Original subtitles

Nope, it's still not the bit

between the programs in the 1960s. It's week 3.

And I'm not getting any better.

Previously in The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Oh my God.

It was sink or swim for our potters.

Jim made quite a splash and was awarded top potter.

But a broken basin sent Nigel's prospects down the plughole.

I came for a crack, and that's what ultimately I got.

Now our judges, master potter Keith Brymer Jones,

and ceramic artist

Kate Malone have set three more challenges.

I've just gotta try and stop shaking.

Including a main make where sparks will fly.

Oh! -Come on, something work.

A spot test to get them thinking.

My mind's gone a bit blank now.

And a throw down to leave them gasping.

Do keep breathing.

- Oh my lord. -Take your time.

That's it, that's it, don't worry,

you're fine, you're fine, you're fine.

{SANDRA GASPING)

The potters are back for three more challenges

and five more days.

But sadly not everyone will be able to take part.

Joanna has decided not to continue for personal reasons.

I really wish Jo well.

She left on a real high because her basin was lovely.

She helped me a lot, she gave me a lot of advice,

different skills, different techniques,

so yeah, I am gonna miss Joanna.

I know it's a really difficult decision

for her to make. I'm looking forward to today,

new challenge ahead and can't wait to get stuck in.

Top Potter for the week, that'll do for me.

It feels good, I'm not gonna deny that. It feels good.

I'm looking for any way I can break Jim's arms.

Gotta take him out of the competition now.

The enemy has definitely reared its head.

If we go into this and the nerves

get the better of me, I've got no chance at all,

so I need to keep cool, I need to stay calm.

My fear is the time, as usual.

Good morning, potters.

Good morning.

Exciting times, 'cause we're about to unveil

this week's main make, and rumor has it

that sparks are gonna fly.

We want you to make 10 long necked vases, all on the wheel.

They have to be identical in size and shape.

And remember a pot has character.

It has a foot, and a lip, a shoulder, and a belly.

You're going to choose five of your vases

to carry through to fire with the raku technique.

Sparks fly everywhere, it's earth, air, fire and water.

It's a crazy technique, breaking all the rules

that we've been following up till now,

and it's really exciting.

Making raku vases

is the most technically demanding

and dangerous challenge so far.

I'm not feeling confident today really.

In the next five days,

they'll have to throw 10 identical vases,

dry and bisque fire them,

choose the best five to decorate

and put through the risky raku firing process,

a centuries old Japanese technique

that'll see them putting their vases

directly into temperatures

of 1000 degrees C for a rapid firing.

Removing them, still red hot, and covering them

with combustible material, then plunge them into water,

and clean away the burnt surface

to reveal the incredible colors

and textures that only the chaos of raku can create.

It's the funky punky style of glazing, isn't it, and firing?

Yeah.

Normally you have to heat gently,

and cool gently, and everything has to reduce the shock.

And it's so volatile,

you never really know what you're gonna get.

This one's beautifully developed, isn't it?

It sort of speaks of the process, doesn't it?

This is really elemental, this is like fire.

This is like sort of under the ground in a magma of the earth.

Yeah, I mean the decoration is

still alive on the pot, isn't it?

You're looking at which areas to leave unglazed

because it's the body that turns black.

They've decided to have that line there,

that is not accidental.

That's what I wanna see the potters doing.

Deciding, executing, showing us how clever they are.

The throwing technique that we're asking them

to do is also a challenge. You're really working

against the force of physics, really,

'cause you're wanting to collar in this long neck,

and as you collar it in, you've got to keep it under control.

Some of the potters actually might

do something with the necks.

They might bend the neck, they might distort it,

or they might make a feature out of it.

There's great scope for the shape

and the form to be quite different.

The potters now have just two

and a half hours to throw 10 identical long-necked vases.

Using the same amount of clay

to kick off with is a very good starting point.

And because they'll eventually

be plunged into the unforgiving

raku firing process,

they're using a specially formulated clay.

God, this stuff's really soft.

Soft, it's really soft.

It contains grog,

clay that's been fired,

ground down to a powder and mixed back in.

It makes the clay more resilient

to the massive and immediate

temperature changes in raku firing.

This task is probably my nemesis.

It's controlled, it's perfection.

Keith is going to be looking for 10.

Not five, not six. He wants 10 vases on the table.

In the time allowance, it's going to be pretty tough.

I think we've got about 15 minutes on each form.

It's gonna be tight.

I mean, Matt's already started throwing.

Yeah, there's no point waiting around, is there?

It's a challenge to throw 10 identical.

I don't know if any of the others have had a practice,

but I've had a good practice at this.

The current Top Potter, Jim,

is making sure his clay is well-prepared.

I've never been top at anything, to tell you the truth.

I think I grew a pumpkin once

that was about 12 stone, and I won a trophy.

But raku could still result in

a very familiar situation for Jim.

There's been a number of disasters

with my pot making over the years.

Opening the kiln door

and finding every piece broken or cracked.

I actually did cry. Probably the only time I ever have.

I had tears in my eyes for the loss.

Not so much these days. Obviously you learn

as you go along. Older and wiser.

To make a thin neck bottle, you have to throw,

obviously, the base so you can get your hand in.

For the upper section, obviously you can't

get your hand inside, so you literally

have to collar in, and I think

this is a bit of an exercise in collaring in.

Collaring with wheel throwing is about

taking the clay in and up, and the best way

to collar is to create speed on the wheel

so that as you gently go up the form,

as you draw the clay in,

you're increasing the speed and that will draw it right in.

So we can create height and narrow forms with collaring.

Collaring can be difficult at first

because you go against your natural instincts

to speed up the wheel to draw the clay in,

and things can start to go wobbling at the top,

but you've just to keep your courage

and carry on until you get to that lip.

I don't know if I've got time.

It's so not good.

This is a tricky throwing task,

and for people that aren't strong at throwing,

it's gonna be that much more difficult, really.

I was finishing off a little bit.

Something happened inside. It's caught, and it just...

I'm not gonna name names at this point,

but there's one or two bods that are struggling.

Not that I find that amusing at all.

I just messed up.

My least skilled area is throwing.

I mean, it's okay, but it's not that good.

I want to be better at what I do,

but I'm not good enough, for me.

I want my work to be sought after.

Is that vain?

It'll be fine. Honestly, it'll be just fine.

To ensure their vases are the same size,

the potters are using throwing gauges,

pointers that can let them know

at which height to stop collaring in.

But Matthew's making twice the effort

to ensure his vases are identical.

Have you noticed the double pointer?

So it's a mark for its hip,

and a mark for its top of its lip.

Whatever their approach,

throwing the first vase successfully...

I've just gotta try and stop shaking.

Would be helpful.

will help create a feel and rhythm

for the remaining nine.

You've gotta be pleased with that, are you?

I'm chuffed, the first one done.

Well, hopefully you'll get into it.

- I'm hoping. -Yeah.

All right, good luck. Carry on. Great start.

God, go now.

I'm just using a credit card,

just to take a little bit off the bottom,

to give it a bit of lift.

Why would you ever use a credit card for anything else?

I can't concentrate.

I need to get into a rhythm, and you can't

do that constantly interrupted actually.

That's the truth of it.

I have to be

in the absolutely right frame-of-mind to be creative.

I quite like a quiet atmosphere when I'm potting,

but it's gotta be calm, and actually quite often,

the best throwing I do is in total silence.

I'm pernickety about detail.

I love things to be finished properly.

I want every piece to be just right.

I feel like I just need to be able

to get into a zone, and I'm not there.

I pot, in ideal circumstances, undisturbed.

I think I'm probably a bit of a prima donna potter.

You're halfway through, guys.

- Half way through. -Oh my!

- Jeez. -What?

I'm not gonna have five at this rate.

Shame, shame, shame.

James and Sandra have thrown just two vases.

Jane, Tom and Sally-Jo have managed three,

but none of them are able to keep up with Jim and Matthew.

I've done six.

I wanna alter these

towards the end and I'm hoping for a good bit of time

to do that

because there are some features I'd love to add to these.

Yeah, we're rocking along now. In the zone, as they say.

♪ Keep on running ♪

♪ Keep on hiding ♪

♪ One fine day I'm gonna be the one ♪

♪ To make you understand ♪

♪ Oh, yeah, I'm gonna be your man ♪

♪ Hey, come on ♪

I'm up to number five now.

You can't rush art. It sort of naturally happens.

♪ Wanna be your man ♪

This is where I get a bit arty.

The shape that I designed is a bit

on the bottom heavy side, and I just wanted

a bit more of a nice curve over really,

which is why I'm altering the neck, the profile.

When they're together, they're going

to look like little people talking to each other.

That's the kind of look I'm going for.

Shoot.

My neck is not working.

It's weak, and it wants to collapse.

I can't leave it like that actually.

Forget that.

I need to chill out a bit.

Just lacking the right state of mind, I think.

30 minutes left, guys. You've got 30 minutes left.

No way.

Is that a laugh of joy, Sandra?

30 minutes. Yay, 30 minutes. That's loads of time.

This is definitely not gonna be quite tall enough, but...

I think at this point, if it ends up as a vase, then...

it's a result.

I'm just not really worrying too much about what they look like.

I'm just going for quantity.

They're very nice though. They look like five sisters.

Some of them are more supermodel,

and some of them are more--

- Personality. -Personality.

This is not about other people, this is about your own mindset,

and your own battle with yourself.

Jim is the first to complete

all 10 of his vases,

giving him plenty of time to add a little flourish.

Kate mentioned they want a bit of personality

on these pots, and I'm gonna give it to them.

Jim's happily decorating 10 bottles at the moment.

I'd love to be doing that.

Got four minutes, girls and boys, four minutes.

All your vases need to be in the drying room as well,

so I don't wanna encourage a mad stampede.

Do you wanna come up here?

Four, three, two, one. Time's up.

- I'm sorry. -I love that.

Sorry about that.

Was that hard work, that?

- It was horrific. -Horrific.

I know I've only done eight,

but I'm chuffed that I got eight out to be honest.

Far too stressful for me.

I think if the seven I'd done

were perfect I'd be really happy,

but the seven I've done aren't even perfect.

Everyone was stressed. No one spoke hardly.

Even Jim, he didn't say anything at all.

- He talks a lot. -Did the 10.

I got a couple finished as I would like,

and that was all right.

That was good fun. I like that.

I'm not a hugely proficient thrower and I felt that today.

I felt I was really struggling, and I didn't enjoy it.

Middleport Pottery,

lying in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent

has been a working factory for over 150 years.

By the mid 19th century, the ceramics

industry employed over half the city's population.

A huge army of craftsmen and women

delivering British tableware to the entire world.

The skills used then are still in use today,

and our potters are about to be tested

on one technique that's endured

not just for centuries, but millennia.

This is your spot test.

It's where the judges like to put you

through your paces with a particular pottery technique.

This week we're going to put your slip

decoration skills to the test,

and what we want you to do is take

this ancient technique and apply it

with a contemporary style.

I'm sure you're all desperate to see

what it is you're gonna be putting this slip on.

You can remove your cloths now.

Gorgeous, a little family of jugs.

They need to relate to each other.

They need to be part of a group, a set.

You're gonna have 75 minutes,

and because it is the spot test,

you do it without the judges watching, so off you go.

Potters, get decorating.

Before glazes, there was slip.

Well.

Slip is clay that has been

watered down and colored.

Thousands of years ago,

it emerged as the first means by which potters

could add color to their work.

Minds gone a bit blank now.

Kate and Keith will want

to see decoration that can only be achieved with

the unique way slip is applied.

Dipping.

Pouring.

Brushing.

And trailing, which is using one of these.

I could practice on the bench, I suppose.

To decorate a pot isn't just putting a pattern

flat onto a pot,

it's considering the shape of it.

If you imagine someone wearing a tight-laced dress,

the pattern is stretched over wide bits

and it's looser over a narrow bit.

So there's this lovely play between surface and form.

I'm looking for continuity through the three jugs,

and there's quite a bit of spontaneity in there.

So often with slip you only get one chance

because of the very nature of the application.

That's it, it starts drying

on the surface of the pot straight away.

I'm just incising some lines.

It's just gonna give me almost like an outline to fill in.

Get a theme going and then something comes from there.

I love dancing, I'm just thinking dancing feet.

I'm gonna try and draw with slips

and create a little bit of a...

I'm gonna start with the middle size,

so that then I can scale it up and scale it down, and I think

they'll probably feel more like a family after that.

Because I'm tryna think about

different slipping techniques I haven't done for ages.

I might blob stuff on. You've gotta try something.

It might work, it might not work.

Sandra is painting with the slip

to create transfers she can later apply.

Then I'll put it on top,

somewhere round the side and the top.

That's the idea.

Now I haven't done this for a while, so I'm not sure.

Tom has decided to use dipping

to create his slip design.

I'm planning to create two panels, one on either side.

I do like minimalism.

I quite like traditional slip decoration,

so my risk is of reverting back to what

I'm used to and they don't want traditional,

they want contemporary.

Yeah, I'm gonna try a bit of sgraffito in a bit.

So sgraffito means to scratch into,

which I believe is where the word graffiti comes from,

from where they used to scratch into cave walls.

I dunno, you might have to check that one.

I don't know if it's right or wrong,

but I'm gonna try and blend it, so it's gonna go black up to red

up to white, and then I'll put some paper on.

Gonna peal back and it'll have a black stripe going down it.

- Oh, that's very clever. -What do you think of that?

Fantastic, dead clever you with everything.

Thanks.

45 minutes, guys. You've got 45 minutes left.

There's no way.

I just need to dry the wax off

before I put the next layer on top,

otherwise it'll just drag everywhere.

What's your plan, Jane?

I'm going for fresh, yeah.

I'm so fresh.

Do you know, I can't actually hear

what you're saying, because I've got the gun on.

It's probably a good thing.

You get a slip trailer like this,

a ribbon one generally. Then you blob.

It's called le blob. Do it in a very blobby

kind of way and you enjoy it as you're doing it,

it's really satisfying.

Tom's minimalist approach

is about to get a little more involved.

I've done this before, and gone straight onto a pot behind.

I'm just trying to make sure I don't do that.

I'm a bit unfamiliar with the old slips, I must say.

Oh, really? Lots of movement in it though. I like that.

That's the general idea, sort of frenetic

dance movement all around it,

but you see the potential and hopefully the judges

- will pick up on that. -Yes.

I need this layer to dry.

Then I'm gonna apply another layer of wax,

and then I'm gonna brush it over with the black,

and then I'm gonna go back and do some sgraffito,

and hopefully I'll have time to do some slip trailing on top.

My idea is use as many techniques as possible

and one might be right.

That's my theory.

15 minutes to go.

Seems to go a bit weird in this room, time.

75 minutes sounds like a long time, but it's not very.

I'm making a big deal of it.

It shouldn't be such a big deal. Just get on with it.

There's a massive danger of overdoing it.

You just need to know when to stop, really.

This isn't gonna work, actually. It's too wet.

Please work, just work.

Please work.

I wish I'd done these a little bit better actually,

but I've done the best I can here,

but I think I'm gonna get crucified.

Yay, kind of what I wanted.

You've got one minute, guys. One minute left.

It's enough time to do something else,

and I need to know when to stop.

I think I've finished.

30 seconds, potters. You've got 30 seconds left.

Any final little dabs, any final touches,

any final bits of le blobbing, Sandra.

Four, three, two, one.

Potters, time is up.

♪ Went to college, studied art ♪

Because they haven't seen

who has decorated what,

Kate and Keith have no idea whose jugs are whose.

♪ But no one seemed to notice me ♪

So looking at this one, I'm not clear

on the message that it's giving me.

And it's quite a simplistic application of the slip?

And looking at this one, whoever it was,

a whole ground upon which to work,

and it's really bringing out the painterly nature of the slip.

There's sgraffito going on there,

there's wax resist going on there.

There's a level of success to the design.

So this is like an abstract painting.

We asked for something contemporary,

and it's actually as if there's a painting on the side of a pot.

Very nicely executed.

And what they've done with the design

is that they've really thought about

the shape they're putting it on.

And this, to me,

it's truly illustrating the way the slip is.

I'd love to have been there when they were pouring it

because there's a great pleasure in pouring slip.

You can really see the energy in that.

And I think these are really strong.

Because in complete contrast, you've got this one,

which is obviously a very controlled design.

It's more of an illustration really, isn't it?

Drawing a figure on a pot, which is a really

difficult thing to do, whoever did it,

but I'm asking myself if there is a sense

of the painterly nature, the gift the slip gives.

Whereas this one, they've used the medium of slip completely.

I mean, you could say whoever it was

has thrown everything at it, including the kitchen sink.

They're very, very vibrant, aren't they?

And then again we've got something completely different.

Is this something that we feel could

have been done with another medium?

Could they have been more generous?

Could there have been a sense of action

that the slip gives?

So really, I'm personally looking at

who has used the slip in the most

illustrative and expressive way.

That's really hard. They've set us such a hard job.

Kate and Keith will now reveal

whose jugs have impressed and whose haven't.

Well, in joint sixth, there isn't a seventh,

is between this board, whose is that?

- That's mine. -And this board.

This one here.

This showed better illustration of slip application,

but this one had a better design,

but we felt that didn't really show

what you could really do with slip.

Jim is fifth, James is fourth,

and Matthew's eclectic pattern earns him third place.

So we've got two sets of jugs left then.

We've got these ones here.

- Whose are those? -They're mine.

And we've got these ones here.

Great. This one, very complex, lots of things

going on there, as in terms of technique.

This one, very simple, really fluent,

but we love the freshness, and we love the energy in it.

So in second place, we've gone for yours, Sally-Jo.

Well done, Sally-Jo.

And in first place, well done, Tom.

Well done, guys.

It's been a big old day today, so go and rest. Well done.

Well done.

Well done you.

I put myself under stupid pressure this morning.

Slip trailing like that, you've got to be relaxed,

and you've gotta enjoy it, because if you don't enjoy it

then the love doesn't come out onto the pot.

I thought it would be my chance to beat

Tom once and for all, or just once.

You know, you can only be strong

at certain things and rubbish at others,

and I think I'm just met my...

least favorite activity so far this afternoon.

I consider myself to have come joint

sixth rather than joint last.

I'm looking forward to doing the raku, yes.

After drying the long-necked vases

for two days, our kiln man Rich takes them

to be bisque fired for a further 24 hours.

With all their vases fired, the potters

will now have to select their best five to decorate.

They look better than I remember.

Covered up.

The judges have asked for a set of identical vases.

Oh, hello.

So the five they choose

need to be as similar as possible.

They're reasonably consistent, but they look cool.

Oh, that's terrible, that one.

Consistency, what does that mean?

Well, they're consistently terrible.

- Hi, Sally-Jo. -Oh, hi.

Your choosing of the five most consistent--

I know, it didn't take very long.

I've gone for these five. I like the surface decoration on these.

You look like you've chosen your five then.

Well, when you say choose...

it was kind of more of a necessity.

Should I rephrase it? Looks like you've been forced

into plumping for those.

The potters now have 90 minutes to decorate

their five vases with any glazes or oxides they choose.

I'm mixing some wax with oxide,

which is a good idea,

so I can wax and oxide at the same time.

Oxides are metals and they're used to color glazes.

On this bottle here, you can see

there are patches of bluey greeny color,

and that's copper oxide.

You can use gold chloride, you can use silver nitrate,

and there are all kinds of effects

that you can get from these metal oxides.

Can I put clear over this?

Yes, you can. It's not particularly good, though.

- Why? -You'll just get

flushings of a pale brown.

I did some yesterday and I have exactly that.

- What, with this under clear? -Under clear, yeah.

Do you know what, I've done quite a bit of raku.

I have been giving my words of wisdom.

Not that they want them particularly but...

After a disappointing spot test,

Jim's raku experience might be about to pay off.

The secret of raku is not to be too contrived.

You've just got to dollop it on

and it's one of hose spontaneous,

splash it on kind of approaches that really works.

Some potters are planning

to leave areas unglazed.

Just getting my wax on.

Covering sections with wax or masking tape.

'Cause I'm putting wax resist on,

when I dip it into the glaze,

they won't be glazed, so that once you fire them,

they carbonize and become black.

The difference between the wax resist

and the masking is obviously you've got more control,

and you can get more sort of curves

and stuff with the wax, whereas

the masking tape is quite linear.

Just trying to make them look a little bit more elegant.

Something that I struggle with.

People have described my pots as being quite characterful.

Rather than handles, I use dimples in the forms.

They're quite jolly pots and I tend

to use quite bright colors to decorate the pots.

I have trouble with decoration and glazing.

That's when I can get really frustrated,

and it's never quite as good as I imagine it to be.

You've got to get them on really thick,

glazes with raku. That's the one tip

that I kept reading, make sure your glaze is on thick enough.

I'm just waxing the bases of a couple

of them that are gonna be dipped.

Tom won the spot test with a minimalist approach,

and he isn't about to change strategy.

I like the simple black and white,

and I like the contrast between the two,

so heavy reduction on black and white crackle.

And then this one I'm still,

I'm gonna play with a little bit.

Raku's traditionally Japanese,

so I've gone for a slightly Japanese theme,

and I'm gonna put a Japanese character in here

to symbolize a Japanese tea ceremony.

I really love minimal aesthetics,

I love minimal use of color,

but the right color at the right time.

And so I think a considered careful

modern approach is something I love to create.

But on the other side, I love organic forms,

I love things that are asymmetric

and inspired by nature, and I think

this complete diversity in the styles

that I like probably does reflect a bit in me.

I find it very hard to pinpoint

one thing that I like. I love everything.

I think the key to raku is to keep it really simple actually.

It's all about the firing and the luster

you get from that, so I don't think

it pays to be too fussy.

I've got a few different things

that I'm gonna try with the glazes.

Hopefully that will cover some of the fact

that the pots aren't quite so perfect themselves.

I might be able to claw back some points.

Hi, Tom.

Are you feeling quite confident with taking

this forward now?

Raku is entering into the unknown for me,

so I'm really excited about it.

It sounds really tribal and wild like flames--

I've seen it on TV, and I've read books,

but we both know that's not good enough.

So we'll see. I'm looking forward to it.

Half way through, potters. Half way through.

Oh my God.

I don't actually know how

the detail is gonna come out in the firing.

It may just run and turn into nothing,

or it may stay and be quite a nice little symbol.

Good time to try.

Despite his experience, Jim's now

struggling with the spontaneity

that great raku glazing demands.

I mean, I'm quite tight with my design work anyway,

and this is an area where I can't be neat

and tidy and tight with the design.

But even these are a little bit tight actually.

I should be splashing it and really

going for it, but I can't help myself.

With raku, you never really know what you're gonna get,

so you can plan it all out absolutely perfectly,

you put it through the kiln and it will never come out

how you expect it to.

Well, I'm sure there's like raku masters

that can get fantastic control and stuff

but I'm not one of them.

10 minutes left, guys, 10 minutes left.

I'm so behind as usual.

Here I've put a clear glaze over some

other glazes that I've dripped on.

Hopefully the glazes will just keep

layering up over each other and create

some interesting effects, but they might just make a mess,

so we'll see.

It's gonna run and it's just not

gonna leave a thick enough coating of glaze.

For his final vase,

Tom's hoping to repeat another technique

that helped him win the spot test.

I'm gonna try and dry out some glaze so that I can thicken up.

I really don't know if this is gonna work.

As long as I can get it nice and thick.

I've only got a little bit though,

so I haven't got much to play with.

There you go, that's better.

Having messed around with it, I'm now gonna mess up the pot.

If you can imagine where the clay is bare,

it'll be black, and where you've got

the glaze, it'll be white.

All that fuss for just a few drizzles.

I tend to be a bit heavy-handed

with the decorating, so keep your fingers crossed.

I'm always last at this, I don't know what's wrong with me.

20 seconds left, guys.

I'm done when the bell goes.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Times up, guys. Time is up.

I'm done now.

While their glazes dry, Kate and Keith

have one final challenge for the potters.

The master potters of Stoke needed

a sharp eye for form and profile

to ensure they could turn out beautiful

identical pots over and over again.

But do any of our potters have the eyes of a master?

I know you were praying that we'd forgotten

about this bit, but we haven't,

'cause it is time now for a throw down.

The challenge today is about observation and profiling.

Keith is gonna throw two candlesticks

and you are gonna copy them.

Once I've thrown them, they will be covered over.

I'll do the smaller one first.

It's about tuning in your eye

and looking at the real detail,

the character and the accent of the profile.

I would make sure that you've got plenty

of water on your hands because you need

that water to actually control the stem

of the candlestick, and you want a nice fluent shape.

So this one's a fairly simple one.

Now make sure you center the clay really well.

It'll be a good 20 centimeters probably.

Wow, it's looking gorgeous.

Okay, guys, complete your sketches of both

candlesticks and write any notes you need to write.

Conceal the candlesticks.

There, I've found my catchphrase at last.

Okay, guys, back to your workstations please.

Two candlesticks, 15 minutes.

Starting from now.

So they're all starting with the small one first.

- Yeah, the easy one. -Get warmed up, yeah.

They're centering it.

Kneading the clay, getting a nice

consistency throughout the stem so they can profile it.

Who seems to be going okay then?

Jane's started modeling hers.

She's really looking at her book.

Matthew's got a lovely cup shape at the top of his.

Yeah.

It's always best to do the delicate bit at the top first,

so you've got all that support underneath it.

They really need nice even pressure

on all sides of the stem.

Now time-wise, do they need to leave

a bit of extra bit of time for the big candlestick?

I would if I were them, yeah.

Oh, Tom's finished up. Well done, Tom.

Matthew's finished there.

Oh, well done, James.

Halfway through, guys. Halfway through your time!

Oh, bloody hell.

I've totally made mine little.

It's a great challenge actually, tuning in their eyes.

Matthew seems to be getting a nice

bit of height on that one already.

Tom's got a good shape, it's looking

fairly similar to mine.

It's not quite like that but it'll do.

Do keep breathing. It feels like

you've all held your breath for this one.

You've got one minute left, guys.

One minute to finish these candlesticks.

30 seconds left, guys. Then these wheels

need to screech to a halt.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Time is up!

Lift your boards off the wheel, please.

That was really hard.

It looks so easy when he's doing it, doesn't it?

Fun and games.

Has anyone been able to replicate

the profile and form of Keith's original candlesticks?

You've got the general concept on the smaller one.

You haven't left enough meat down in your base.

The big one?

Haven't quite got the height.

You've squeezed too hard and created

those flat flanges rather than the soft bumps.

Initial observations, very, very good.

Well, I think in essence he's got it,

but I was really looking at the difference

between the cups at the top,

and he's actually captured that.

I'm impressed.

You've got the height there, that's pretty good.

Your stems are slightly on the thick side.

We've got the character of it,

but it's just missing that detail.

I think it's a good copy.

A bit too thick on the rim,

but I'm liking all this detail here.

It's obviously not tall enough,

but overall not a bad shape at all.

You know, the general concept of the first one,

you've got it there.

The cup is not quite accentuated enough.

And on the larger one, I would say

the pot on the top is excellent.

If you'd just added a bit more pressure

just underneath it, it would have

given it that bit more finesse.

The smaller one, really, really nice.

I'm amazed, actually,

that he didn't have this in front of him.

It is really good.

It's a really good effort.

Well, we've got a little friend,

haven't we, to the little one.

And I think you're missing that lovely cupness of the bowl.

The large one there, the height's not quite there.

We were testing those powers of observation,

and it's that essence there

which is missing on both of these.

So, who do Kate and Keith feel

has shown a master potter's eye for profile and form?

Seventh place is you, Sally-Jo.

You pulled up too much at the beginning,

and then you also squeezed too hard

when you were trying to make the lumps.

In sixth place is James,

fifth place is Jane and fourth is Sandra.

We're going now to third place, is Jim.

So we couldn't really decide between first and second.

Matthew, you got the cups absolutely right.

Tom, your bases were a bit more defined.

But we couldn't really decide between the two of you.

So there is two first place winners.

Tom and Matthew.

Ah, well done.

Well done.

It's good to know that I'm doing something right.

Well done, boys.

- Thanks. -Another good one,

- another good one! -Well done.

I've never made candlesticks before.

Not sure I will again, but we'll see.

I may well be in jeopardy

of my Top Potter position.

I think the problem is the competition

is just so high and the challenges are really tough,

so, you know, at the end of the day,

if the others are better, which to be honest,

they are, well, then you've just got to be okay with that.

Finally, the long-necked vases

are ready for the raku firing.

An extreme process that for safety

has required our kiln man Rich

to set up specially adapted gas fired kilns

outside the pottery walls.

Almost everything can go wrong with raku.

The pots are usually heated up fairly quickly

compared to most kiln firings, and then you take them out

and they're cooling down in a few minutes.

That's a lot to ask of the piece of clay.

Okay, so who's coming next?

- Matt's up. Well done, Matt. -Matthew.

The first thing that's most likely

to happen is that they'll crack.

If they're not completely dry,

they can explode during the firing. That's quite dramatic.

So it is quite a dangerous occupation.

Who's next?

Sally-Jo, right. Do you wanna grab your pots?

See you, pots.

In the raku process, you fire the material

till it's red hot, and then you take it out

and put it in a container that contains sawdust, let's say...

It reacts with the sawdust,

burns it, generates carbon, so you have

this wonderfully aesthetically pleasing

surface material, generated in a very haphazard way.

Fire her up.

Let's go.

Each potter has picked their own combustible

materials in which to plunge their vases.

What they choose will affect their final look.

I'm gonna make a bed of this sawdust, which is oak.

You are very high-end with your oak shavings.

I love it.

I've got some gorse, some bladder wrack

seaweed and some silage and some manure. Yeah.

So we should get some interesting smells

off that then? And this is a concoction

that you've used before?

No, it's just my countryside.

How lovely to bring your home...

- Well, that what I thought. -to the contest.

The potters must judge when to remove

their red hot vases from the kiln.

Take them out too soon

and the effect of the glaze will be minimal.

Quite nerveracking.

But leave them in for too long

and the glaze will melt and run.

Do you wanna check your time?

I'm all right, I know, it's fine.

You all right? -I know this.

You're a bit too confident,

- mate. -Okay, are we ready?

Here we go.

Oh no!

I meant to do that.

Boom, bounce them about a bit.

Start with these tongs there.

- Yay, woo woo! -That's how you do it.

Don't throw 'em around like that, though.

Nice work.

- Cheers, thank you so much. -Job done, well done.

- Thank you. -It's great.

Okay, let's get these bad boys out.

Am I sweeping up after this?

Quite possibly.

Did we get some clay?

Yeah, there's a bag of clay just over there.

Ah yeah, sweet.

He's getting ready to seal the dustbin lid,

to trap all the air in there.

By closing the lid,

the fire around the vases is starved of air.

It's a process called reduction.

As the air is reduced, the fire feeds

on any remaining oxygen it can find

in the clay or glazes,

producing wild and varied colors and textures.

I'm gonna put the clay around the top

of the lid so I can seal it off from oxygen.

By making a tighter seal,

Matt hopes to achieve an even more intense decoration.

Oh, very dramatic that is.

They're good. How glowy they are.

Glowy?

Oh!

I think James is gonna have a bit

of a squirt with water, which we haven't seen yet.

Spray that.

Ah, oh no!

Oh no, I can't do it.

Matthew and James are leaving

their vases in the open air before the reduction process.

The rapid cooling should force

the surface glazes to contract and crackle.

Well done, Matthew. -They look really cool.

Woo!

Well done, woo woo!

That's it, that's it, there you go.

I can't grip it.

You can do it, you can do it.

Flipping heck.

She's not steady of hands with the tongs.

No, not really.

- Oh! -You're okay, you're okay,

you're okay. Take your time.

Take your time.

That's it, that's it.

Don't worry, you're fine, you're fine, you're fine.

Pick it up, pick it up, Sandra!

Pick it up, it's not lost.

There you go, missus. Right, you got it?

Perfect.

Just took a bit of the bottom off.

It'll be nice, it'll be amazing.

- Broken though. -Don't worry.

It's fine. It's just taken a bit.

It's just the base.

- Oh no. -It's just the base.

It's not the neck.

Away from the heat of the kiln,

some of the potters are planning to dunk

their pots in water whilst they're still hot.

- Whoa. -Whoa!

This should bring out the colors in the glazes,

but it does come with its own risks.

Shall we do this?

Yeah, are you just gonna lower it in?

Is there gonna be some sizzling and cracking?

Not a great deal, but I'm gonna have

to find the pots first of all.

- Okay. Here we go. -There it is.

Are you gonna submerge it completely in a minute?

I am, yeah.

Oh, easy goes it.

Look at all that black on there, wow.

I know, I've gotta be careful, I'm gonna lose that, way.

Oh!

Get a grip round the belly for that one.

Whoa!

It's all right, it bounced.

They're all cracked. Look, there's a great

big crack on that one. That's a shame.

It's only that one that's cracked, isn't it?

No, they're all cracked. Look. Oh, blimey.

I'm gonna have to live with that now.

Just clean up time.

What do you reckon, mate? You happy?

Yeah, it looks all right. Yeah, it's good.

Are you gonna put them in the water?

- No. -Why not?

Because they'll probably crack.

- Yeah, do you think? -Yeah, I do.

Finally the vases need to be cleaned

to reveal the full effects of the raku firing.

A lot of the pots have been coming out quite black--

Absolutely.

It's obviously all in the scrubbing

- and the scouring-- -Yeah.

I mean, we still don't know what lies under that sheen.

And that's the wonderful thing.

So you immerse them in the water,

you start scrubbing away at them,

and all of a sudden this whole thing emerges.

A lot of the black comes off and it just kind of reveals color.

A bit better than I expected actually.

Overall, I just wish I'd made nicer pots to start with.

Well that has a pretty terminal crack on the base of that pot,

and that is from cooling too quickly.

We'll have to see what the judges think, won't we?

Regardless of whether they like it or not,

I'm so proud of myself because I've never

got a pot all the way through to raku like this,

so it's a real achievement.

With the vases buffed up,

all that remains is for Kate and Keith

to decide whose will keep them

in the competition, and whose will send them home.

I'm a bit nervous about the judging this afternoon.

I only made seven out of the 10 vases.

Last in the throw down. Not great,

but hopefully my second place in the spot test will help.

I've come joint last, I dropped a vessel,

I've come fourth.

- It's not good, is it? -I suppose I'm a bit worried.

I don't really want to go home yet.

I think the judges' comments have all been fair,

but I'm just not quite ready to go.

Well, potters, that raku firing was a bit exciting, wasn't it?

Now all the smoke has cleared,

let's have a look at your long-necked vases please.

Tom, you're up first for judging.

What I'm seeing here is a nice concept in shape.

They're all looking pretty consistent

in shape and form, and I'm really loving the crackle.

And I've picked up my favorite one of the five,

immediately it sprang to me.

But I remember you really composing yourself

into this sort of spring, and then doing

this simple, which can look affected,

but it is effective, and it's a really beautiful piece.

The crackle has gone off really nicely on this,

and I think what you've done with the base

is really nice because we asked you

to finish them off on the wheel.

We know you were asked to make 10 vases,

and you didn't manage to fulfill that challenge at the beginning,

so you had less to choose from.

What I'm sort of frustrated about

is that I'm looking at the back of the room,

and I'm seeing one of the forms that would

have sat better with these four than this one.

And not only that,

but you've coincidentally

decorated this one the most different

from all the others, so it stands out even more.

It really is like the black sheep of the family.

- Okay. -What I think these four

are lacking is a clarity

of the message that you're trying to put over.

So, when you were throwing, you should

have been thinking about the edges

that you wanted and the finish.

And it's the same with the decoration.

Did you want the glaze to end here?

Or did you want it to stagger up?

I think it's an incredible achievement

that you've managed to do this

with your first ever raku,

but the brief was for five very similar forms.

They're all very consistent.

We have an unfortunate mishap here.

We saw this, didn't we, in the raku?

I have to say, considering you found this

a real challenge, they are quite remarkably similar.

I'm increasingly amazed by your resolve.

This is a good sign, by the way, when he reacts like this.

Form's really strong. You did well

on the forms, on the original task,

and the glazes are illustrating all sorts

of different crazing, different color,

but there's a clarity between the set.

I'm really pleasantly surprised.

Yeah, I'd like to congratulate you.

Jane, will you bring your vases forward, please?

What a lovely communicative set,

and I love the way that your pattern

has continued from the outside inside.

There's a great sense of energy.

I'm loving the shape.

The only thing I would mention is,

I'm not sure if the blue fleck really adds anything to it.

In fact if anything, it probably hides the crackle glaze.

It looks like you've finished it and then you've gone,

"Oh my God, what else should I do?

Quick, do a bit of fleck on it."

Very definite shape and form.

And it's interesting actually

because the surface design of all these

is quite sparing actually.

There's a lot of black going on here.

I probably would have wanted to see

more of the raku glaze really giving

its own characteristics to the pot.

You haven't let the glaze let loose.

And I think each one has bits that work

but I'm really looking for one where

all the bits work. And you, I think,

have a big experience with raku.

Thanks very much, Jim.

We know that you didn't complete

the 10 that you made, and you selected five.

Although they're quite different

and we're missing some long necks here, very clearly

I think you've done really well with the glazing.

We know you struggle with your throwing,

if that's okay to say?

Yep, lack of experience.

But, you know, in this task

you sort of pulled them altogether.

Despite the fact of the lack of long necks,

I think you've pulled them up with your surfaces.

You were the only one that used two pointers

on your wheel to get your width and also the height.

Obviously it's kept you in good stead

because they are very uniformed.

There's a very definite shape to them,

and they do look like a set of five,

which is really, really good.

Beautiful texturing on the surface.

That sense of raku, there's so much life in that.

And the copper has reduced so well, hasn't it?

- Yeah. -This sort of speaks

of raku even at its best.

I mean, you know, it really does look alive.

It looks like something out of the barrier reef.

I think I'll take this one home.

Thank you.

Okay, potters, you can go and have a well-earned

breather now and recover from that judging session,

'cause Kate and Keith

have gotta collect their thoughts

and decide who is gonna be Top Potter,

and who is gonna be leaving the pottery. Off you go.

I'm really pleased they liked the vases,

but I didn't throw 10 and I haven't

done well in some of the other challenges,

so I still think there's a high chance

that it's gonna be me leaving the pottery.

The judges kind of went to town on those,

didn't they, those vases in there,

but that's their job,

is to compare and contrast us all, so yeah.

But they weren't good enough.

I didn't want to cry on camera.

But I didn't quite cry, I just kind of...

Some tears rolled down, didn't they?

It's just Keith.

He makes me cry!

Who's looking good this week?

Well, I'd start with Tom.

A concise set.

He was joint top, wasn't he,

with the throw down, the candlesticks as well?

He was. And his spot test

with the slip decoration was, well, spot on.

But we have to have a look at Matthew, don't we?

We certainly do.

Matthew's shapes are brilliant, and also consistent throughout

the spot test and the throw down.

We've really seen him come on a good path.

Who do you think has had a tough time?

There's Jim. He was the most confident one.

Kind of let me down.

He really scrimped on the glazes.

Now for the much tougher decision,

who's gonna leave the pottery?

That is a toss-up between James and Sally-Jo.

They both find it hard with their throwing,

and probably Sally-Jo more than James.

Really it was down to the fact

that they hadn't completed their 10 vases at the beginning.

And why oh why did James just

go for that black sheep of the family?

Why didn't he choose one of his other bottles?

Any one of the other bottles would have been better.

It's really tough to decide between these two actually.

Well, guys, as always you've got tough decisions to make.

Yeah, we have, haven't we?

Yeah, yeah.

The judges have had a really good look

at your raku fired long-necked vases,

and they've also taken into consideration

your achievements in both the spot test and the throw down.

And so they've come to their decisions,

and first we'll have Top Potter, please.

Yes, well, Top Potter this week has shown us

a very good consistent 10 long-necked vases.

They showed us a very good technique

in the firing skills needed for raku firing,

and they've shown us a real boldness

and bravery with their decoration.

So, Top Potter this week goes to...

Matthew.

Well done, Matthew.

Well done, mate. Brilliant.

And now I'm left with the much tougher task.

The judges have made their decision,

and the person leaving the pottery is...

James.

Very good.

No worries.

The competition is just so high.

Ultimately I've got way further than I thought

I was going to get, so I'm feeling fine about it.

It was a tough call between James and Sally-Jo.

His decoration really wasn't up to it,

and we know he struggles with his throwing.

Basically, Sally-Jo got through with the skin

of her teeth because of her surface design.

I was worried all day that it was

gonna be me leaving the pottery,

but I think the slip decoration and also the decoration

on the raku bottles have saved the day.

Oh my little James, I'm gonna miss you so much.

There were several damaged bits on the pots

and all that, and I just thought,

they may well come down on me for this

because I'd already bigged myself up so much.

I'm grateful to have scraped through to next week.

It was such a tough decision for potter

of the week, and what really did it was

that Matthew took risks and it paid off.

If Kate wants one of my vases then it'll be nice

to swap and have one of hers.

It would...

I think that'd be a fair trade.

It's been absolutely incredible.

It's been the best thing I've ever done

in my entire life, and I would do it all again tomorrow.

Next time.

You can feel the tension in the room.

The potters...

I'm loving this. I love you.

have to try and become sculptors.

It's just that decision.

Scary, scary, scary.

And build the largest clay.

creations they've ever attempted.

Sure they didn't say five inch?

A spot test...

It's going on.

that keeps on growing.

I was hoping they would look like strawberries,

but they don't really.

And one of the fastest throw down

challenges that Kate and Keith have ever set.

- You have 10 minutes. -Shut up.

But who's emerging as a potential champion potter?

I actually trained making flower pots.

I imagine you've got a nice outdoor area.

And who's about to miss out

on a place in the semi-final?

Why've I burst out into a sweat? It's ridiculous.

It's not a good look, is it? Trying to stay cool.

Is it because you're not fit

that you're sweating so much, Tom?

Still quite hot, aren't you?

You noticed.

Should have brought a mankini for this challenge.