and looking very much like cream or melted chocolate and almost good enough to eat.

I love to decorate and often have to hold myself back from filling every spare space on the pot; it takes its form from across all aspects of my life. I am particularly taken with the amusing antics of the partridges and pheasants which line the road on my cycle to work and their comical strutting around the farmyard. I have used them as a basis for the ever more exaggerated plumage of the fantastical birds that have been appearing recently across my platters and jugs.

My collection of oak and horse chestnut trees in pots outside the studio have also found themselves being recreated in sgraffito and trailed slip across the surfaces of my work. Other influences include the strong naïve designs occurring across eastern European folk art, in particular the images used in their woven textiles and tapestries; rich many petalled tulips are a particular favourite of mine. Of course the tradition of English slipware has a very strong place in my heart from the large commemorative chargers of Thomas Toft to the simple peasant country ware of Devon.

If you would like to find out more about the making processes and the way I work you might like to visit my blog at   hannahmcandrew.blogspot.com