Gold

This week we did a gold lustre firing in the workshop. Our earthenware clay and slip applied decoration is a far cry from the fine porcelain china tea cups of our grandparents, with their delicate floral designs and golden flourishes.

Reading Kit Williams’ book Masquerade, as an 11 year old, I realised it was not the riddle clues or beautiful intricate paintings that interested me but the physical gold hare treasure, photographed on the end cover, lying on earth, amongst decaying leaves. I was delighted when the treasure was found, encased in wax, in a clay ‘hare’ pot!

This contrast of rough earthen clay and gold started a fascination with treasure and hoards. The ability of gold to maintain its beauty even when buried for centuries was perfectly demonstrated with the discovery of the Broighter hoard in an Irish bog in County Londonderry. The Broighter boat, ritually thrown into a loch during the Iron Age, is a perfect combination of gold, earth and the human need for meaning.

Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing of broken pottery with lacquer dusted with with powdered gold, transforms a ‘broken’ object into a thing of beauty. This has an obvious appeal for a potter and I have my Kintsugi kit at the ready!

At Drey Workshop we like our small spots of gold to sit comfortably next to the earthy colour of clay and the simple, robust slip decoration. Not a status signal, but a celebration of the allure of a golden sparkle left by impacting meteorites 200 million years ago, whether found as dust in a highland burn, or a beautifully crafted Iron Age boat.