Original subtitles

It's the semifinal!

Sinead. And our four remaining potters are making twin sinks

and decorative tiles.

Hold on a second. I do the introductions here.

Yeah, but it's not fair.

Yes, well, it's not meant to be fair.

You're the good twin, and I'm the evil twin.

That's how it is. You get to lug clay about

and clean the aprons, and I get to have fun with the potters

and drink cups of tea with Keith and Rich.

So, go on - hop it!

Welcome to The Great Pottery Throw Down!

Families, huh?

Last time...

Would you agree this is the hardest challenge you've had? - Yes.

..our potters defied all odds by overcoming a radical challenge.

Oh, my God!

And took on a speedy throw down...

Please don't die. We're going to get through it.

..where the bucket of doom came out to play.

Yeah, that one's pants as well.

Lois was top of the class with her sublime coffee set.

All of the edges beautifully finished. Beautifully smooth.

But Helen's colourful creation failed to fulfil

the brief, and she became

the eighth potter to go back to reality.

It's just been an absolute hoot.

This week... Come on in the drying room!

..it's the semifinal.

I'm not panicking yet.

Oh! ..and the return of bathroom week...

I've never made sinks before. I've plumbed plenty of sinks.

..a delicate decoration spot test.

Mine looks like snail poo.

Who will clean up?

How have you managed it?! They're absolutely fantastic.

And whose hopes of a place in the final...

This is a bit nerve-racking. ..will go down the drain?

This is the semifinal! I can't have you being sloppy.

I can be stroppy all I want.

# Making time

# Shooting lines

# People have their uses

# People have their uses... #

# Splish-splash, I was taking a bath

# Long about a Saturday night... #

Our four remaining potters are back,

and just two challenges stand

between them and a place in the final.

Coming in today, very excited to be in the semifinals,

raring to go. It feels a bit unbelievable.

You know, this is it. It's time to go. Bring it on!

Good luck, everybody. Good luck to you. Have fun.

I'm really pleased to be here. It's going to be a challenge,

You know it's going to be a challenge cos it's the semifinals. I'm looking forward to it.

That was a fluke. Don't know how I managed to make it to the semifinal.

I never expected to go more than a week or two, so to still be hanging on in there

is a matter of either poor judgment by the judges,

or some level of skill I wasn't aware of, so...

Getting past week one was, "Wow."

Getting past week two was, "What's going on?"

And then for the semifinal it's like,

"OK, something's not right," but, you know,

I'm rolling with it and I'm ready to give it my all.

Welcome back, potters, to the semifinal.

OK, then. For your main make challenge this week,

the judges would like you to make a pair of twin sinks

and ten stunning decorative tiles to go with them.

Rich, any advice for our potters?

Well, your twin sinks need to be bowl-shaped with

a small, flat base and a foot ring.

As this is sanitaryware,

they must be watertight and functional.

We will be plumbing them in and testing them during judging,

and I'll be taking a very close look at your tiles.

Our tile king himself. Keith.

Now, your sinks should be decorated differently,

but still work together as a pair.

We'd like you to be inspired by the beautiful colours

and patterns found in traditional Turkish baths,

but not directly copied. We're looking for elegant,

timeless and unique interpretations. No novelty sinks.

Elegant, timeless and unique.

Remind you of anyone?

Oh, OK.

Awkward. OK, then.

Potters, you have been given six hours to make

and refine your sink and tiles, and your time starts now!

If throwing two sinks and making ten handmade tiles wasn't

a big enough challenge, all four semifinalists have chosen

to decorate their tiles using the tricky slip inlay method.

It's making me panic.

Which involves imprinting a design into the surface of

the tiles, filling the recess

with coloured slip, before scraping away the excess

to reveal the design.

So I'm starting with the tiles cos I

want to ensure that they're going to be dry enough for me to inlay them.

And with this process needing to be complete before

the sinks and tiles have their first firing,

the next six hours will be a massive juggling act.

Never made tiles before, so it's all very new.

Yeah, added pressure that Rich is, uh, the king of tiles.

Rich. Yes, Keith. It's the semifinal!

It is, and it's a big challenge this week, isn't it?

Twin sinks and a set of ten tiles.

Well, obviously the tiles... I mean, that's pretty easy, isn't it?

I mean, the most important bit, quite frankly.

Well, I'd probably say the hand-thrown sinks myself, yeah.

OK. Because it's all very well throwing one sink.

Yeah. Anyone can do that. Hmm. But they've got to throw two,

and they've got to be basically identical in size and form.

Yeah. This bowl is nice and wide,

but you can still tell there's a flowing movement

to that centre, where that waste pipe goes.

Yeah. We don't want kind

of recesses, where it's uneven, where it might collect water.

No. And for me, that's the really interesting part,

because it's their throwing skills that will really come

to the fore on this. And then our potters have

to really think about how they're going to decorate their bowls.

You know, their bowls have to tie in with the tiles.

Yeah. Talking of tiles, let's forget the sinks for a bit.

I'm going to be keen... I'm going to be keen to see

how they actually make the tiles. I mean, if they go with inlay,

they want to be getting the recesses into the tiles early,

they want to be getting them into the drying room

to start the drying process as quickly as possible,

because introducing more slip,

adding more water is just going to cause problems.

And equally, if they're inlaying, at some point they're going to have

to scrape that slip back to reveal the design. Yeah.

If they scrape it back too early and everything is wet,

it's just going to blur the image, blur the lines.

It's going to be a really distorted image.

And inlay is all about clarity, crisp lines.

And we've asked our potters

to take that inspiration from Turkish baths

and all that kind of calming and elegant aesthetic.

Have you ever been to a public bath? Yes.

No, I have been in a Turkish baths.

And do you know what I was doing mostly in baths?

I don't... Do I want to know? Yeah. Sitting in the water.

Yeah. Relaxing.

But looking at the wonderful, wonderful tiles around me.

Yeah. I need to visit. Yeah.

I should... You know, tiles. I should be there. Come with me.

Now there's an invite!

Just getting the tiles cut first to give them a chance

to dry a little bit before I start on the sinks.

To help speed up the process, Rich has given each

of our semifinalists a handmade bow harp.

Woo! That's good, isn't it?

Best free gift I've ever had.

That's a bit sad, isn't it? A tile cutter.

It's certainly more efficient than rolling with a rolling pin, in terms

of getting some nice slabs out really quickly, so that's quite good.

I am more concerned about how the tiles will turn out,

because it's such an unknown to me. I've never made them before.

So that's one of my huge worries.

Hi, Caitlin. Hello, Caitlin. How are you feeling?

Not too bad. Thank you very much for your tile cutter.

You are most welcome. You're most welcome. The harp, yeah.

Boing! Boing-boing! It's a C. C flat. Is it? No, I don't know.

Brilliant. So, Caitlin, tell us about your design.

I've been to hammam baths before, and all the kind

of decorations were absolutely beautiful.

I noticed that predominately they were kind of more geometric shapes,

so that's what the inside of my sinks are going to be like.

Ah. They're going to have like a star pattern on one of them,

and then on the other side, it's going to be more of a curved form,

so that's going to be the difference between both of mine. OK.

It's overall inspired by my time in New Zealand, really.

Oh, right, yeah. So my tiles are sort of incorporating that.

Caitlin's abstract tiles will feature individual scenes depicting

volcanoes and abalone shells.

She will tie her design together

with hand-built shells that will decorate

the exterior of her two thrown sinks.

Is this something that you're comfortable doing?

Um...

I suppose that's a bit of a loaded question, really, isn't it?

If I think of it simply, like it's a big bowl with a hole in the bottom.

Yeah. And then if I think of the tiles, I can make a slab.

But whether they'll stay a slab or curl at the edges, that's another thing.

Just keep an eye on the tiles, that's the thing.

No, the bowls, the throwing. Yeah. The throwing, the bowls.

Yeah, I mean, they all need attention, but, yeah,

tiles more than anything. Yeah, definitely.

I mean, I think they're always one of those underestimated...

Absolutely, yeah. ..kind of aspects. Yeah.

And if making tiles wasn't tricky enough...

They're very wet, so it's distorting. As you can see, I'm messing these up a little bit.

..the potters must do it under the watchful eye of Rich.

You can't really hide from Rich for this one. This is his niche.

It gets you a little bit stressed, really.

But Lois is taking a more zen approach.

My design is based all around

the morning ritual of bathing and being mindful. Yeah.

And just, like, be in the moment.

Yeah, you're in the moment, and that moment is the semifinal.

Yes, it is.

With an upturned palm in the centre of each bowl,

Lois' sinks will offer up

a mindful moment underneath matching tiles, which will be inlayed in

a continuous design. She will then print into

the clay with a hand-carved lino stamp.

Love the lino. I mean, lino gives such a beautiful

kind of texture to the clay. Yeah.

And just this lovely quality

of lino will be really quite beautiful. If it's dry enough.

I'm sure it wouldn't work if I did it now - it's a bit too wet.

Lois might be aiming to remove moisture from her tiles

before imprinting, but James is slapping more on.

He's really going for it.

I'm not panicking yet.

So, tell me about your tiles.

You're putting more moisture on them.

Yes. I'm worried about the top layer being wet

and then it wanting to warp.

Like old sandwiches? Yes. They're still very soft. Oh, I see.

But they've got to be soft cos I've got to press into it with

a stamp. So, actually, there's green underneath,

and then there's blue on top. Oh! So there's loads of layers on this?

Yeah. Sorry, Rich. But, yeah, that's the idea.

Rich. I won't tell him, don't worry. He'll never know.

James is hoping to showcase his decoration skills today

with his delicately painted sinks with fluted rims,

and his slip coloured tiles, with which he is hoping he can

reproduce the style of Moorish pottery.

When I scrape back, I'll hopefully have the inlay with one colour.

Oh, I see. Mottled... Multi layers of slip. Yeah. Yeah.

The background will be two colours, and I can just take it back to whatever looks good.

Just keep an eye on the tiles. I mean, adding on moisture to the top

of an already wet tile,

it's going to have an effect on the surface. Yeah.

You will need to be really careful. Yeah.

As the tricky inlay process begins...

This is a bit nerve-racking.

..the potters have one chance to get the perfect imprint,

so applying the right amount of pressure is crucial.

That hasn't come out too bad.

I am pressing as hard as I feel that it should be.

But press too hard, and they risk distorting the tiles.

This is where... Oh, it did work. Yay! Oh! Yeah, it worked.

That's worked nicely. Oh, that's worked really nicely!

That's very satisfying, isn't it? But Caitlin's plaster stamps...

Oh! Hmm!

..are failing to make an impression.

I don't really know what to do about these tiles.

I think my pattern's too shallow.

But you only need a little bit. If I was you,

I would just tidy up the edges with a knife.

Yeah. OK. Thank you so much, James.

Yeah, I'm concerned.

I really would like to get the slip on them,

but to do that, I need to make sure that my design is sound.

One hour gone, potters! One hour gone!

Thank you, Wembley.

With the tiles needing to dry further before

the slip design can be attempted... Thank you.

..the potters can hit the wheels

and throw the first of their two sinks.

I've never made sinks before.

I've plumbed plenty of sinks, but I've never made a sink.

The riskiest part of throwing a sink is creating the plug hole.

Having a hole in it, it's a point of weakness.

You want to make sure that the base is really compressed.

If they haven't thrown a strong enough base,

the plug hole could weaken the structure of the sinks

and they could crack in the kiln. Just keep forgetting to breathe.

And if the holes aren't millimetre perfect, their sinks could leak.

The hole needs to be at least this wide, so with

the shrinkage of the clay, which is always the worry,

it needs to be about 54mm.

There's a lot riding on this. This is the semifinal,

and there's nothing that gets by the judges.

Hi, Jon. Hi. Hey, Jon. Whey, look at this!

Lovely flowerpot. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

So, how are you feeling, Jon? Semifinals.

Yeah, feeling OK. Done a few big things like this now, so I'm feeling

a bit more comfortable with the sink. As long as I can get the shape I'm looking for.

I'm not there yet, I realise. OK. Yeah.

Well, tell us about your design this week.

So, I've been inspired for my decoration by

these pots that we saw in Cyprus. Wow. Aren't they beautiful.

Amazing. They're 11th century BC.

The concentric circles and lines on Jon's sinks

may be inspired by 11th-century BC ceramics,

but, true to form, he's been using 21st-century technology to create

the inlay design on his tiles.

Whey, look at these!

Next level 3D printing, Jon. Crikey.

Shall we go, Siobhan? We'll just fast forward.

We're not letting the people at home...

What happens now is a 20-minute discussion on the 3D printer.

I do love the idea of that. The pair of them! They're at it again!

Now's not the time. Get on with it, Jon.

See you later.

Potters, you're halfway through. Halfway through.

With their plugholes formed,

the next task is to ensure the sinks can drain effectively.

I'm quite pleased with this. I'm just trying

to make sure that we're not going to get water puddling,

so I need to make sure there's a really good, smooth curve down to the plughole.

But as well as making sure the sinks are practical...

It's wide enough for the hands to fit in.

It's going to be quite deep, that's all.

..the potters mustn't forget about the aesthetics.

So I am just creating this little frill onto my rim.

This is me trying to up my game because it's the semifinal.

Yeah, can you not stop fiddling either?

I've got to move on, but I can't stop fiddling with it.

Stop faffing. When you stop faffing, I'll stop faffing.

Whilst the first of their sinks is complete,

there's no let-up in the pottery production line.

There's some tiles in the drying room I need to go and check on.

Rather than getting onto throwing the next one of these,

I'm going to go and check on the tiles.

Oh! And with the tiles dried to leather hard...

They're good. OK.

..the delicate process of inlay can begin in earnest.

Just filling each of these divots with the relevant colour now,

but because I've made such a complicated pattern, I'm getting really confused as

to which colour is going where.

And while most are using the slip to fill in

the intricate grooves of their imprints...

I'm already feeling like I don't really know what I'm doing.

..Lois is using hers to colour

the negative space in her simple design.

I'm hoping that the birds and the flowers

and things really, like, shine through the dark blue.

Could be risky, because they might say,

"You know, you've only used one colour."

But then, like, if I go out for something like that,

you know, that's just my style,

so I'm not going to feel too bad about that.

I've been making tiles for 20 years. Yeah.

And I tend to avoid inlay at all costs.

It is so difficult to get it right. No, it is.

It's so difficult. It is. They're all really going for it.

They've all been ambitious. I mean, Lois...

She's doing a negative, isn't she? Yeah.

That might be a better way of doing it. I think it probably could be.

Yeah. I mean, you're covering larger areas. Yeah, yeah.

And then that scraping back.

You're not relying on scraping back to a very sort of... Fine detail.

James' tiles had a very heavily loaded surface,

with lots and lots and lots of slip. Yeah, yeah.

And that's just going to add so much moisture.

You know, all that water going onto the surface

will permeate through and just cause problems.

What's going on here? What are you icing?

Oh, I am icing my decoration.

Carefully, I see. Well, this one's less careful.

A bit worried about Caitlin.

You know, if you're going to use any kind of print,

you've got to make sure that the clarity of it is really crisp.

You know, if you scrape back and you,

and you pull some of that slip out,

you can't really go back and fill it in.

No. Jon, for example,

has chosen to have, he's got a very intricate design... Yeah.

..that he's meticulously filled

with all of those different colour slips.

I don't know how he's gonna keep that crisp

when he scrapes it back... Keep it separate.

..you know, without it smudging it all.

Um, I think now they just go in the drying room till,

hopefully, right at the last minute.

Potters,

that sinking feeling means you've one hour to go.

What's done is done.

With the inlayed ties needing to dry further,

the potters have a small window of time to tackle their second sink...

Can get a lot done in an hour, it's all right.

..and to ensure their sinks form the perfect pair,

it's crucial this one mirrors the first.

I can see it in the drying room so I can replicate it exactly

with what I've got here, hopefully, so, yeah.

As long as the rims are both the same size,

I think that's OK.

Obviously the profile must be pretty much the same.

Everyone's shape of their bowls very different.

They're all looking really interesting. It's nice to see.

Why's James's sink so high?

It is tall but it's something different and I want,

I want to have all that surface round the outside

cos I'm more confident decorating the outside than the inside.

It's a decent size.

You only need to wash your hands in there. It's pretty good. Yeah.

Do you think that is a good shape,

the depth and volume to wash your hands in?

Yeah, I'm hoping it's big enough.

I mean, it's obviously,

they're a bit smaller than the rest of the guys.

But, you know, us small-handed people

need to wash our hands too.

Then they could feel like giants. That's, when I have,

when I have an espresso, I feel like I'm a giant.

Half an hour to go, potters. Half an hour to go.

I've got to just go for this.

Adding carved or three-dimensional elements

gives the potters the opportunity to echo the design

of their tiles onto their sinks.

These are my abalone shells.

I need to get them on the outside of my bowl.

It's so satisfying to see you carve out all those things.

Is this the bit you like? Yes.

But the more time spent on decorating the sinks,

the less time they have to finish their tiles.

It's now gonna be a decision about where to stop

and go back onto the tiles,

so I think I'm gonna stop at this point. Tiles.

Only now...

It's gonna start getting messy, isn't it?

..will the potters find out...

So long as I can get the ivory, I'll be happy with that.

..if their inlay designs...

It's so wet.

..have worked.

You're smudging it. It's bloody smeared now!

Yeah, well, I'll sort it out!

Don't get so bloody stroppy!

This is the semifinal!

You need to... I can't have you being sloppy!

I can be stroppy all I want!

This is the middle so I'm hoping it'll be the nicest bit of it.

If they don't scrape away enough of the slip

then pattern won't be revealed.

Oh, I'm sure it's not gonna be up to Rich's standards.

It's nice seeing it appearing, though.

But scrape away too much

and they risk weakening their tiles.

Yeah.

Oh!

Toolless now!

Five minutes left, potters.

Forget about the judges, let's remember

what's really important here - and that's impressing me.

I am scrapping four of my inlayed tiles.

I've got four spare tiles.

I'm gonna carve into them

and then underglaze them instead

and we're gonna roll with it, you know?

How are you doing, Jon? Yeah, they're going quite well now.

Are you sure?

Well, relatively. They look really smart, Lois. They look very good.

Ah, thanks, James.

How are yours going?

Well, the inlay's just not quite as sharp as I'm wanting.

Bet it's brilliant.

One minute left.

Come on, in the drying room!

I knew you was gonna do it and it still made me jump!

Good man. This is it?

Mm-hm. Yes.

Wonderful!

Last ten seconds!

Well done. Well done. Tools down, step away from the bench.

Oh, my gosh, well done.

As usual it was a bit stressful at the end there.

In terms of inlay, it worked.

In terms of whether the tiles are gonna be bent like bananas,

I think it might be a high chance.

Was it the smoothest it could've gone? Probably not.

Whether I can salvage it through the decoration stage

we'll just have to see.

I'm pleased with the, the shape of the sinks.

I'm pleased with the sizes

and when they get fired, hopefully no cracks appear either.

I'm sure the judges will say my sinks are a bit on the small side.

Time will tell if I live

to regret that or not.

Green Onions by Booker T & The MGs

Ooh, it's covered.

Ooh. Big table, huh? That looks quite wide. Oh!

It's the semifinal and the potters are back at the pottery

to face their second challenge

and, as usual, they have no idea

what is waiting for them underneath the hessian.

Welcome back, potters.

Your second challenge this week is a spot test

and it involves the iconic Moorcroft tube lining.

Wow!

We are very honoured to have two guest judges this week.

Please welcome to the pottery

designer Emma and tube liner Jill. Come on out.

Hi, guys. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome!

Hi...Hi. Hello. Hi.

Moorcroft was established here in Stoke over 100 years ago

and is famous for its signature decorative technique of tube lining.

Liquid clay or slip is piped by hand, creating raised outlines

on the surface of the pot.

The Queens Choice range,

inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream,

was designed by Emma over 20 years ago.

So how long have you been working at Moorcroft?

Been at Moorcroft about 26 years now, but not as long as Jill.

Yeah, I've been there 37 years this year, so a long time.

Oh, great. Well, you'll have no problem doing this, then!

We're gonna give you a five-minute demo.

OK, let's take it away.

What are the potters doing?

So your challenge today is to tube- line on the pre-inked pattern.

On the reverse of that you will do your own design

inspired by fruit and foliage

and then you're gonna be painting the lid, as well.

Jill is gonna demonstrate the tube lining first.

This is the first stage of decoration.

It's very important to use even pressure to get

a really smooth, defined line.

You will squeeze harder to get a thicker line,

gentle squeeze for a thinner line.

And, Jill, what's the best advice you can give them?

Remember to breathe.

Jon has a tendency to forget that!

Jon hasn't breathed for weeks!

Yeah, definitely remember to breathe.

And then we also have a lid, and we would like you to decorate that.

When you paint in the Moorcroft way

it's called a floating technique,

so we get lots and lots of water

and you're scooping up as much as possible into your brush,

dropping it onto the clay vase

and just guiding that bubble of colour

around those areas.

So if you've got excess on the top there,

dry out that brush

and then the excess liquid will just be soaked back into the brush.

So under the leaf here,

I will do a little bit of shading,

so I can give that a little rub with my finger

and that'll give just a subtle, delicate shade.

All right, now this is going to be judged blind,

so I'm going to ask you to leave. Have a nice cup of tea...

Thank you very much. Thank you. ..and some biccies. Good luck.

Keep me some biccies!

Right, back to your benches.

OK, potters, you have been given

one hour...

Oh, I knew it.

..and your time starts

now!

This is insane.

I'm shaking so much!

This is not faring well for future employment in surgery!

It's really very, very tricky.

Wow, that's not going straight.

Oh, my God, that's not going straight.

No, it's really lumpy. It's coming out like a snotty caterpillar.

This looks like, see when snails poo?

That's what this looks like.

Mine looks like snail poo!

Does yours not look like that, Jon?

Yeah, lumpy, lumpy, lumpy, lumpy, lumpy.

There's none of this smooth line malarkey.

Hello! Hi.

How are you doing?

I don't want to move very much. Oh, it's awful.

You not gonna talk about snails' poo?

What do you think? It looks a bit snotty, doesn't it?

OK, I'm barring the words "snot"... Snot Poo!

..and snail poo. OK?

But do you know how much time has gone? 20 minutes.

That's right. 20 minutes gone, potters.

20 minutes-ah!

Gonna do a really big fat line

so that if I mess up it's just part of my design.

I didn't,

I forgot I'd done this bit and I've just scraped it off.

I'm doing Moorcroft a disservice by having my hands on this.

Once they have tube-lined the pre-drawn design,

the potters can turn their hands

to creating their own freestyle fruity patterns.

I don't know. I don't know. Let's go.

They wanted a design inspired by this one

so I just chose a different fruit

and tried to do my own version, basically,

so I have done some strawberries.

Hello. Have you, er, have you ever seen me stressed out?

Now is not a good time!

Oh, I know why you're so stressed -

you've to do the pre-styling.

Yeah, yeah, can you see that?

Yeah, that's a bunch of grapes! Oh, thank you!

Look at these wobbly lines.

What's that? A pomegranate.

Yeah, it is! Nice.

I didn't breathe there!

Reminder, potters - you need to breathe.

It's just drawing again, isn't it? And there's not a computer in sight.

How the hell am I supposed to draw something without a computer?!

What...What is that?

What's he drawn?

It's clearly a pineapple!

It's an angry carrot!

I haven't got anything to copy!

I copy stuff, I don't draw it from mind, God!

OK, potters, you're halfway through now. Halfway through.

Halfway through?! Is that enough water on there? I don't know.

With time ticking, the potters move on to painting their lids

using metallic oxides and lots of water.

I'll tell you what,

she done this mad thing and she was like, wa-ay!

Yeah, they're mopping it up. Ooh.

There we go. Yeah.

Oh, it worked. Yeah.

Who'd have known? Wow!

20 minutes left, potters.

20 minutes left.

Mop it mop it, it's going over!

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, I forgot about mopping!

I forgot about mopping.

Oh, God, that is terrible.

I think that is a leaf. I've got, it seems to be

a completely different colour to what I've got.

I think it's got blue underneath and green on top and I've gone for

brown underneath and green on top,

so I've got a different style of leaf.

So, instead of dropping pigments in, I'm starting

to actually more like paint it? Which is not good.

Well, it's judged blind, so they'll never know!

It's going a bit wrong now. Just bit too much.

Potters, that's your last five minutes left.

Five minutes remaining

and a reminder that your beautiful Moorcroft ginger jars

have to be up here by the end of the session.

Well, that's not bad, is it? Is it?

I'm going to just use my finger to sort of mix the pigment,

that I've then put in.

I'm just trying to mop it a little bit back.

Potters, one minute remaining. One minute remaining.

That's worth a fortune, that is.

Ten seconds!

Nine! Oh, Oh, God, it's so awful.

Eight!

Seven, six, five,

four, three,

two, one. OK, we're going to have to have words about obedience.

I'm sorry, miss!

After only one hour,

the potters have tried their hands at tube lining,

designing and painting their ginger jars the Moorcroft way...

Wow.

..and now it's time for their work to be judged.

Now, the pips are brilliant on this one. Right. Yeah, really good.

A little bit shaky on the tube lining there, but...

Look at their design.

Very good pineapple there. Fantastic idea. Yeah.

Yeah. There's quite a lot of sort of stop marks.

You'd really want that slip training to be a bit more fluent than that.

You would, yeah. And then let's have a look at the colour.

The grapes are good. Little bit of issue here on the apricot there,

where it could've been a little bit smoother, but, yeah, good.

Good lines on there. Some of them look really fluid, don't they? Yeah.

This is lovely. It's got great energy. Let's have a look at

the other side. Oh, strawberry! Wow.

Good use there of the pips.

And the colour on the top. Very well painted. Wow.

You can see the different shades here of the blue and the pink. Yeah.

They're really coming through, so when they're fired,

they would really come out as beautiful grapes.

I mean, to get those two lines so close together... Hmm.

..and not have them join up... Yeah.

..shows quite a lot of skill, really.

I mean, it looks a little bit kind of wobbly in areas. Yeah. Yeah.

The definition on the colour, the depth, is really good, isn't it?

Yeah, very good. Maybe struggled a little bit on the apricot.

And then the last one... I can see... Done a double line there

where there shouldn't have been one, so not quite... OK. ..followed

the pattern. And they haven't quite finished off. Yeah, but what is

there is very neat. That's really nice, isn't it? Beautiful.

We've got a fruit salad. Yeah, pomegranate there, looks beautiful.

Very good. And the colour on the top. Painted very well.

Not quite finished the grapes there, but the apricot, painted very well.

Now the judges must rank

the potters' jars from worst to first.

In fourth place was this one.

That's me.

We just felt that some of

the little join bits, they didn't quite meet up as well as they

could do. OK.

Third place is this one.

Loved your own decoration of the pineapple.

And second place...

..we have this one.

Well done, Caitlin. You didn't quite complete as much tube lining as

the others, but what you did do was really,

really good and very fine.

First place, we have this one.

Lois! Well done, Lois. Really good.

Your painting was beautiful on the top,

lots of different lovely shades and tones,

and your tube lining as well, pips of the strawberry,

really, really good.

Well, well done, everyone. All that's left for me to say is,

potters, dismissed. Thank you so much. Thank you.

A really nice confidence boost to come up the top,

especially cos it keeps shocking me so much.

Third out of four and James was last!

Unbelievable, really. All that grief she gave me about my pineapple

and there it was, you know. It got mentioned as a positive of my pot.

It's decoration day and after a 24-hour bisque firing,

kiln technician Rose is laying out the potters' tiles and sinks

ready for glazing.

I'm feeling really nervous today.

I've been having doubts about the size of my sink,

so now I've got to really decorate my little heart out

and try and save them.

The inlay just ruined me and I had to adapt to that,

so, hopefully, everything else has gone grand.

Welcome back, potters.

Your twin sinks and decorative tiles have been bisque fired

and are ready for decoration. Keith, any advice?

Your twin sinks should look fairly identical at this point,

but that's where it ends.

We want you to decorate them differently,

but think about all those pieces.

They all want to come together as a set.

We also want to see your style

and personality coming through. And remember,

this is functional sanitaryware, so everything has to be glazed.

OK, then, potters, you've been given a range of glazes and oxides

and four hours to use them.

And your time starts...

..now. Potters, get decorating.

Oh, no!

I've got a crack.

There's a few little...tiny little cracks, but nothing to worry about.

Pleased with the look of my tiles, just the execution's not so great.

Little crack, yeah.

But it doesn't go all the way through,

so, hopefully, it won't go all the way through when it's finished.

The good news is that the tiles are really nice and flat

and they look really nice, I think. I'm really pleased with them.

I'm really happy with the sinks. They're very good. And the tiles

have all turned out pretty well, with the inlay, so I'm just going to

get on with decorating the sinks then. So, yeah, it's all gone

pretty well, I think. So, just kind of looking at my piece,

there's, like, a very weird surface crack.

I don't... I've never seen anything like it before.

My tiles...

Oh, I didn't even scrape that one.

God, I've made a right mess of these.

So, I'm contemplating on whether to outline these in underglaze or not.

Now I've seen them, at least I can decide on that.

But I'm going to go get some glazes.

With their tiles already inlayed,

the potters can now use an array of glazes and oxides

to ensure their sinks complete the perfect set.

Um, I'm making it up as I go along, sort of.

Each brush stroke will grow from the previous brush stroke,

so I don't have to think about it too much,

as long as it looks organic.

All the stuff I do is planned,

so I've got a pattern I've drawn up on the computer,

I'll create those primary curves that go from the top down to

the central ring, and then start infilling with more detail

from that point. With yesterday's inlaying issues,

Caitlin isn't finished with her New Zealand-inspired tiles just yet.

How are you? Yeah, not too bad.

Trying to make up for my mistakes in the past.

OK, mistakes in the past.

The thing that I'm worried about is that I've... Not all the inlay

worked for me, so now I'm filling it in with underglaze.

So, you're going to be under glazing some of these that haven't got slip.

Yeah. And then these will just be transparent glaze?

Yes, that's the plan at the moment.

But apart from that, we're all in good shape?

Yeah, there's some weird surface cracks. On the sinks? On the sinks,

yeah. Do you want me to show you? Yeah, I'd love to have a look.

See, just there.

Ah, OK.

It's weird, isn't it? That is odd, yeah.

Maybe it's just a surface tension thing. Yeah. Maybe the inside's

a bit more compressed than the outside. Yeah. As long as these

don't open up more in the gloss firing, then I'll be happy.

So will I, Caitlin. So will I!

Well, I will leave you to it. Thank you very much.

Best of luck with it all. Thank you.

Caitlin's not the only potter

concerned about a split in their sink.

Uh, I do have a couple of cracks,

but we're not going to talk about that.

But I do feel quite calm now, I don't know why.

I just feel like what will be, will be, you know.

Maybe it's cos I'm doing it all about being spiritual

and mindfulness and stuff, maybe it's keeping me calm.

So, for those hairline cracks, it won't really be underglaze

I'm going to put on. So, it's going to be

the transparent glaze itself which... I'll end up putting more of

that in to help it seal up.

Hopefully.

Halfway through. That's two hours gone, two hours to go.

Mutter, mutter, mutter. What are you muttering about?

If you didn't do the time calls, we'd have as long as we wanted.

Yeah. I don't think I'm actually in charge of timing quite like that.

With her tiles complete...

Bloody hell.

..Caitlin's making a start on her sinks.

So, my provisional time was two hours on one bowl,

two hours on the other bowl.

I then spent a lot of time doing my tiles,

so time really is being pushed today.

And while time management is important,

ensuring their sinks tie in with their tiles is crucial.

The decoration is growing across the surface.

So, with the tiles, it sort of starts in the middle

and blooms outwards, so that's why I'm doing the other side of this.

Just using generic petals and leaves shapes to make a pattern.

James, it's actually looking pretty good. Is it? Yeah.

And I'm just really interested to see how that sprig work interacts

with all that decoration that he's doing.

I'm getting a little concerned about Jon.

He's just got so much to do and it's all very fine brushwork.

I want good, sharp concentric circle lines and I'm not getting that.

I'm getting a line that goes thicker and thinner

and thicker and thinner.

How's Lois getting on? Cos she's got loads going on.

She looks like she's in her happy place,

and it's really showing. You know, they're looking beautiful.

It's just, like, go with the flow,

but you have to have a word with yourself and be like,

"Just do it, be brave, it'll be fine."

This is me just going for it, to be honest.

Caitlin seems to be doing OK.

It'll just be really interesting to see what she does

with that relief, those shells on the side of her bowls. Yeah.

I get the impression she's sort of winging it a bit now. Yeah.

We're just seeing whether we get some abalone colours

through feathering.

Hello! Hello.

How are you getting on?

Time is worrying me.

It doesn't look enough for me... Oh, right!

..um, so I need more detail.

Are your family delighted that you're here in the semifinal?

Um...yes.

They're very surprised that I'm still here in the semifinal.

Really?! But they're delighted all the same.

My mum was very... She's just being my mum. Yeah.

She's just worrying about me taking too much on... Yeah.

..and not coping, which... I am coping.

Half an hour left, lads. Half an hour.

Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely time.

Copper carbonate onto the rim.

I'm hoping it will dribble down a little bit.

It's going to look quite nice.

Got a bit of copper carbonate here.

It should pool into the areas that are recessed

and then go kind of green.

At least I've done abalone shells.

The rest of it looks quite sparse.

This is for the spirals, so this is where it's all going to go

a bit ropey. I'm not sure I'm going to get ALL my decoration done.

Do you know what? You need to hang out more in the back.

They're a great crack. Well, they're the decorators, aren't they?

They've got the skills.

You've got skills.

Just going to put a quick layer of

oxide on the other sprigs.

How can I make these less plain?

My answer is, just whack a load of copper carbonate on it.

One minute remaining! Final minute.

All I've got left to do is

to dip my sinks in the transparent, really.

To ensure a sanitary sheen, all the sets of sinks and tiles

must be coated in transparent glaze.

Ah, not too shabby. Can we do this?

Five, four, three...

..two, one.

Brushes down, step away from your benches.

Well done. Well, well done.

The potters must now take their sinks and tiles

to Rose for one final firing.

It's quite heavy after a while.

The next time they see them, it will be judgment time.

That was a journey and a half.

My inlay didn't really work so well.

Half of them are going to be underglazed,

so will they look like a set? So, yeah,

when you've got this many issues, you do feel that you're at risk

of going home. I don't know if it's got me a ticket to the final.

I think it's me and Caitlin to fight that out. We know the two decorators

at the back, beautiful designs, beautiful decorations,

so we'll see.

It's Judgment Day

and after a 24-hour gloss firing,

the potters are up early

to collect their sinks and tiles from Rose.

Morning, potters. Morning! How are you all feeling?

Ooh, little bit nervous.

The tiles have stayed nice and flat.

Yeah, they have. Those have worked really well, I thought they were

going to be like bananas.

Ooh! Oh, no! What?!

Oh, no, it has. Has it? Wait.

Gone all the way through?

Oh.

Before they're presented to the judges,

the potters have been given an hour

to plumb in their sinks and arrange their tiles.

I can't work out me pattern now. I'm really confused.

This wasn't supposed to be the hard part, was it?

One, two, three, four.

Ooh, it's going to be so messy.

I am pleased with the tiles.

My lino cut worked quite well in the end.

I was slightly worried I might've made two of the same. I got a bit

confused as to which I was doing, but they all seem to have worked.

But not everyone is quite so happy.

The only issue - I say the only issue -

is we've got a big crack, which has opened up,

but unfortunately, I think it goes all the way through.

I'm a little bit peeved.

It fits!

That seems all right. So, it'll be the moment of truth

when the judges come.

Four sets of sinks and tiles

now face the judgment of Keith and Rich.

Congratulations, potters.

Your sinks and decorative tiles look amazing.

Let's start with the judging.

OK? And we're going to start first with...

..Caitlin.

Yeah. Well, I mean, where do I start?

There's so many elements. I mean, in terms of the tiles,

I think you were brave to take on inlay and,

ironically, I think, in your tiles,

the oxides and the underglazes have worked actually far better,

really, than the slip inlay. I think... Yeah. ..it's got

a lovely clarity, a lovely crispness to it.

I mean, look, the first thing I notice is the size of the sinks.

They're perfect. They're absolutely wonderful.

You've got a crack in one of them.

That happened in the biscuit firing, is that right?

Yeah, it was... It was in the biscuit fire,

but it was a lot smaller. So, it's opened up a bit in that gloss?

Yeah, and I think it's gone through on the other side as well.

Oh, yeah. You can kind of feel it. But, you know, the size

and getting that proportion right

for those two sinks was absolutely spot on.

Love the idea of the rim.

Aesthetically, it just draws your eye.

And, of course, those shells, those lovely shells on the side,

they've worked really, really well.

So, Rich, shall we turn the taps on? Yes.

Is it leaking? OK. Yeah. Oh, lovey!

Don't cry cos you'll get me crying!

It annoys me cos I gave... I know. ..you the leaky cup last time.

I just wanted to give you something that hadn't leaked,

but I've given you one which is... Exactly! ..50% of what I wanted

Look, I've been looking at these tiles and they haven't leaked once

since I've sat down.

Honestly, there's some wonderful elements in your make.

Yes. You know, some of those tiles are really lovely.

Those shells are fantastic.

I know one's cracked, but the proportion of those sinks is

just really, really lovely. Well done, Caitlin.

Considering how much you scraped away at those tiles...

..they look fantastic. Well done.

How have you managed it?! They looked bloody awful before.

They looked terrible and they look great now.

They're absolutely fantastic.

Yeah, I mean, the tiles are glorious.

They've worked incredibly well.

The quality of the line that you've achieved from that slip inlay...

Yeah. ..is nothing short of a miracle.

No, it is a miracle!

Considering the way you were scraping it back.

The one thing for me with this is that that beautiful crisp line

that you've captured in the tiles...

I know what he's going to say!

..slightly hasn't transferred to Yeah. ..the basins. When I had to

start using a brush, it fell apart a little.

I think, had you had a similar feel to the decoration on the tiles,

perhaps it wouldn't feel so at odds. Stark. Yes.

Yeah, the contrast in approach.

But it's just because that is so pristine

and so precise, it makes you see the kind of inaccuracies

in some of the brushwork. Yeah. But I do love the rims.

I love the fact that you've got this accent on the rim

and that works really, really well for you.

So, shall we turn the taps on? Let's do it.

So, they're holding the water pretty well there, Jon.

There's a slight leak there, but I think that's probably the fitting.

So, yeah, fit for purpose. And fantastic tiles.

You've made me very happy on the tile front.

The first thing I noticed was...

The shape of those sinks is really rather wonderful.

Really practical, really usable

and the oxides that you've put on the rims,

having that cobalt drip down like that,

but not too much, has worked really, really well for you.

Yeah, that's tasty, isn't it?

The other thing that I really notice is...

..this. This is really wonderful.

We know that you're good at throwing, but this,

coming from you, is just brilliant.

I'm with Keith. The quality of the brushwork in the bowls is exquisite.

It's really beautiful, you know.

But the thing that strikes me most is

the overall kind of colour palette you've chosen,

like, they feel like a really cohesive set.

Where you have rubbed back through layers of slip

to reveal other layers,

they feel like they've got depth and character and soul.

I'm a little less enamoured by the quality of

the finish around the edges. Had they been a bit cleaner

and a bit more finished, I think that would've kind of given you

a more striking backdrop to what are very beautiful tiles.

So, shall we put the taps on?

Yeah, let's see if they work.

Fingers crossed. Oh, hello.

Oh, it's leaking. Ah. Oh, no.

Yeah, it's where you've turned that foot rim in there,

there's a slight hairline crack.

Beautiful forms.

One's leaking, but the surfaces are wonderful.

What I notice first is those tiles. They're brilliant.

Ah, thanks. Just that one colour,

that simplicity, has worked really, really well.

They're beautiful. I mean, I love the way you've approached

that kind of inlay, just turning it on its head, so you've filled

the big areas and you've got this beautiful quality of line

with the white and that's just from the clay.

And I think what's so striking is you've thought about how

you're picking up elements of your concept right

the way through the set of tiles and the basins.

Yeah. I particularly like that bird.

We've come to see from you, over the last few weeks,

you know, your decorative skills, your skills with a brush,

and, lo and behold, here they are. The shape of the bowl is lovely.

I would've just liked to have seen that... Yeah.

..that same form just slightly larger.

Shall we see if they work? Yeah.

Yeah, I can see a crack here. Yeah.

Oh, there's a bit coming out... Oh, yeah. ..the bottom here.

Yeah, there is a bit of a leak. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a shame

about the little crack, but it shouldn't take away from what is

a beautiful tile freeze and beautifully decorated sinks.

Well done. Thanks, guys.

I feel quite positive, you know.

It's great to come this far, but I don't want to go yet.

So, to get to the final would be nuts and amazing and brilliant.

Argh! Annoyed is...is my emotion.

I had doubts that I was going to meet the decoration.

I was like, "Come on, the one thing you can do is deliver a piece

"to Keith and Rich with no cracks," and that, yeah,

is a tough pill to swallow when you set out something

and you don't quite meet that.

The semifinal and what a week!

We have them making functional ware with our sinks

and our decorative tiles

and, of course, they had an amazing second challenge with Moorcroft.

Yeah. That was so cool to have them come in, wasn't it?

It was fantastic, yeah. Do you know who's in line for

our Potter Of The Week?

I think it has to be between Lois...

And James. Despite the fact that

the tiles weren't particularly well finished,

I think he was one of the potters that had the most success with

the decorative techniques he'd employed.

And those bowls were lovely. They were quite large,

very deep, but he came last, actually... He did.

..in that second challenge. But his main make is

enough to save him.

It's whether he can overtake Lois for that Potter Of The Week.

What I loved about Lois' was that, you know,

you got her voice through the tiles

and on into the bowls, you know.

She's just got such a strong decorative style

and we've seen it every week.

And she tied that sort of bird into the bowl of the...

You liked the bird. ..of the sinks and, although

the two decorative techniques were different... Yeah.

..they tied in... They married. ..really, really strongly

with the design concept. So, who do you think is in danger of

going home then? For me, it's between Caitlin and Jon,

and Caitlin's weakness, really, was her tiles.

What about her bowls? The size was fantastic... Yeah.

..the forms were great and then those shells. Yeah.

And the way that she'd applied that copper just

to get the right reaction was really, really nice.

It's just unfortunate for Jon that

the quality in his tiles slightly takes away from

the quality in the bowls. Yeah. I have never seen a man look

so demented rubbing furiously against some clay, but actually...

Wow! You were speechless.

I was speechless. And for that, we are eternally grateful to Jon.

All right, then, guys. Well, you need to make a decision

because I have four anxious potters upstairs

and we need to find out who's going to be in the final

of The Great Pottery Throw Down. Wow. Yeah.

It's going to be all right.

Potters, congratulations on an extraordinary week.

You should be very, very proud of yourselves.

Now, first of all, the easy bit.

This week's Potter Of The Week is...

..Lois. No! Ah, yes.

Oh! No, Potter Of The Week! It's good news!

Good news! I can't believe that!

Well, well done.

Bloody brilliant.

OK, now the really, really horrible bit

and this is the hardest farewell so far.

Unfortunately,

the magnificent potter who is leaving us this week is...

..Caitlin.

Ah, Caitlin! I'm so sorry.

To be there at the semifinal is such a privilege

and to see those three succeed on to the final is

something that I am...

..I've been able to watch and I'm so thankful for that.

I'm so proud of you all.

I've enjoyed every single moment of it

and I'm going to treasure it for the rest of my life, 100%.

Lovey. Thank you for everything. You've been so kind.

Honestly, you've been too kind.

It's going to be really sad to see Caitlin go.

She's got such a bubbly personality, such a can-do personality.

Caitlin gave it a really good go

and she showed us that ambition, and I'm sure, you know,

going forward, she will be an incredible potter.

She should leave the pottery with her head held high.

It's no mean feat to get to the semifinal.

So, as Caitlin says goodbye to the pottery,

Lois' tiles and sinks take

the penultimate place in the Throw Down Gallery.

Oh, what a way to go into the final, huh?

It's unbelievable, really.

Lois, Potter Of The Week,

absolutely wonderful. I'm so pleased for her.

We've seen every week Lois' personality,

her own style and this week was the epitome of that.

She was a fitting Potter Of The Week.

I can't even breathe.

I'm just trying to breathe, yeah. Keep breathing.

Before you start, you think about where you might get to

and genuinely didn't think I'd get to the final,

so it really is a surprise. Yay!

I never expected that, never at all.

I never thought I'd get on the flippin' show, let alone

get through to the final. It's amazing.

You wonderful...

Wonderful chap, you. Well done.

Carry on. Sorry.

Next time...

The judges have reached their decision.

We've got seven and a half hours so we should be able to come up with

something decent. Well, it is the final! Oh, it is, isn't it? Yeah.

Are you a bit grumpy? Yeah, I've got the hump.

Ten minutes to go. Just graffito your balls.

Concentric circles, you nutter.

Oh, no, no, wrong way! Wrong way! OK, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going.

Argh! Do you want to come out, Jon? Not if I don't have to.

The winner of The Great Pottery Throw Down is...

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