Gabriel Nichols - Large Traditional Flowerpots

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Hello, I'm Gabriel Nichols, and I work at William Blyth Pottery. My primary role involves crafting flower pots, but I'm also involved in creating chimney pots, tiles and bricks using very traditional methods. Our clay is sourced directly from the ground, considered a wild clay in its unprocessed form. When we extract it, we only remove about four or five inches of topsoil, working directly into the untouched clay.

For our flower pots, we exclusively use the top meter or meter and a half of the clay bed, ensuring the cleanest clay for our creations. In this workshop, I'll walk you through the various techniques I employ to produce different sizes of pots, and how we decorate them.

Impressions from the factory:

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Today, I'll be demonstrating how I throw to throw and decorate a range of traditional flower pots, from small 1-minute "Long-Toms" all the way up to multi-part large flower pots. As a production potter, the goal is often to throw at least two pots a minute. In the heyday of flower pot making, artisans like myself would produce around a thousand of these pots in a day.

After this workshop you could be making amazing pieces like these:

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When you buy this workshop, you get:

• Instant Access to Watch my pre-recorded Workshop
  • The workshop is 57 minutes long.
  • You can watch it as soon as you purchase this workshop & login to your account.
    
• Bonus Q&A
  • Watch my bonus Q&A where I answered questions about my process face-to-face.
    
• Lifetime Access to the Replays
  • The workshop and the Q&A are recorded, and you will have lifetime access to it. You can watch it online, or download it to your device to watch offline at any time.

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Gabriel Nichols is a potter with over 40 years experience in the industry, currently producing a range of garden pots; from 4" longtoms to enormous pots for trees, alongside commissions for bricks, chimney pots and roof tiles at Pottery Shed, on The Old Tile Yard, for William Blyth. 

POTTING HISTORY

Gabriel's dream was originally to become a farmer however fate intervened and after completing a 2-year vocational course in ceramics at 18, Gabriel began his potting career working at the family’s pottery in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire.
Gabriel started producing birdfeeders and potpourri pots in terracotta and over the course of a few years taught himself how to throw on an even larger scale; from making strawberry and wall pots, to garden urns and flowerpots. 6 years later Gabriel formed his own company Yorkshire Flowerpots and following rapid growth employed a team of 8, producing up to 200 tons a year of terracotta goods. Gabriel was offered a position working with Naylors Industries, a clay pipe manufacturer, who were looking to expand their range to include flowerpots and ornamental garden products. Working with Naylors in product design, development, and sales, Gabriel was responsible for sourcing and commissioning the necessary machinery to produce a range of pots within a fully automated system. At this point Gabriel stopped throwing and Yorkshire Flowerpots was incorporated into Naylors; a brand which is as popular today as it was then. Gabriel moved onto York Handmade Brick Company, helping to expand their range to include the many brick specials and chimney pots that are sold today.
12 years ago, Gabriel wanted to get back into throwing full-time, and the opportunity to join William Blyth presented itself. specialising in chimney pots, garden pots, and tile specials. 

Contact:

https://gabrielnichols.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/gabriel_nichols_pottery/

www.williamblyth.co.uk