Original subtitles

and our nine remaining potters

are facing the fiery favorite, raku.

We're asking them to make a Japanese tea set,

so in honor of that I thought we'd do

a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

But then I remembered we're in Stoke,

so instead we're doing

a traditional British tea ceremony.

Oi, oi! Brew's up!

It's beautiful.

Last time...

the potters aimed for hometown glory in porcelain.

It's just not according to plan today.

Tom's love letter to historic Bath impressed.

It's hollow in the bottom, so you can post them and get them out again.

But it was Nick's exquisitely detailed

Barry Harbour shipwreck

that saw him crowned potter of the week.

It's beautiful. It almost looks like an etching.

And whilst Miles's Tenbury Wells apple did go sour...

It's not working. I can't show that.

...the wheels fell off Josh's bid to stay in the competition

and he became the third potter to leave the pottery.

- So what you drinking first? - Gonna have a load of shots.

- This time... - Whoo.

...the potters are heading east...

God, I'm nervous.

...to throw exquisite Japanese tea sets.

Come on, stick.

There's a surprise spot test...

That's it, get into a nice rhythm.

...with a social media sensation.

- Oh, Florian. - That's the usual reaction.

And for the first time this series...

- Goggles! - Goggles.

...the potters will be firing their own work...

- Take 'em out. - Now, now, now.

...in one of the most violent

and unpredictable processes in ceramics.

Oh, my goodness, this is madness.

- Raku. - Fingers crossed. If I could.

Where's my lid? Oh, you swine.

Our nine remaining potters are back in Stoke

for a week unlike any other.

I love raku!

I can't wait to get all goggled up and get hot.

- There's flames. - It burns.

It's just the magic of actually seeing your pots

being fired in front of you.

Feeling very raku-y.

Is that a word?

Good morning, potters, and welcome back to the pottery.

Now it's time for one of our favorites, raku week.

The judges would like you to throw

a decorative Japanese tea set,

including a teapot and four matching bowls.

We want you to throw your tea set,

but we're not asking for any handles.

Tea bowls don't have handles,

and the teapot doesn't wanna have a handle made of clay,

it wants to be a bespoke handle

with a material that you've found or handmade.

Think about the shape and form of your teapot and bowls.

Not only do they need to be Japanese inspired,

but you need to be conscious of how you're gonna

get those shapes out of the heat of the raku kiln.

We will give you gloves and tongs,

because we're kind like that.

You have four and a half hours

to make and refine your Japanese tea sets.

Potters, get potting.

There's actually a lot going on with this.

It's all about throwing ability,

making something that's gonna withstand the raku process.

The dark art of raku will see the potters' work rapidly fired

in 1,000-degree heat before being transferred, red-hot,

into highly combustible materials

where the flames will trigger incredible reactions

in any glazes and oxides,

as well as potentially producing

a carbonized crackle surface.

You've literally got flames and your eyeballs,

and that's how you work out if it's ready.

So it's like the elemental side of pottery,

and I think everyone loves that.

Yes! I love a bit of raku.

It's that fire clay, the glazes, the reaction.

It's great.

I wanna see some kind of continuity throughout the set.

The challenge is gonna be to tie the teapot form

and the bowls together.

For example, this piece here,

you've got a very squared-off teapot,

but the colors draw the two pieces together.

I mean, one of the main concerns for me

is the lugs that they're putting on for the handle.

Are they strong enough?

Are they robust enough to stay on the teapot

throughout that firing process?

So that build has to be really competent.

- Hi, Nick. - Morning. How are we?

Are you riding high on last week's potter of the week?

I was until I sat down and got going again.

Oh, no! Why?

It's just like hit reset and you've gotta go again and...

Yeah, don't rest on your laurels.

What are you making today, Nick?

I am making a contemporary Japanese teapot,

going for, like, a coastal theme.

Nick's sleek contemporary form and homemade acrylic handle

will be contrasted by organic washes of blue glaze

inspired by the crashing waves of his local beach.

Living by the sea, you are drawn

towards what you're used to, aren't you?

And is a teapot something you've made before?

- No, it's the first teapot. - Oh.

Yeah, first teapot,

first time with this clay,

and then first raku.

You always remember your first.

I will.

All the potters have begun with throwing their teapots.

I'm just doing the main teapot shape first,

and then going in with my fingernails

to get those throwing lines in.

What a time to make my first teapot.

Whilst Nick is aiming for seaside chic...

That's better.

...Lucinda is staying on dry land.

I'm thinking about where I live,

so everything's based on the soft contours of the hills.

Lucinda's bulbous teapot and bowls

will feature copper glazed hills

against a moonlit carbon black sky,

and her handles should get her even closer

to her beloved Shropshire.

Up on the Long Mynd,

there's a lot of really interesting bits of heather.

Right, yeah.

This is the one I'm hoping to go for.

- Right. - But what I found in...

Not much play.

If you put your lugs directly opposite each other,

it does fit at an angle.

You seem to have lots of measurements.

- Yar. - Hopefully that handle'll fit.

Hopefully it will.

Unless the potters throw their teapots with thin walls,

it'll be uncomfortably heavy to use,

or, worse, the thick clay could explode

in the intense raku firing.

It's very easy to make a crap teapot.

But too thin and the wet clay

won't be able to support their chosen forms.

It's gone, hasn't it? It's too thin. You're coming off.

I have thrown a teapot before. It was very wonky.

And I never tried it again after that.

Anna's second ever teapot and her bowls

will see a smooth crackle glaze surface,

contrasted with a subtly colored,

roughly torn and ripped clay at the base.

I kind of want to have that organic feel to it.

When I was looking at Japanese pottery,

and I'm gonna pronounce this,

there's sabi and wabi, I think it's called,

probably horribly pronounced,

but one of them's about simplicity,

and the other one's about things not being perfect.

It just connected with me immediately when I read it. Ah!

Although she's had to start again...

Whoo. That wasn't supposed to happen.

...Anna won't be alone on the path to wabi-sabi.

So I'm trying to have a contrast of almost machined textures

with organic, soft, wavy kind of forms.

Tom's perfectly round teapot

will join irregular organically formed tea bowls

for a monochrome set that will be brought together

with simple crackle glaze circles.

And you've done raku before, have you?

Yes, I was at a festival

and everyone else was drinking vodka for breakfast,

and I went, "I'm gonna do something different with my day."

- Well done. - I did a raku workshop.

- OK, yeah, yeah. - It was brilliant.

- With vodka? - No, no vodka, unfortunately.

No, no, no. I had vodka later.

- Oh, right, like it. - Are you uplifted?

Someone said to me the other day, they said, "Go your way."

- Ooh, nice. - Wow.

I'm gonna put that on a motivational tea towel.

I like a motivational tea towel.

Who doesn't, Tom?

Live, love, laugh.

Dance like no one is watching.

While most of the potters have been aiming

- - for a smooth surface... - That's not too bad.

...Jenny has begun destroying hers.

My process involves faceting them,

so using a wire to cut through.

Now, obviously that has a risk in it,

because you can sort of cut bits off.

Jenny will echo her risky faceting

in all four of her tea bowls,

and the base of everything she throws

will also be completely disfigured.

The base is gonna be all carved in a kind of Kurinuki style,

which is where you break bits off,

so it's a much rougher bottom.

- Hello, Jenny. - Hi.

What's the vibe with the bunchies

going on in the room today?

We just thought it's a fun week,

so we'd go for a bit of fun with our hair.

- Whose idea was this? - I can't remember.

- Christine. - Was it Christine?

- Yeah. - She's an influencer.

Actually, Nick has hair long enough, and he's not partaking.

He's very worried about what the people of Barry

would think of him.

It's not gonna happen.

No one touches my hair.

My inspiration comes from trips

that I've done over the years to Japan.

I love Japan.

So it's about bringing in indigo,

'cause the Japanese are so great at working with denim,

and whenever I've gone to Japan, it's just a feast.

As a clothing designer, Miles has been inspired

by the denim outfits he created while working in Japan.

He's planned a crackle glazed riot of indigo

on exposed carbon black surfaces.

Have you done a Japanese tea ceremony?

- I have, yeah, in Kyoto. - How was it?

You feel very humbled and quiet and... and calm and...

How long does it last?

It lasted probably about an hour.

Oh, OK. That's quite a long time to wait to get a cup of tea.

Potters, you're halfway through.

Just like me and this plate of biscuits.

There comes a point when I don't know when to stop.

Check that out.

Got a lot more work to do, obviously. I've got the spout.

As well as spouts and lids...

I wanted to make it nice and clean, crisp lines.

...the potters still need to find time to throw tea bowls

in keeping with their overall design.

I'm just popping the dimple in and then re-centering the top.

I just really like tea bowls with dimples in them.

They're just... They're so nice to hold.

AJ's dimpled tea bowls will complete a set

harmonized with visible throwing lines

and copper green decoration,

featuring a Scottish heather motif.

You look back at, like, ancient pottery

and you can still see, like,

the fingerprints of the potters who made them.

It's just something about the human element

fired into a pot that I really like.

If I was Keith, this would be the thing that I would cry over.

Just keeping an eye on the size.

Without constant measuring, the potters won't be able

to deliver the uniform tea bowls

that the judges have demanded.

Ooh, far too big.

I'm throwing eight cups, because there will be four

that will look like more of an obvious set than the others.

So I've got six tea bowls, nice angular edges.

And whilst Anna and Tom are still aiming

to balance perfection with imperfection...

It's just imperfectly imperfect.

It's just, like, there's a limit, innit?

That's for the bin. There we go.

...Cellan's approach seems a little more precise.

It's just a pointer.

I'm measuring off two points for my cups,

and the bottom edge is gonna be the same diameter,

the top will be the same diameter.

They won't be exactly identical,

but it will make them more uniform.

Cellan's precisely thrown angular tea bowls

will reflect the profile of his teapot,

and his whole set will have an asymmetric decoration.

I'm curious how these are all leaving the surface,

'cause these seem to come down to a point.

Yeah, so my cups don't actually have a flat bottom.

They're gonna be coned all the way, so they will wobble around.

- Like a ship's tumbler? - Yeah, yeah, kind of, yeah.

I guess you've got to, on a practical level,

judge that angle correctly,

'cause you don't want it to be, like, dump everything out.

- No, so I'm not gonna do it... - We wanna drink some tea.

I looked at Japanese tea sets,

and I liked the ones that were almost like a bowl,

so I've used that shape.

I've got some cherry blossom on there,

which is synonymous to the Far East.

I was in Hong Kong, like, years ago, in March,

and all the cherry blossoms were out.

It was just amazing.

Christine is gambling on applying

multiple heavy layers of unstable glazes

to get the colors of her cherry blossom design to bloom.

And that's not the only thing that could work against her.

I'm really looking forward to raku week, 'cause I've never done any.

- Wow, OK. - Because it's really new,

my ideas have been flitting back and forth constantly,

like, will this work, and does that work,

and how does it work, you know?

I'm putting underglaze on very thick,

because I've heard it can burn out in raku.

Obviously there's potential for the colors to change

because it's going into that kind of combustible reducer.

I think it's all gonna be quite, um... new.

Well, you know, ignorance is bliss.

Sometimes you can come at a different process

with a totally naive way of looking at it,

but actually that can work in your favor.

- Good luck. - Thank you.

- And we'll see what happens. - Yeah.

- Cheers, Christine. - Thanks, Christine.

OK, thank you.

One hour to go, guys.

Whoo, that's quick.

The potters still have a daunting to-do list.

This is very delicate.

Before the time runs out,

they'll have to refine all of their pieces...

Not a lot of time, to be honest,

with how much I need to do.

...complete any construction work,

and get their tea set in the drying room

ready for the first firing.

There's quite a lot to do, spout, handle, lugs.

I've gotta get my lid to fit. I forgot about the lid. Ugh.

But while some potters are aiming for a flawless finish...

This should help, like, burnish it.

Start with this guy.

...Tom is still in search

of the perfect imperfection.

You don't want it sharp.

No one wants to drink out of a sharp edge.

But you don't want it thick either.

Also, it's raku, so it might blow up.

And he's not the only one.

This is where I just kind of wanna cut and tear off,

and cut and tear off, and cut and tear off,

and just get that torn look almost.

I'm literally just giving myself a marker

for where to take my carving to.

There is a risk of me cutting right through.

Oh, God, I'm nervous.

I'm just gonna take a bit away at a time,

but this is obviously where

I could very, very easily carve through the whole thing.

Ooh, nearly went through there.

That is half an hour to go, guys, or T-minus 30.

Come on, stick.

But every teapot needs a spout...

What I want to do is make sure this fits well.

Come on.

...and a handle.

Now I'm gonna work on the lugs.

Fiddly.

And with her twisted Shropshire stick...

Ah!

...Lucinda's lugs can't afford

to be even a millimeter out of position.

So they've basically gotta lock in place,

but because it's a little bit crooked,

I've got to work out where to put the next lug

to make sure that it actually... fits more straight.

The lugs are in line with each other

and dead in line with the spout.

I might have to just take out a little bit

to accommodate that... that knobbly bit.

I'm gonna have to just cut a little bit out of that.

Not thrilled about my lugs. Too late now.

Ten minutes, guys, you've got ten minutes

to get your things in the drying room.

I'm feeling very tight for time right now.

OK...

While some potters are ready

to head to the drying room...

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

...Christine is risking some last-minute refining.

I'm using a slip trailer and I'm drawing flowers.

I'm doing it free-hand.

'Cause I'm nervous, it's quite shaky,

and I like the look it's giving me.

- Come on, everyone. Go, go, go. - It's squeaky bone time.

Yes, Miles, that's what I wanna see. Yes, Jenny.

Yeah, it's not as pristine and controlled

as I may do on my own work.

- Lucinda, how are you? - I've got to do the decoration.

I could do with another half an hour.

I can't give you another half an hour.

I've got quite a bit to do on the teapot.

One minute, everyone. One minute.

- Definitely freaking out. - Come on, Tom.

- Sort your life out. - Yeah, yeah. I am faffing.

- I am faffing. - Well done.

Oh, well done, lovey. Well done, Tom.

Looking good.

You know we wanted sugar bowls as well, don't you?

Yeah!

Right, everyone, that's it, time's up!

I could have done with an extra ten minutes.

Yes, I could have done with another half hour easily.

Time was very short. It really just flew by.

Got it cleaned up just about.

I even managed to get the slip trailing done,

and I literally only had a few minutes to get that done.

I'm not concerned about the lugs shrinking.

I've made room for shrinkage.

After they've been left to dry,

Rose will take the tea sets for their first bisque firing

to harden the clay ready for decoration.

Well, I managed not to slice through

any of my bits and pieces.

I don't think there will a problem

in the bisque firing, hopefully.

But, who knows, sometimes the drama inside the kiln

can make things go "pooooh!"

The potters' second challenge

is, as ever, a mystery wrapped in hessian.

But this week there's another twist.

Potters, we're joined by a very special guest today,

master potter and social media sensation Florian Gadsby.

- Hello.

Hi.

Master ceramicist Florian Gadsby

is followed by over 2.6 million people on social media.

World-renowned for his beautiful tableware,

he completed an apprenticeship in Japan

before setting up his own studio in London.

Guys, any idea what Florian may be showing you today?

- Handle pulling? - Handles.

You're not wrong.

So, we're gonna begin with this block of clay.

What I do is work it into something

which is thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom.

Then I'll pull from here to create the length,

which will then be separated into the blanks.

One hand nice and wet, hand grasping it at the top,

pulling it down with the same pressure

applied throughout the entire pull,

so you don't come off prematurely,

otherwise you end up with a thickness at the bottom.

So then it gets longer and longer.

Oh, Florian!

- That's the usual reaction.

- Crikey, that's massive.

Once it's kind of long enough,

I snip off each handle blank.

Once the potters have pulled and cut their handles to size,

they need to securely score and slip them onto the mugs.

Basically, at this point, what you want is a handle blank that stays on,

and then squeeze and pull.

You want to be quick with your motions.

If you work really slowly,

you won't actually move the clay at all.

Once I'm happy with the length, I take the bottom,

and I just gently let it flow into place.

Because of the angle it's joining,

you can smear a lot more clay either side.

- And that's it. - Wow.

Right, this challenge is gonna be judged blind,

so you three need to go away and talk about kilns or something.

You have 20 minutes to throw 10 identical handles.

Your time starts now. Remove the hessian.

Oh, my God.

I like pulling handles,

so I'm quite excited about this, actually.

It's gonna be a messy challenge.

I don't do much handles,

and I tend to... not to pull them.

Very exciting to have Florian here.

I can't believe we've just seen him in the flesh

and that he's gonna be then judging our handles.

Don't wanna disappoint him.

Ooh, he said do it fast.

That's it, that's it, get into a nice rhythm.

I've pulled enough of these blanks to do 11.

- Five. - Oops.

That is a lot smaller than the rest of them.

Already I can see I've got different sizes there,

so I'm gonna just pull a few more.

I think it's about quality, not quantity.

It just dropped on the floor.

You've scored and slipped them all in a row,

like you're a little production line.

Well, I've got to try and get ten done.

This is kind of production line,

and it's not something I'm used to.

I don't know how I'm gonna get that finesse

with my big banana fingers.

- Jenny. - Hello, Ellie.

- I can't look at you. - Don't look at me.

Look at the handle. You were so excited when Florian walked in.

I know. I've followed him for ages. His work's amazing.

Have you ever slid into his DMs?

- No, I've made comments. - What comments have you said?

"Ooh, great pot," like that sort of thing? Heart emoji.

- "How did you do this?" - Ooh.

- Are you all right, Christine? - Yep, I'm absolutely fine.

Ooh, you've got two done already.

- Terrible, terrible, terrible. - Oh, man.

That's halfway through! You've had half of your time!

So really you should have five done.

Thanks, Ellie.

Halfway through and only one done,

and it's not even done particularly well.

I'm on my third. It's about getting them the same.

I've done one. I've got a lot to do.

I'm speeding up. I'm gonna go for quantity rather than quality.

You've got a real definite style.

I keep on forgetting what the definite style is.

- Just sort of square but round. - Square but round, that's it.

This one does not look nice at all.

As the DJ in my local nightclub used to say,

five minutes to get pulling.

- Five minutes, five cups.

So could be better, could be worse.

Oh, dear, that's not even on straight.

I think I've got the knack of this now.

Never stops talking and he's on his eighth.

They seem pretty consistent to me.

One minute to go!

You have one minute to go!

Oh, man. Right, that's coming off.

- Disaster. - Oh.

I'm not gonna do it in 30 seconds.

- Oops. - Last couple.

Ten seconds to go.

Sod it. I'm gonna attach in a different place.

That's just a silly one.

Three,

two, one!

Mugs on your ware board, please.

Oh!

- Nine. - Oh, that is just shocking.

What if I accidentally drop the lot of them?

- Ah, thank you so much, Cellan. - That's all right.

Florian will now judge the potters' handles.

Wow. You did well. There's a lot of them.

He's looking for an identical, perfectly pulled set of ten,

but he has no idea whose belong to who.

So, overall, these are nice.

The marks left by the fingers and the thumb,

it's quite nice and consistent.

They're strong, they look like I'd be able

to fit my hand quite comfortably in them.

Perhaps a smidgen too large, but otherwise pretty good.

- OK. - Onto the next.

There are ten. We've got a few that don't match.

The one on the end is a different shape compared to the others.

OK. Board number three.

- Rugged. Robust, these ones. - There's only six mugs here.

There is only six, and the handles are quite chunky.

The joins on the top look quite weak here.

You can see they haven't been stuck on

and refined quite well enough.

OK. Board number four.

So they've gone for low handles.

I quite like a low handle, personally.

You kind of hold it and put your hand under.

It keeps it nice and warm. Quite consistent.

Not too thick, not too thin.

- Nicely pulled. - There's ten of them.

- There's ten of them. - Number five.

Something altogether different. They're a bit square.

They don't look like they've been pulled.

No, it looks like someone's tried

to actually take away the spring out of the handle.

Board number six.

We've got a few varying shapes,

so this one's quite triangular, and that would be fine,

if perhaps they were all like that,

but then we have this one

where the section is sort of a bit square.

So we've got a few different styles.

- Number seven. - These look good.

Tiny bit chunky, but overall they're smooth,

they're neat, consistent.

If we're looking for evenness,

this one has a few angle changes throughout.

It would have been nice to get that fluidity of the spring.

- OK, board number eight. - They're perhaps a bit heavy.

There's quite a lot of clay in this portion,

which means you end up with a handle that's irregular.

- But good number. - And last but not least.

I like the springing upward nature of some of them.

They're thin, which I quite like in handles.

There's a certain finesse to them.

- A delicacy. - Yeah.

That's lovely, isn't it? Nice spring to it.

- But the one on the end... - That's great. That's terrible.

Absolutely terrible.

Thanks, anyone who did that,

'cause it's really made me laugh.

Florian will now rank the potters' handles

from worst to first.

Let's start with ninth, so... well, handles are no easy feat,

but I think generally they're too chunky,

and the relation between them doesn't quite work.

In eighth place... They don't quite have the fluidity.

They don't look like they've been pulled.

In seventh place is Nick, in sixth, Cellan.

Fifth is AJ, fourth Jenny, and in third is Tom.

In second place, we have this one.

Well done. These are really nice.

They're smooth, they're neat, they've got a finesse to them.

- I like them a lot. - Thank you.

So, in first place is this one.

These are lovely, they're so delicate,

and there's such a finesse to them.

- Except for that one. - Except for that one.

- God forbid. - That's just funny.

Handle of shame.

Congratulations, Lucinda. Well done.

I can't believe it. How bonkers is that?

Prosecco tonight.

Second! My streak at the bottom has turned.

I really just didn't wanna come last.

It's slightly upsetting,

because I know that I can do a lot better.

I've put everything I wanted to do into my raku,

so I really hope that the kiln gods are favorable

and it looks as amazing as it does in my head.

The potters' Japanese tea sets have had their first firing.

They'll now have to decorate them with glazes and oxides

in preparation for their main raku firing.

But whether they'll have anything to decorate

is a secret wrapped in hessian.

Potters, you have a range of glazes to use

and two and a half hours to use them.

We'd like all of your surfaces to be decorated,

so give real consideration as to how you'll do that.

And remember this is raku, so to get that perfect crackle glaze,

it starts with the application.

Not too much, not too little.

Very helpful. So, remove the hessian!

It's one piece.

Ooh.

OK.

I'm pretty happy. It's all in one piece.

- Oops. - Jesus.

- What are you like?

The potters now have an opportunity

to create beautiful surface decoration

using any of the underglazes and oxides

available in the studio.

I'm gonna put some underglazes on

to try and see if it gets a burnt red look.

- Right. So that's gonna be red? - So that's gonna be red.

But some of it's going to be carbonized,

so I'm hoping for little speckles of red

coming through in the black.

Lovely. And does your lid go in OK?

Well, I dropped it as soon as I got it, but yes.

I did see you drop it immediately, Anna.

It's very on-brand, though, to be honest.

So I enjoyed it.

Nick's sleekly designed, precise pots

are about to go a little off-brand.

I'm leaning towards the cobalt oxide, and then... chuck it on.

Just wishy-washy kind of thing.

I've got like a lot of, you know, that kind of motion on it,

representing like, you know, motion of the sea.

And he's not the only one freestyling with oxides.

I quite like this sort of working

quite quickly with the color.

Unpredictable and volatile,

controlling the colors produced by oxides in a raku firing

is almost impossible.

I'm gonna paint red iron oxide first.

Hopefully the colors will create the cherry blossom effect.

I've used oxides before, but not in a raku firing.

But they can result in some of the most unexpected

and spectacular decoration in ceramics.

This is cobalt oxide, which will go blue,

if I've got the measurement right.

In my head it's gonna be beautiful.

When it comes out of the raku glaze,

it'll probably look like...

Lucinda is hoping to use oxides

to bring her Shropshire hills alive.

I've got some copper oxide.

I want these hills to have a touch of green.

What's wonderful about them is when they're in water,

the water will immediately go

towards any lines that you've incised,

and it kind of brings out the whole design that you've done.

Key to everyone's design

is combining their oxides and underglazes

with raku's distinctive finish.

This is the white crackle.

Crackle glaze.

When it cools down rapidly,

it crackles, and when you put it in the sawdust

and it all burns off, all these cracks get filled with black,

which just makes this really beautiful effect across the surface

that you can't really replicate anywhere else.

It's just a look that I really like,

so I might make them slightly thicker.

Unlike his fellow potters,

still aiming for perfection and imperfection...

Wabi-sabi for the win.

...Tom's risking using crackle glaze and nothing else.

- Spotties! - Yes.

So you're gonna paint the glaze over the top

and then pull the spots back?

So where I'm putting the spots, the glaze won't stick,

theoretically, and that'll come out black,

and where the glaze goes on it, it'll come out white.

It looks random, but it's not quite random.

I think it looks lovely. It doesn't look grotesque.

No, no. I've made plenty of ugly teapots.

Oh, Tom.

Whilst Tom is working with just the one crackle glaze...

Come on, stick, you sticky sticks.

Stickers.

...for her cherry blossom,

Christine seems to be using

anything she can lay her hands on.

I've mixed all my different shades of pink,

and then I'll just keep building up small areas.

She's used iron oxide for the edges of her flowers,

pink underglaze for the petals,

and she'll cover them

with even more transparent glaze

before adding her crackle.

It's gonna be painted like a watercolor,

but, then again, if the underglaze burns out

at a high temperature under raku,

or doesn't show through the glaze, the oxide should.

You can't guarantee any result with raku,

because you can't control it, so maybe don't try.

Now's the time to experiment, if anything, isn't it?

Or not. In front of the whole nation.

Half an hour to go, everyone. Half an hour.

My mum's old toolbox to the rescue.

I've put three different colors of the cobalt on,

so hopefully you'll get like different gradients of it all,

and then a bit of a flick to get the spots.

Now I'm putting a copper glaze on top.

I'm really hoping that there'll be bits of green.

When you look at the hills,

depending on where the sun is, you get just a hint of color.

You can see a bit of pink where the heather is,

so if it does go pink, that would be lovely.

You know, sometimes these things

look like precious jewels when they work.

Whilst ensuring a colorful finish is important to some...

The glaze I'm painting on at the moment is the white crackle,

and I'm painting it on because I don't want to cover

the transparent that I've put over my flowers.

...Tom is sticking to his monochrome theme.

If you add loads of colors in there,

it becomes overwhelmingly busy.

Dalmatians, right, they wouldn't be better

if they had red paint all over 'em.

They're just black and white. They're still cool.

Even though their decorating time is running out...

I need to stop fiddling, 'cause it's making me go "Whaaa!"

...the potters seem to be more concerned with something else.

- I'm just faffing now. - It looks like a mess.

But I don't really think I wanna do anything else.

Sometimes the messes can be really lovely.

I can be a mess, and I can be lovely.

Sometimes.

- OK, we're done. - Done, I think.

Less is best.

I don't know. Is it, though?

- It is. I think it is. - Is it too simple?

- No, it's beautiful. - Don't second guess yourself.

An art teacher said to me once, "The art..."

No, hang on, what is it? That's right.

"The art is knowing when to stop."

It's the same with drinking alcohol.

Yes.

It's raku day, and it's gonna be epic.

- You can feel the buzz. - Excited about today.

Yeah, I just woke up at 4am going, "Whoo!"

There's gonna be fire, extreme heat,

magic going on in the kilns.

To actually be opening it when it's gonna be, like, white-hot

is kind of scary.

It's gonna be dangerous, there's gonna be smoke,

there's gonna be stuff flying all over the place.

And hopefully no explosions.

The raku kilns are ready for you to load and fire up.

Our raku expert Kevin is on hand to help.

The raku process is really, really intense,

so take great care at putting your pieces

in and out of the kiln.

Temperature and timing is crucial.

You'll be responsible for removing your pieces from the kiln

and also placing them in the combustibles,

so think about the effects you're trying to achieve,

as all of those decisions will affect that.

Right, Miles, Tom, Lucinda,

you are the first to fire your pieces.

We're doing it.

Raku is the most dangerous processes in ceramics.

- Ooh, I love dressing up.

Working in small, tightly controlled groups of two or three,

the potters must take every precaution.

- Great. I'm so glad I'm first. - Yeah.

- - Lucinda... - Yes!

- There we go. - Tom...

Look underneath. It's a giant blowtorch.

- Does sound like a jet engine. - It does, doesn't it?

...and Miles are now on their own.

Only they can move their tea sets.

I'm just hoping I don't break anything.

And it's up to them to decide on firing temperature...

- You're in, you're on. - I'm in.

...and when to remove their work from the kiln.

All right, any last words for your pots?

Good luck, my babies.

Do you have any final words?

- Uh, bye. - Good.

It was nice knowing ya.

Raku can be one of the fastest

and most brutal firings in ceramics.

Yes! Yes.

Reaching 1,000 degrees centigrade

in a matter of minutes.

- What temperature we at, Rose? - We're at 509.

If the potters remove their tea sets

before the glazes have begun to melt in the extreme heat...

- 742. - Ooh.

...they'll get none of the spectacular reactions

raku is famous for.

Once it gets to 1,000, gonna have a sneaky peek.

- Goggles. - Goggles!

I think it needs another...

It needs another little bit. It's not quite...

It's nearly there... It's really nearly there.

How can you tell?

It's molten-y, but it's... it's just melted,

so I'm gonna leave it another... few minutes.

But leave it too long

and the underglazes, oxides and crackle glazes

will become liquid and simply slide off their work.

It's like playing chicken.

I'm gonna trust my gut.

- Don't panic. - Do I look like I'm panicking?

Yeah, that's molten.

The molten glazed pots

have to be removed as carefully as possible.

- Now, now, now, now. - You gonna take 'em out?

- You wanna take a look? - Not yet.

I need this one to be a good one for me today.

Here we go!

Whaa!

Shiny!

- - But the firing isn't over. - It's too much fun.

To generate the carbon

that will blacken their unglazed surfaces...

Ooh, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely.

...every searing hot piece must be delicately placed

in the potters' chosen combustibles.

- That'll be the seaweed.

Each one handpicked to produce unique markings.

This is from the hills.

I'm loving the pagan offerings there. Nice.

If you're happy, I'm gonna turn it off.

Yeah, I'm happy. OK, here we go.

I'm starting to get nervous now.

It's so exciting just seeing everybody else's.

- Yeah. - Jenny.

Ooh.

- You're on. - Oh, my goodness me.

- - It's happening. - Go on, Jenny.

Nice and slowly, Nick. Don't get too excited.

- That don't help, does it? - Sorry.

- Go for it. - Go for it.

What temperature are we on now?

- We're at 960. - 960, OK.

I'm gonna go for 1015.

Even though they can control some aspects of raku...

- 970. - Gonna goggle up.

...the potters will have no idea

how their decoration may be affected...

- All the way? - Yeah.

...once in their combustibles.

That's it. You got it.

- Nice. - Super.

Oh, God, it's hot. Can you see my arms shaking?

I just want it to crackle. I want everything to get crackly.

I'm gonna leave it in there as long as possible, and we'll see.

- Ooh.

A distinct, well-defined crackle

is key to the potters' tea sets.

- OK. - Let's have a look.

Oh, my goodness, this is madness.

But one potter...

Let's go for the big boy.

...is hoping to pull off

three separate decorative effects

at the same time.

Right, Christine, it was 1010 you were going for, right?

- 1010. - And you wanna have a look?

Or you wanna go with 1010?

And it's Christine's first ever raku.

Um, I'll need to have a look, won't I?

Have a look and if it's good, we'll go.

- Yes, yes. - Yeah? All right.

I've got the pink flowers.

I've put some oxides in there, but I also did the underglaze,

so I do want some of that color to be showing through,

and then I've got the white crackle

and then the carbonization underneath each one.

I'll just try and judge it when I take them out.

- Ooh. - All good?

Yes, it's good.

I've got a shine!

Thank you very much.

Ooh, I like the little flower. Right, mind yourself.

This is my biggie.

Ooh, my baby.

Ooh.

It's dead hot, isn't it?

Thank you, Anna. There we go.

Right, that's it. I'm happy with that, yeah.

I could still see those flowers,

so I don't think they've burnt out, so really pleased.

Fingers crossed.

If I could, I'd cross them.

After the brutal firing, the potters must now begin

the delicate process of quenching their pots...

It should hiss.

...and cleaning them to reveal their decorated surfaces.

Look at that green. Whoar.

And what I've done is I've put a little bit of...

whoar, copper oxide and other things on it.

Whoar. That is looking lovely.

Looking lovely. Looking sweet.

Where it's black, that's where it's had the combustibles,

that's where it's carbonized,

which is exactly what I wanted, 'cause it's the night sky.

Ooh, little bit of pink.

There's a little bit of pink in there.

- Oh, my God. - Got my pink. Got my pinks.

How did you manage to do that in raku? Delicate flower in raku.

It's my cherry blossoms.

That's exactly what I was hoping for, yeah.

Also, where I've turned it,

you can see this little series of pinholes here,

which just sort of add to the effect.

If you've got turning lines and rough surfaces,

the glaze pinholes around it.

If I showed you the drawing,

it actually looks quite a lot

like the intended effect.

Yeah, I'm going into judging feeling more confident.

But the same can't be said for all the potters.

Where's my lid?

Ah, my lid's not in one piece.

- It's in two. - That sucks.

There's a big crack in it.

I can't really do anything about it.

And Nick's not the only one discovering problems.

Oh, you swine.

I'm not completely happy with my pots.

I've just got glaze missing all over the place.

Look. Massive great chunks.

I don't really know what's caused it.

I don't know if it's dust on the pot.

I'm not feeling very confident.

Hopefully the rest of it will get me through.

The potters have one final task they must complete...

I'm just slightly adjusting my handle.

...before they face Keith and Rich.

It's amazing how they come alive with the handle. It's just brilliant.

I'm just trying to finesse round this handle

so it's not too ropy-looking.

Most of them are attaching handles to lugs

using wire or string.

Sort of floating there in the air.

But Lucinda's taking an even bigger risk.

Right, hopefully it'll snap in...

without snapping this...

She's attempting to secure her unique, all-natural handle

with precisely positioned bespoke loops of clay.

There you go.

It's that risky.

Oh, bother.

The pressure of trying

to put the bit of wood on

just snapped it.

I'm not gonna be beaten by this.

My lugs have snapped off.

- - Oh, no! - Yeah.

Lucinda now faces presenting the judges

with a tea set that can't pour tea.

I was feeling rather confident.

It's judgment time

for the potters' raku Japanese tea sets.

Tom, come on down.

It's wonderful, Tom. It's absolutely wonderful.

And the teapot as a form, it's just so well contained.

Except for the bloody handle. The handle only needs to be there.

I just wanna be able to get at the lid without fiddling.

You would have been able to.

You've gone for that less is more.

Honestly, attention to detail, it's fantastic.

It works so beautifully as a set.

You can't fault any of it.

And the level of crackle you've got through that raku glaze,

the thickness of the application is spot...

well, spot-on, should I say.

I love these. I love the fact that the rim is uneven.

It works so well with raku. It works so well with the form.

I love the attention to detail that you've done on the bottom.

Honestly, Tom, this really is the best thing you've done.

It's really good, yeah.

As an overall set, it works really well.

It's a very, very strong design.

I particularly like this idea,

'cause it's so nice to hold in your hand.

You're showing the fluidity and the malleability of the clay.

I'm not too sure whether this has worked.

It's a bit stiff for raku for me.

But I think it's a really bold choice of color,

and I think it brings them all together,

that turquoise and that fuming.

I love the stance of it. I think it's just got such presence.

I think all of the angles, the way you've got that sharp edge to the glazed surface,

and then the cups that kind of sit at a slight skew.

The one thing that does leap out at me

is just the fact that you can see

where you've obviously dipped it at an angle,

you've got that double coat of glaze

and that started to bubble.

The first thing I see is proportionality.

The tea bowls are slightly too large for the teapot,

although I do like the tea bowls.

The form that you've got in there is really, really nice.

The teapot, it's a bit sparse in places.

But I wanted it to be predominately black.

The cobalt needed perhaps knocking back a bit

with some manganese or perhaps a bit of red iron.

Cobalt is maybe a little bit too much

and it just looks a bit untidy.

- You've got no lugs. - They're in my pocket.

But I quite like this binding.

We really like it. We think it probably looks better.

Ten out of ten for inventiveness.

It's such a definite, affirmative design.

You've got some lovely lustrous work going on there.

I love the copper.

If you thought about what you wanted to see from a raku firing,

it's those beautiful rich coppers.

Some of the beautiful brushstrokes you've got going through here

and the way that the craze cuts through,

it gives you that effect of a farmed landscape.

It's just beautiful.

That's kind of the best example of a conscious design,

working with all those attributes

that we get with the raku process.

- Thank you. - Very clever.

- I'm not a quitter.

- Well done. - Thank you.

That brushwork has got real energy.

It really feels that it's of the sea.

I love the tea bowls, I think they're a really beautiful form,

and they sit comfortably in the hand.

The teapot, it's a bit too modern for me.

OK, the elephant in the room

is obviously the thermal shock there has split that in two.

And you've taken the choice of using a very synthetic handle

to tie in with the teapot.

For me, it doesn't quite marry up.

We've got the white glaze partially glazed.

We've got the faceting going on.

Then you've got all that kind of attacking it

with color and oxides which hasn't quite worked.

I love some of the mark-making.

I wonder whether some of this thicker underglaze

kind of really sits comfortably with some of that mark-making.

That's what I'd change. That's what I'm disappointed in.

The teapot itself as a form works really well,

but it's a bit of a gym dumbbell in weight, isn't it?

It's no mean feat to throw forms and then cut away those facets.

I like the fact that this texture is different

from the top half of the tea bowl.

That works really, really well.

I would have liked to have seen more reaction there.

Yeah, so would I.

It's just that copper

not really working for you.

- That's a bit disappointing. - Yeah.

I think the application of the glaze is just a bit thick,

and I think you can see that on the teapot,

and then the glaze just doesn't bond properly when you apply it.

Your teapot is quite weighty as well.

We'll go weight training with that and Anna's, I think.

- We'll just, like, you know... - Perfect.

Well, Christine, the subtlety that you've got

with that white glaze and that underglaze

has worked really well.

- It's fantastic. - Thank you.

They're just beautifully made,

and I think the way you've chosen on these tea bowls

to have this beautifully rounded bottom,

that just feels lovely in the hand,

and then this lovely chamfered edge

just so you can put your fingers in it, it's a beautiful form.

I even love the fact that you've done this slip trailing under the surface,

because it just adds to that depth and that feel.

It's just got such a lovely tactile quality to it.

I was so... I was so...

I was so worried about seeing you decorate this,

and I was thinking, oh, she's done it again.

But it's worked so well.

- I'm so relieved for you. - Thank you.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- Thank you. - Well done, lovey.

Yes.

I think I might be staying.

I was a wreck in the early weeks, for goodness sake.

It was like, am I going home? Yes, I think I'm going home.

But now I don't think I'm going.

My mum'll be on the edge of her seat right now watching this.

The only other person that made Keith cry was Christine.

I'm gonna say that makes us in the top two.

I've got a chance, I've really, definitely got a chance,

and if not, I've got a really nice tea pot

to take home with me.

There's definitely still a chance that I could be going.

It feels a bit 50/50. I would really like to stay.

I mean, you know,

you'll have to kind of drag me out, you do know that?

Keith and Rich must now decide

who will be raku's potter of the week

and who will have to leave the competition.

It's so exciting doing raku.

So you had a nice time in the yard?

I had a lovely time watching people burn stuff.

And what was so interesting, and it always is when we do raku,

is that the people that have never done it before

sometimes have beginner's luck, like Christine, for example.

Yeah. Someone else who had a great week was Tom.

Yes, it just felt well thought out, from the form,

to the decoration, to the way he'd executed it.

He really upped his game.

So, Tom and Christine, they also did pretty well

in the second challenge with Florian Gadsby.

- Yeah, second and third. - Yeah, second and third place.

But then first in that challenge was Lucinda,

who also had a great time with the raku,

if it wasn't for her lugs falling off.

- You don't say that every day. - You don't.

But the rest of the design

was really, really strong,

and very purposeful, wasn't it?

Yeah, I mean the copper on those hills, it was just beautiful.

And who do you think didn't have a great week, then?

Unfortunately, Miles didn't really achieve

that sort of great reactions

that you get within the raku firing.

I'm not sure that Nick's handle worked terribly well.

He had this lovely kind of flowing brushwork,

but then this handle was really manmade.

And Jenny, she didn't have the best week either.

The white raku glaze was a bit thick.

The concept was on point. It was just the execution.

Right, I'll leave you to it. You better get "crackling."

- Oh, well done. - Crackle. Crackle glaze.

It's a joke about crackle glaze. OK.

Potters, let's start with the good news.

This week's potter of the week

showed an incredible eye for detail.

The potter of the week is...

Tom. Well done, Tom!

Yeah, brilliant.

- Well done. Well done. - Thank you. Cheers, mate.

Now the rubbish bit.

The person leaving the pottery is...

Miles.

We're so sorry, Miles.

- It's OK. - So sorry, mate.

I will miss you.

Miles, we're gonna miss you so much.

- Yeah, me too.

- Well done. Well done. - Yeah.

That was actually

really sad and really sweet.

- Yeah, thanks, mate.

I learnt so much with being kind of nerding out big time

on all things about ceramics.

You can't do that with normal people.

You can only do that with other potters.

So it's been amazing.

And they're all such a lovely bunch of people.

I'm gonna miss them so much.

You've been such a fantastic presence in the studio.

You've just got just a wonderful aura about you,

and I just wish you all the luck in the world in your making,

and it's just such a loss to see you go.

Oh, gosh. I'm just gutted to see Miles go.

He's just been such a support.

I expected to go.

I feel a bit guilty that I haven't gone.

He's a legend. He was like the glue to our group.

You know, he bound us all together and was so funny.

He's had me in stitches, he has.

Tom's stunning raku tea set

is the fourth piece to make it to our Throw Down gallery.

I think my mum will be really made up, actually.

She was over the moon when she found out I was on the show,

it was her who encouraged me to go to art college

in the first place, all those years ago,

so she'll probably be grinning ear to ear,

which is a really nice thought.

I am gutted Miles is leaving, though.

God, it's been a great ride.

It's not that kind of competition

where you're trying to sort of

elbow people out of the way.

It's kind.

I really love that about this whole experience

is that it does bring out a lot of kindness from people.

Next time, the potters get down and dirty for garden week...

I'm trying to stay cool.

...as they face off creating

three small characters...

I don't mind gnomes. They just look like they're up to badness.

...and throw themselves into a huge second challenge.

Ugh!

Who will be crowned potter of the week?

It's absolutely wonderful.

And who will be going gnome?

- One went splat.