Episode 6 The Great Pottery Throw Down

No, this isn't the bit between the programmes in the 1960s -

it's the final!

And I think I've nailed it.

Aw!

'27 days ago, Middleport Pottery opened its doors

'to ten of Britain's most passionate home potters.'

Oh, Nigel, you look quite at home there, I must say.

That's... hah!

'It's taken 15 gruelling challenges...'

Don't worry, you're fine, you're fine... oh! Oh!

'..over 500 hand-crafted and beautiful items...'

And you've just excelled yourself.

Don't start!

'..but now, the studio awaits four finalists.

'Major Tom was our first top potter

'and no-one's work in the competition has shown more technical discipline.'

Look at the inside. Absolutely beautiful.

I've made it as far as I can make it in this competition

and I'm looking forward to it enormously.

Can't wait to get my hands, er, hands wet.

-'Matthew had a disastrous start...'

-You've got a bit of a problem here...

'..but has emerged as a natural, winning Top Potter three times.'

I wasn't quite sure that I'd be here.

I thought there'd be plenty of opportunities for me to have left.

'Jim's flair for beautiful form and skill with the brush

'meant his place in the final was never in doubt.'

I didn't have much sleep last night, actually.

Lying awake, I'm thinking, "What is it I've been doing that's good

"and how can I bring that all together for the final?"

And I've got no answers at all.

Sally Jo's brilliant eye for colour and gift for abstract design

'has kept her in contention in every single challenge of the competition.'

I do feel like I'm the underdog.

I really haven't had much time to think about how I'm going to take the boys down.

'Now they have seven days left.'

I'm doomed!

'Three final challenges...'

It's like surgery this...

'..to find one winner of the Great Pottery Throw Down.'

Time to face the teapot.

MUSIC: I Can't Explain by The Who

-# Got a feeling inside

-Can't explain

-# It's a certain kind

-Can't explain

-# I feel hot and cold

-Can't explain

-# Yeah, down in my soul, yeah

-Can't explain

# I said, can't explain I think it's love

# Try to say it to you When I feel blue

# I can't explain. #

In seven days' time, either Sally Jo, Matthew, Tom

or Jim will be declared the winner of the Great Pottery Throw Down.

There you are then, chaps.

Well, good morning, potters.

And a huge congratulations on reaching

the Grand Final of the Great Pottery Throw Down.

Judges, I imagine you've got something pretty special in store for them.

We want you to make a 12-piece porcelain tea set.

A teapot, four cups, four saucers, a sugar bowl, a milk jug

and a cake stand.

Now, we specify porcelain, because it is SO unforgiving.

This clay holds no prisoners - so focus.

So, your grand final tea set starts now.

Tough stuff.

'Making a tea set from porcelain is the perfect challenge for the grand final...'

I always wanted to make a tea set.

'..because it requires the skill and patience of a champion.'

I am nervous. I'll admit that.

It will take a week to perfect.

First, they'll have to make the basic structure of each of their 12 pieces,

dry them overnight and then add spouts,

handles and any decorative trimming.

They'll be fired, glazed and fired again.

And finally, they'll be presented to the judges.

-So, a tea set.

-Yeah.

-We take it for granted, really, don't we?

But actually, it's a really complicated thing to make.

It has all the elements.

Just alone, the teapot itself is a cacophony of technical skill.

The lid has got to fit, the spout has got to pour,

the handle has to be not only the right size but practically

you're going to have to be able to pick the thing up, with the tea in it.

And of course the design of the tea set is key.

We want to see features working across the whole set as

if they're a family and at the same time, I want to see character in it.

And we've given them the trickiest of all clays.

We've given them porcelain. It's such a contradiction, porcelain,

because when you're making with it, it's so delicate

but the minute it's fired, it's very, very strong.

It actually takes your fingerprint, doesn't it?

And you leave a mark, so really, you have to be accurate and skilful.

Although I have dabbled, I'm not overly familiar

but I'll try and tame the clay.

Porcelain originated in China.

The main ingredients were china stone and china clay,

both derived from decomposed granite

and when it decomposes you get a very soft, white clay.

It's got very fine particles in it.

It's like chewing gum, this stuff.

Do you see it? It just stretches and stretches

and stretches and stretches.

Porcelain can be pottered very thinly.

That makes it ideal for tea, which of course was drank a lot in China.

It can actually withstand the thermal shock of the very hot

liquid coming in to it but also you can really judge the colour

and the quality of the tea very beautifully in that material.

And then, as it is very thin,

it's beautiful to hold it to your mouth and to drink from it.

Both these materials were imported into the West

from the 17th century, so people encountered for the first time tea

but at the same time, wares came with it that enabled

people to drink this special drink that they hadn't encountered before.

And it was a symbol of sophistication to have these

exotic products in your house.

This is my first touch of the clay on the wheel.

I feel this sort of butterflies of trepidation and nerves.

I'm about to start throwing!

So, this is my cake stand.

Tom's aiming for a tea set that will follow the clean lines he's

hoping to achieve on his cake stand.

Quite a traditional look, with straight lines,

and I'm looking to create forms that will hold an incised pattern.

Upright figures, but quite delicate.

It's not as responsive as most things,

because it's so plastic, it wants to hold its form.

And so, for centring, it takes longer.

For opening, it takes longer - you have to coax it to get it open,

cos if you try and do it too fast, it'll just wobble off-centre.

I wish you could feel this stuff, it's...

it's like silk in your hands, it's just wonderful stuff.

Throwing with porcelain, it's very smooth, it's very plasticky,

it collapses, it cracks, it does everything you don't want it to do.

It's your worst nightmare as a potter.

Labour with it too long, it will start to get upset.

It's like visiting the Queen, this, you know -

total reverence for the material.

Jim and Matthew have decided to get a feel for the porcelain,

by throwing the smallest items - the cups - first.

-Hi, Jim.

-Hello.

-Bit small, that teapot, mate.

Well, you know, start small, get bigger as you go along.

How are you enjoying this working with the porcelain?

I'm treating it with utter respect.

I mean, I've started off with the cups, I'm getting used to the clay

and I'm going to move into the tricky stuff.

What kind of design are you going to go for with your tea set?

I love rounded shapes and obviously, with this stuff, it's a

bit tricky to get those kind of rounded shapes,

so I've kind of set myself a task with the throwing side.

But, on top of this, I'm going

to create some quite organic handles, all this kind of stuff.

-Is this kind of down your road?

-See Kate's face lit up, then!

Well, you're so good at animating things, aren't you?

You know, that's what you've done all the way through.

They're very finely thrown, they're very thin

and it is a challenging shape, this sort of belly, if you like,

sticking up, so you have set yourself a challenge.

It is the grand final, Jim.

-Do you feel like you're stepping up a little bit?

-Yeah.

There is a sort of funny little pressure

that's hanging around the place.

So, we'll throw a jug next.

Matthew is risking a decorative touch at the throwing stage

to bring his tea set together.

I'm just running like a sharp spiral up it,

and then I'm hoping that the glaze is going to sink into it

and then for the teapot, I'm going to try and have a traditional shape.

However, I'm concerned that those aren't quite a traditional shape.

So I'm going to try and have that contemporary, traditional kind of contrast going on.

Does that sound like an all right plan?

Well, it's your... it's your tea set.

Sally-Jo is taking an even bigger gamble with her tea set.

I've decided to hand-build.

Just because I think, given the competition,

there's not much point throwing it at this point.

Also, I think I'm better at hand-building.

I've rolled it out to about five mill,

but I'm going to just roll it a bit thin and try

and leave the impression of the lace, so hopefully that'll be

a really nice texture on there and the glaze can pick up detail on it.

I've never hand-built with porcelain.

I think it's going to be really important to catch it at the right time

because if I leave it too long to dry, then it'll just crack.

I'll match that straight-sided form in the jug and in the cups

and in the teapot.

Anyone having fun yet? Probably not.

You're halfway through your time.

Two hours is gone, two hours remaining.

Hello? SHE LAUGHS

-Thanks!

-They're in the zone.

Is it frightening? Yeah. I really need to be getting on with the teapot.

But there's no point coming this far with the mugs and not putting

the bottom on them, so it's more important to do this bit first!

Tom's got a secret plan for his cups.

I find it a little bit difficult, to work on a very small lump of clay.

He's making them from one large lump of clay,

by throwing them off the hump.

I quite like getting into the rhythm that throwing off the hump

allows you to do.

If you get too much thickness when it dries, it will crack.

So, you can avoid that by really compressing the base

and also turning it so that it is nice and thin.

The porcelain is so delicate at the wet stage,

putting the paper over the top to lift it off is a good idea.

The paper will just trap the air inside,

and that means that the rim won't distort - it'll hold the body.

Oh, you prat!

Good start!

'With every item they make, porcelain takes a familiar potter's problem...'

You've got to remember that these little bad boys will shrink.

-'..and makes it twice as hard.'

-Great.

Shrinkage when you fire porcelain can be very large.

An understanding of the shrinkage in three dimensions,

from the clay body to the fired piece is crucial.

So, if you're trying to make a tea cup and the shrinkage is much

greater than you expect, you may end up with a thimble.

And it's not very useful for drinking tea.

The shrinkage of this clay is 17%.

And that's almost as bad as VAT.

Losing around a fifth of its size,

porcelain shrinks almost twice as much as any other clay.

Constantly finding out it has different limitations...

So you've got to remember than when you're building, because you've got to build that extra size in.

When it shrinks, it might tighten up or it might pull away, I'm not sure.

I can't stand it when things are too precise.

Makes me rebel against it.

-You all right, Jim?

-Yeah.

What are you doing there?

This is going to be the top part of me cake stand.

-Oh. Keep going, don't let me stop you.

-Yeah.

Really takes a lot of concentration, doesn't it?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Carry on.

-We're all a bit quiet in the workshop today.

You wouldn't notice anything that was going on, would you,

while this was happening.

Anything else... I'll let you get on with it, Jim.

Thank you, very kind.

Finalists! You have one hour left.

-You sweating it, Tom?

-No.

I think I might go first.

The important thing with the saucer is that it's got a nice

curve in it, so it can hold the teaspoon.

Just needs to be nicely bowed.

So, I'm starting off with a little bit of a bowl shape.

And then taking it out.

I've still got to finish off the handles of the cups and the jugs.

The trickiest piece will be the teapot.

I think the teapot is the Achilles heel.

Ordinarily, you could make a bulbous shape like this quite easily,

cos it kind of contains itself.

But with this material, you just don't know when it's going to start going on you.

I'm pleased with the way the teapot's gone so far.

Come on.

I'm actually going to try and push that beyond the spherical.

I'm going to make a more domey sort of shape.

The very difficult thing is getting the gallery here.

This is the gallery, where the lid's going to sit and it's really tricky to get that in.

I'm in a sort of mild state of terror at this point in time, I'd say!

When you let your guard down, that's when it all goes pear-shaped.

Teapot now. Yeah. It's time.

It's time to face the teapot.

Just making my lid at the moment, but I'm making it upside down.

I have a little trick - pop this on here

and take it off and now, I've got the diameter.

I've measured the diameter and then what I'll do,

I'll throw this section and then I'll just line them up.

What I need to do is make my lid so it's just a shade narrower.

Just taking my time.

Refusing to panic.

At the moment, I'm just making the stem for the cake stand.

You've got two minutes, guys - two minutes left!

I was not ready for this.

What are you doing, Jim?

Just knocking up a spout for the teapot.

Thank heavens for that! I just thought he's just started something new!

He's just started his teapot! Argh!

Ah, it's just, I can't do that.

Your time is up for this section of your tea-set making.

Well done, troops.

That's beautiful, isn't it? Doesn't that look nice?

Dunno. Good lid.

What a lovely texture on that.

Is that gorgeous or is that gorgeous?

My teapot is well behind.

'Before the finalists can refine their tea sets...'

Lovely.

'..the porcelain needs to dry and become leather-hard.'

Whilst it does, Kate and Keith have set a challenge involving a devilishly intricate

technique that only the most skilled potters of Stoke were trusted with.

It's the final spot-test from hell.

This week, the technique we're going to ask you to use is

known as the devil's work.

And it's cutting a design into an object.

It's what you leave behind that counts.

Remove the hessian.

You've all been supplied with a leather-hard cylindrical form.

We want you to cut your designs into it.

Not 10% of it, we want to see a bold design cut away.

Now, as usual, the judges are going to go off, have a massage,

finish their tattoos.

Judges, if you'd like to go and relax.

So, to do this devil's work, you have 75 minutes.

The potters have all been given the same set of cutting tools

and identical leather-hard cylinders.

Everything else is down to their skill and imagination.

The devil's work, it's demanding them to show us their hand skills.

I really want to see something intricate.

I'm looking for that craft element.

I'm looking for originality of design.

I want to see a seamless design.

I don't want to see where it begins and ends. And accuracy.

So the angle at which they hold that knife and the angle at which they

cut the clay away, it will really tell me that they've decided

on a design and they're delivering it with skill and clarity.

I'm looking for a wow factor. This is the final!

We want to see something really quite spectacular.

But then, one slip if you're doing a regular and repeated pattern,

and the whole thing will be spoiled.

Phew! God!

I thought I'd make a start on a border

and then something will come to my mind.

The devil's work. I think they used to call rock and roll the devil's music, years ago.

It might suit me. For that... for that reason.

I did some preliminary drawing on the pot just to get my bearings.

Not quite sure what we're going to end up with.

So I bought myself a little bit of thinking time by doing something definite on the rim round.

It's quite therapeutic, sit and have a...have a fiddle, I've not...

I've not done this sort of thing before.

I love those big ceramic lanterns that have quite geometric design,

almost sort of bamboo-like.

This is going to look better and quite precise.

That's not quite precise!

45 minutes to go in the final spot-test.

Choo-choo-choo, choo choo...

The next bit is a bit tricky, I...

I'm trying to put a structure in that won't collapse.

I have done piercing ceramics, I think

in my first year of university, but other than that, the only

piercing I do is on a teapot when I poke a hole through for the spout.

The judges are going to look for a fairly neat offering.

I think if you just slice it to hell, it'll look scruffy.

I think they're going to really like that, Jim.

-I think they're looking for scruffy.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, maybe.

You have 30 minutes left to complete your devil's work!

Mwa-ha-ha!

Little bit of a firework in there, actually.

I quite like it. Rocket taking off, sparks flying.

Stars all the way and then they'll fit in-between each other

and then I'll do something in the spaces in-between.

Probably not the easiest pattern I could have done, but...

What design are you doing, Tom?

I'm doing flowers.

-Oh, you big girl!

-TOM LAUGHS

I'm doing something precise and manly over here.

They'll probably think I've done that.

TOM LAUGHS

Cos it's that bad.

Oh, thanks(!)

15 minutes left of your last ever Spot Test,

I know you're going to miss them!

(Just keep going.)

I'm starting to get worried for time.

I'm starting with the new cuts in the centre,

so that if I don't get a chance to do it all the way through,

at least it's in the centrepiece of the pot.

The fireworks are fireworking away, yeah.

Oh, it's getting wobbly.

It gets harder the more you cut out, it starts to move as you push in...

Also, keep cutting.

I would like to take more away, but I may run out of time.

What time are we on?

Five minutes left, guys, you've got five minutes left.

Started shaking....

The top here now is the limit, I can tell as I'm cutting,

can't really get away with taking much more.

I'm just taking out some of the burrs that I've left in here.

How long have we got?

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

OK, potters, time is up!

That's a lot lighter now, isn't it?

Gather up your masterpieces and bring them on your whirlers

to the front, please, ready for judging.

MUSIC: Through My Eyes by The Creation

Kate and Keith?

Four cut out cylinders for your delight and delectation.

Fantastic, people.

Shall we do this one first?

What we're seeing is the maximum cut away out of the four

and actually a very original use of the top.

It's simple, but effective.

And wonderfully executed, apart from a couple of joins.

There's a lot cut away here as well, isn't there?

Loving all these holes down the bottom and on the top.

There's a sense of symmetry to this design.

Whoever did this, they held the knife at the correct angle,

they finished very precisely to the corners.

I particularly love all this detail on the top here.

There's a very nice dynamic in the pattern.

We really can't tell where it started and where it finished,

because it's very well-spaced.

I'd liked to have seen much neater ends.

And going to this one, there is a nice energy, isn't there?

The moving sideways of this.

Yeah, and there's a good use of the rim again.

I'm finding the cutting a little clumsy,

little edges coming out, the tips coming out...

-Well, not quite defined, is it?

-Don't know if it was a time thing,

but I find this least defined in its pattern.

But whose hands have mastered the devil's work?

Fourth place is...

this one.

Guilty, your honour.

We felt the design was a bit naive.

Third place is also at the back and it's this one here.

That's mine.

The ends of those wiggles could have been much more clearly cut.

Which obviously leaves these two.

-Whose is this one?

-It's mine.

-Whose is this one?

-It's mine.

We decided that we wanted to award first place to the one

who had been the bravest and had the most original design.

And that goes to...

..Sally-Jo!

It was very, very close. But this really had the wow factor.

The originality of the design, absolutely brilliant.

-Well done!

-I can't believe it...

-That's great, well done.

-Well done, Sally. How about that?

Thank you, thank you.

Final's really where it really counts.

Not only have I beaten Matthew, but I've also beaten Tom and Jim!

It feels great!

Spot test went really well, considering I didn't have a clue

what I was doing until about halfway through.

If I'm going to win this final, coming third in a spot test,

that's going to put me under a bit more pressure.

Fourth place.

The finalists now have just three and a half hours

to finesse all 12 pieces of their tea sets

and add handles and spouts before the first firing.

I think coming into this, my main concern is just not finishing.

I'm just getting the base attached to the cake stand

and then it'll be straight on to the teapot.

Because, at the moment, it still needs a base,

a top, a lid, a handle, a spout.

I feel like there's a mountain to climb this morning.

A heck of a lot to do today, in a short space of time.

Porcelain has this very short window

of workable and then not workable.

And it's not a very good clay to bring back from the brink.

It's very unforgiving for that.

This has actually dried out a little bit more than I'd like.

I'm keeping the pieces I'm not working on now covered up.

As Tom's cups were thrown off the hump,

there is more fragile porcelain clay to turn away on the base

than with an individually thrown cup.

There's a real danger that you get S-cracks,

where the base is very, very thick.

So I've got to really get them nice and thin.

I listen to the tap so...

..I can hear from the sound the clay makes how thin that is.

I don't always get it right, trial and error.

There's a bit of flaking going on because they are dry.

So the clay is not turning smoothly as it would normally.

Just by adding a tiny bit of water, it just brings it back to life

and you can turn it.

I may have to spray them before I put the handles on.

Attaching damp clay to dry clay,

it's going to shrink at a different rate.

But I'm not going to do that, because I'm going to leave these

to dry out so it's the same consistency.

This is why you make spares.

After a disappointing spot test,

Jim's hoping to add a couple of winning touches to his tea set.

I'm pulling them out and creating some lines on the actual pull

and then twisting them.

That's really skilful. It looks so simple but actually

he's got to be so gentle with his touch,

otherwise the whole thing will fall to bits in the air.

-Tie a little knot.

-Beautiful.

-We'll let you crack on.

-Thank you very much.

-Focus, Jim.

I'm focusing, mate, I'm focusing.

Well, I haven't got the luxury of practising any more.

All of the stuff has to go through.

I think I'm distracting myself from the teapot. I'm, like, scared of it.

I'm such a deadline person, I've got to wait till I'm, like, really

under pressure to do something I don't want to do!

This is about 20 years old. I made it at school.

It's a maker's mark. They're my initials actually.

It hasn't changed since.

I'm putting a little design on, best I can.

It is hard when the clock's ticking

cos you wouldn't mind a little chance to play around a little bit.

Maybe the curl is nice cos of the lace,

it's sort of like a ribbon. I think I'm going to go with that.

That's not really the handle I just planned but...

No...

Oh, God, this is horrible!

I think doing this challenge has actually made me more relaxed.

Matthew, will you stop talking about being relaxed?

The truth is, inside you're churned up in turmoil!

Truth is, I'm crumbling.

Half an hour to go.

Melting down cos I've got so much to do still.

Putting the stand together for this cake stand,

it's going to look like a beanstalk.

This teapot is not going to have a spout. Oh, my God!

I'm not going to get this done.

Spout, spout, spout.

Spout needs to just be like a big fan, doesn't it?

It's like surgery, this. I hate putting spouts on teapots.

I'm not going to put you off by SPOUTING on any more.

I'm going to make this little baby fit, which, again,

is such a tricky thing to do.

When you make a spout on the wheel,

when you apply that to the body of your teapot,

you always put that on at a slight angle

because in the kiln, it remembers the way it was going on the wheel.

It sort of springs back a little bit.

But if you're hand-building a spout,

you don't have to take that into account.

Oh, I'm really worried now.

It's got to pour well, it's got to be applied well

and aesthetically it's got to fit with the main body of the teapot.

Shape-wise, the spout is not particularly friendly

to the overall feel of the pot.

Try and tidy it up before the final bell goes.

Ten, nine...

-Don't rush.

-..eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

Oh, that was a shocker!

Guys, congratulations.

You've worked, again, really hard for this final

and we shall see you in a few days.

Well done.

You've got it on your face again!

-Oh...

-I reckon that's your sign you were a bit stressed.

MUSIC: Making Time by The Creation

Even the slightest trace of moisture can destroy porcelain

when it's fired and, after 24 hours of drying,

it's Richard's job to take the tea sets to the kiln.

I've noticed on these handles cracks opening up.

It's just where the handles have been joined a bit wet.

It is more susceptible with porcelain.

As those handles are drying, they're shrinking and the mug bodies

have already started to shrink and they're just starting to crack.

As their work is bisqued, fired and cooled,

the finalists face an agonizing 48-hour wait at home

with their families.

# No, I won't be afraid

# No, I won't... #

I am so proud that Jim has reached the final

cos it has been all-consuming but he's really, really,

really wanted to make a go of it, he really has.

I've missed him a lot,

it's actually quite surprising how much you miss him

when he's always strumming on his guitar

or doing some pots or something.

How has he been over the last few weeks - Matt?

We weren't certain at one point, I don't think,

if he was actually still in the competition!

-You know it's like, erm, "How's it going?" "Fine."

-Yeah.

-"How's it going?" "OK."

-"OK."

Few words, we don't find out much.

-Ready for this?

-Yeah.

-Bit of cheese inside.

Tom is really relieved, I think.

He wasn't expecting to get into the final

having had quite a rough time making the chandelier.

The night the judging happened, we were up e-mailing him

and he was showing us photos saying that he had got into the final.

We felt really proud of him. He does think "pots" all the time.

Well, not all the time but most of the time.

There's a lot of pottery chat going on, there's one time

when she was thinking of using the lace on her pyjamas for the tea set.

It's been all encompassing.

I just had no idea she was this talented.

I don't even dare to think if she'll win the final.

I'd love it if she did. She would love it.

She's brilliant at glazing and decoration, so why not?

He keeps telling us he's not expecting to win.

But I guess, you know, he has as much chance as everybody else.

-I don't think he's bothered about results though because...

-Ooh, no.

I think he's got out of it what he really wants to do.

Well, he wants to win the final, but he's not too bothered, apparently.

Apparently! SHE LAUGHS

There's 24 hours left in the competition

and the potters are back to discover

how their tea sets fared in the first firing.

-Best of luck.

-And you, and you.

Great reveal...

Any cracks at this stage may be impossible to recover from.

Here goes nothing.

They're looking OK, actually, I'm really pleased.

It's all right.

Oh...

All the handles have split.

Ah. Ah...

Couple of little casualties here.

The glazing hopefully will be reasonably striking enough

to distract from the fact that there are shortcomings with the make.

The finalists now have just two hours to glaze their tea sets.

I think the glaze will fill a few of the cracks that have appeared.

At least none of the bottoms have fallen out.

Yet.

Before any glazing begins, the potters are applying a wax coating.

The high temperature porcelain is fired at

increases the risk of melting,

fusing lids to teapots and everything to the kiln shelf.

Yeah, that would be a bit useless.

Carefully applying a thin layer of wax should ensure

all the pieces remain separate.

That's my intention.

They've been given a range of traditional Far Eastern glazes

to work with, as well as a selection of oxides.

We're really looking at natural colours - browns, blacks,

greens, turquoises...

Well, you say that, all I've seen is like a dusky pink,

like a sort of '80s bridesmaid dress.

They're not going to come out looking like that, are they?

No, they're not. The sort of pale pink becomes blue

and the black becomes green,

it's just a magical transformation which is chemistry.

Jim's hoping to play to his strengths,

hand-painting a floral design with a blend of oxides.

The main ingredient to this is cobalt,

which give you quite a strong blue.

I've muted that down by adding iron oxide to it

and it just takes it down a few notches.

Tom has chosen a base glaze called celadon, developed 2,000 years ago

in China to mimic jade. It should fire to a glassy pale green.

I've just done a single dip, very quick. It's quite thick, the glaze.

Matthew's given his celadon base a bit of a tweak.

I thinned mine down more than Tom's.

Hopefully after the firing it will come out like a bluey colour.

Even at the glazing stage,

Sally Jo's teapot is still slowing her down.

My teapot lid doesn't fit my teapot,

so with sandpaper I'm able just to shave it down a bit.

I really want the lid to sit flush with the top of the teapot.

30 minutes to go, 30 minutes left.

I'm just banding some glaze around this.

Matt's decorating his surfaces with a glaze called tenmoku

which should fire to a dark oil coloured finish.

So, hopefully the tenmoku will bleed into the celadon. That's the plan.

Oh, it's like...

like in a chemistry lab.

Cobalt carbonate, the red iron oxide and that's the copper oxide.

I think if you just use one it can look a bit harsh.

Right, there's no going back after this bit.

I'm not sure what it's going to do.

As well as his flowers,

Jim's coating his finished work in a light celadon.

I think with that kind of classic blue design under the celadon,

it should look quite tasty.

What colour is it going to be when it comes through?

It's grey blue finish on the floral stuff.

Jim's used his oxides, hasn't he?

And mixed his two oxides, whereas Tom simply put tiny dots

above each of his little lugs there on the side.

They looked a bit small to me,

I don't know if we're going to see them.

Yeah, it depends on what the glaze does to them.

-SALLY-JO:

-I've made the solution too watery for the second batch.

I didn't make enough in the first batch so it's different.

Seems very calm here...

You are aware this is the final, James?

-Yeah, I know, I...

-Are you done now?

Yeah, I've put all the glaze on.

I'm hoping the judges are going to let me stick that on top of there

-when we finish...

-I'm sure.

-..cos I can't do it now.

-Yeah, you going to do it, a bit of glue?

-I'll have a word.

Yeah, go on, put a word in for me.

Smooth the path a bit, a couple of quid...

Ten minutes of titivation of the tea sets allowed.

Just wiping off the oxide. So it reveals the design.

Cos otherwise it's a bit heavy.

But I am seriously running out of time

because I've got to get clear glaze on top of everything.

I've just got to wipe all rims, Sally,

then I'll give you a hand if you want?

Amazing!

-Can I be in your gang?

-Yes.

-What's going on here?

I've got no glaze on anything yet!

You've had the same amount of time as everybody,

-what's been going on, Sally Jo?

-I've been...decorating.

-It'll all be fine.

-All right. It'll be fine in a minute.

-Have you all finished?

-Yesterday.

Have you got a production line going here?

Do you want me to wipe some bases here?

If you win, there's going to be some right ole trouble.

Ten, nine, eight...

Right hand, there's no glaze. Right hand.

..five, four, three,

two, one.

Potters, your time's up, guys.

Just in the nick of time, Sally-Jo, well done.

It's taken six days but the tea sets are ready for their final firing.

Then they're done! Hurray!

The fragile porcelain is headed into the 1,280-degree heat

of a gas-fired reduction kiln.

You're reducing the oxygen in the kiln chamber.

So therefore, by reducing the oxygen,

the flame has to burn something.

So it attacks the pot, if you like,

it attacks the oxides within the pot and the glazes.

So we're talking about such high temperatures here that the oxides

and the minerals that are in the glaze that give the colour,

they melt and they're like flowers opening,

the sort of pale pink becomes blue and the black becomes green.

The glaze responds to the body, the body responds to the glaze.

It's rich and luscious and it moves over the contours of the pot.

As the reduction firing begins,

the finalists will face one last challenge.

A test involving a master potter's control that could help them

become our first champion.

This is your final ever Throw Down.

Indeed, it's your final ever task here, in this pottery studio.

What you're going to do today is a classic shape,

one of the hardest shapes that I had to learn as an apprentice.

The high shouldered jug, with a nice neck on it and a nice finished lip.

So, here we go.

So the thing that makes this such a challenge is that there are

several changes in direction of the clay, as you're going to see.

I'm throwing it slightly out.

My knuckle on the outside is below my hand on the inside,

but as I come up to the shoulder, my knuckle takes over

and that's now on the top of my hand on the inside.

You've been using the sponge on the stick before, haven't you?

I'm really pushing out the clay,

just to get me a nice, generous belly.

And then up to the shoulder.

And then you want enough clay at the top

to make a really nice, generous rim.

And now I need to pull up the lid, with the rim of the jug.

Because then I'm not distorting the rest of the rim.

And what you're really after here is a nice curve to the jug lip.

So, the criteria that we're looking for is the junction between

this shoulder here and this neck here has got to be lovely and sharp.

And the inside shape has really got to correspond to the outside

so when we cut it in half, we don't see a thinness on that point there.

We also want to see a lovely, generous rim,

from which you can pull a very nice lip.

It took Keith five minutes to throw his jug,

so the good news is that you guys have got 20 minutes, OK?

The bad news is you need to make three.

20 minutes, three jugs.

Time starts now.

BELL RINGS

Here they go.

Remember get that knuckle or hand, get it in.

You want that pot to have a nice uplift.

Think about that rim as well.

When I'm throwing in the studio,

usually the first one I do always takes a bit more time

-and a bit more thought on it...

-Yeah.

-..and then obviously you get into the rhythm.

-Yeah.

Oh, Jim!

-Jim!

-I've lost it, I've just thrown it too thin!

-No, that's gone, mate.

-Oh, well.

Just throw really two decent ones.

HE SIGHS

Fine specimen if ever there was one.

Five minutes has gone, you've got 15 left.

Jim's is looking nicer now.

There needs to be more definition between the pot and the shoulder.

-I think he had a shock with that first loss.

-Yeah, yeah.

Tom's is looking good. A nice poise.

I would've got my sponge in there

and just bellied out that a bit more,

just to give it a fuller figure.

Usually at this point I go, you enjoying this Throw Down?

But should I just not bother asking that after...?

We've been through it, haven't we, with this?

OK, halfway through, guys, ten minutes left, ten minutes left!

Take my time with this one.

Has Matthew taken his time a little bit too much?

-I'm a little bit concerned.

-Yeah...

I'm not sure if he's going to have enough time.

-What's Sally-Jo doing?

-She's got the general concept right.

-Mm, she has.

-Cos, remember, they don't have to be like mine.

-No.

They don't have to look exactly the same, it's just the technique.

Changing the direction of the clay, that's what we're after.

Sally-Jo has got a huge width there.

Mmm, far too wide.

It must be really thin, cos she's got quite a good height there.

I mean, do you know what?

We've seen her really come on with her throwing.

OK, guys, you've got five minutes left. Five minutes left.

Oh!

Look, Sally-Jo is losing hers...

I just gouged it out with the credit card.

Oh, she caught it with her tool.

Mind your hair there, Matthew, can you get it over your shoulder?

I'll do your hair for you.

Oh, thank you so much.

There.

Go, Sally-Jo, come on, centre that clay.

-Get that bloody arm in! Get that arm in!

-Come on!

Get your weight behind that!

Got one minute left, guys, one minute left.

One minute, Matthew!

Thank you for reminding me.

Yeah, no pressure, then.

Come on, Matthew!

-Come on, Sally!

-Coming...

-Five... KATE:

-Sprinting to the end.

..four, three, two, one!

BELL RINGS

Time is up, guys, time is up!

Has anyone mastered the changes in direction

a perfect set of jugs demands?

Starting off with you, sir, Jim's jugs.

Yeah, obviously, it's gone a bit wrong here, isn't it?

Jug number two. Much improved.

Well, obviously you've learned a bit.

Quite a nice transition between the shoulder and the neck

and a nice thick rim for that spout.

That's a really nice cross section there.

Jug number three, are things getting better?

Yeah, definitely on a positive path, I think.

We've got quite a nice transition between shoulder and neck.

Your rim's far more exaggerated, which is lovely.

The base is a bit too thin.

You could've probably used a bit more from the shoulder

up into your rim, really.

Number two, there's this cinching in here,

which it could've been fuller.

Really nice, definite thick rim, just a bit more substantial there.

Jug number three, then.

Well, the profile isn't quite so cinched in,

-it's beginning to get a bit fuller, isn't it?

-Mmm.

And then the transition from shoulder to neck is quite good.

The cross section is far better on this, actually.

There isn't a brilliant transition from shoulder to neck.

That's probably the best lips I've seen so far,

-and the rim is looking really, really nice.

-Jug number two?

The actual shoulder to the neck is better.

You've got quite a lot of clay there,

base is a bit on the thin side.

-Jug number three?

-This was my two-minute jug.

I mean, obviously the shoulder's looking a bit weak here.

There we go. The base is really, really thin on this one.

Basically, this is an unfinished jug.

Matthew?

Nice width at the bottom, very generous rim,

-possibly too generous.

-Yeah.

The base is a bit on the thin side, to say the least.

A nice taper there, to give it support.

Jug number two, then, Keith?

Much nicer base, really, really thick on the sides here.

Jug number three?

So, really just unfinished in essence, isn't it?

Yeah, again, just ran out of time.

The base, a bit on the thin side, bit too thick on the shoulder there.

So, who will win the final Throw Down?

Last but no means least...

Jim. You obviously lost it on the first one.

In third place,

Sally-Jo.

Second place, really nice structure between the shoulder

and the neck. Nice, thick rims...

Matthew.

So, in first place, Tom.

-Well done, Tom.

-Well done, Tom.

-APPLAUSE

Oh, to go out on a win with the Throw Down was,

was absolutely great.

Very good!

Remarkably strange to have walked out of that last task

and realised actually now there's nothing else

I can do to influence the outcome of this. It's all done!

I'll be sad not to do any more challenges again.

I think it'll take a while to readjust to reality.

It would have been nice to have gone out, you know,

with a flourish and, you know, all the rest of it.

I do feel I've let myself down in that respect.

I've got a first in the Spot Test and a third in the Throw Down

so I'm, you know, I'm not in a bad position with my tea set, but...

..I don't think I've done enough.

It's the final day of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

It's been a long journey to get here though, what a pleasure.

-Excited?

-Yeah, can't wait.

But the potters aren't heading in to the studio...

-Last time we're going to do this.

-I know, it's amazing!

..it's been transformed into an exhibition space,

to showcase everyone's work from the whole competition.

Oh, wow!

And the finalists' family and friends are all on the guest list.

That looks lovely!

Oh!

This is the most amazing display.

There's nothing like when ceramic is finished and then put on show.

Just seeing it all together. We've been busy!

-Oh, that's Tom's, yeah.

-That's Tom's.

It's amazing seeing what they've done and how much they've done

in such a really quite short period of time.

There's an overwhelming sense of group pride, I'd say.

-Oh, the Raku!

-Yeah, those are Raku.

Sally's chandelier's really lovely, isn't it?

It works as feathers, hanging in the air.

If I was a betting person, my money would be on Tom.

Or possibly Matthew.

My money was on Tom from day one.

I think it might be Sally, or Jim

or Tom, or Matt...

I think.

I can't wait to see the tea sets.

I cannot wait to see the tea sets.

As we both know, when we open that kiln,

-we'll have to see what happens.

-Yeah, absolutely,

take those bricks down. I mean, it's the gas kiln, isn't it?

And it does this magical work, we hope, for all of them.

Let's get these out.

Jim's piece has got a bit oxidised, hasn't it, there? Look.

-Oh, yeah.

-I mean, that's essentially the same glaze.

You can see the variation in the colour

and this is the difference the reduction atmosphere makes.

Yeah, so this one's been reduced and this one's been oxidised.

-Sally-Jo's surfaces are just so beautiful.

-Beautiful.

One thing I did notice as they were decorating

and glazing their tea sets, finish is everything.

Did they glaze them and wipe those bottoms,

-finish those bottoms off properly?

-Cos these glazes can slip...

-They shift.

-..down the pots and they could glue the pieces

-to the kiln shelves.

-Yeah.

Oh!

The base on Tom's... If the glaze isn't wiped back well enough,

the slightest bit of residue can just fuse that to the shelf

and then as it's cooled the pot shrunk.

Where it's stuck, it's just pulled itself to pieces.

That's such a pity, such a pity.

Sally-Jo's pieces are so thin, just become so fluid in the kiln...

Appears this piece has stuck.

Going to just see if we can just gentle leverage...

Yeah, it's going to go. Yes...

Things become so fluid at top temperature, the clay moves.

-Such a pity.

-Mmm.

This far! This far from being good.

-All right, Jim.

-Hello there, Matt.

-How's it looking? You chuffed?

-All right, yeah.

-Pleased?

-How are yours?

-They are not too unhappy, actually.

Shaking head? No...! Surely?

It's terrible...

I'd rather just maybe not show it.

-Wow, that looks amazing!

-Mixed bag actually, guys.

CLINKING

Oh, yeowch, what's that from?

-The teapot.

-Oh, no!

The whole idea of gluing a pot together is rather strange.

Even if I glue it, you can't get a mug on it.

Do some shenanigans with the cake stand.

Doesn't look too bad!

-Tea, anybody?

-HE CHUCKLES

-Judges, would you like to start with Sally-Jo, please?

-Yeah.

Did you know that the lace and the coloured oxides

were going to be quite so beautiful?

I hoped.

Because really the surface of this is absolutely exquisite.

It's quite incredible how you've got this effect.

-Yeah.

-It really is.

-But that is the best thing about this service, don't we know?

-Yeah.

You've got two cracked handles. I take it this was done on the drying.

-I should've got them on sooner.

-But do you know what?

I actually quite like the shape of that cup.

I think the weight is too heavy and I was concerned

when you were making, had you rolled your slabs a little thinner,

-it would have been finer.

-I mean, I haven't even picked this up yet...

It's heavy.

Now, I'm thinking that this might not actually hold tea.

I think there's a few crack issues in this.

-Oh!

-Oh...!

-Straight away. OK.

-No.

-It's not holding the tea.

It's not even useful as a watering can.

Your making's let you down.

A shame because really the most beautiful thing

is the delicate surface.

You have managed to use the glaze really, really well

on your surface design and the tenmoku works really well

with the celadon, the way it bleeds down.

I think you're very bold with your use of glaze.

I like the way it's moved, there's a sort of rawness to it.

-It's definitely not a fine tea set.

-No, no.

Looking at the whole set, you've got this great rhythm.

The pieces turn on the wheel and you've really shown us that

by doing some spirals, by marking it.

Actually, I'm amazed that the handle has actually stayed on.

It's got a freshness to it, it's got a spring in the handle there,

which is, actually, it's a miracle.

It's not easy to do. Credit to your technical ability.

-It holds a lot!

-I'm quite amazed with that.

Yeah. It's like the TARDIS!

Well, he has got a bow tie on after all.

Is it dribbling?

-Yeah, there's a little dribble.

-A tiny, tiny bit.

It does hold together.

It really does sit in front of us as a 12-piece tea set.

I love the tonal changes between the sort of different firing positions

in the kiln, and the rich turquoise, to the more sagey green.

I do love the delicacy that you've got with the tea cup.

It's porcelain and it looks like porcelain.

The saucer has got a really lovely spring in it,

it's really nice and fresh.

You put an iron oxide rim on here, did you?

Yes, they seem to have burnt away,

so that was a little bit disappointing.

I think you were a little sparse when you put your little tiny dots

above these little tiny nibs here, I thought they were a bit spare.

For me, that's a lot of decoration on a pot,

so the subtlety I was quite pleased with.

But what happened here, Tom?

Do you know, I was meticulous about cleaning the bases off.

-Unfortunate, that.

-You can't be too careful, can you?

-With all the precautions.

-Absolutely not.

-No, no.

The lid fits nicely,

you've put your maker's mark on the middle of the lid.

It's a delight to see, isn't it?

-Shall we do the honours?

-Shall we have a look?

It's pouring well, dripping slightly.

It's really nicely finished off, but then I would expect that from Tom.

How are you feeling?

Nervous.

Well, do you know what, Jim?

HE LAUGHS

-This is fantastic.

-It's fantastic.

-Really?

-This detail is absolutely brilliant.

-Making my eyes water, actually.

God, even Jim's got a tear in his eye.

The beautiful, gentle marks that you made with the cog,

the way you use that brush, it's one of the most successful

decorative surfaces I've seen in reduced porcelain.

Some of these have changed colour, it's obviously all the same glaze,

-just in different parts of the kiln.

-That's right.

So that's the draught coming across one piece of ceramics

and giving us two different colours.

-But, Jim...

-Beautiful.

-Jim.

-Yes...

You're doing a delicate handle here, it's porcelain.

You should appreciate your handles.

I'm used to stoneware where you can literally pull a handle wet

on a fairly leather hard pot.

You ain't going to do that with porcelain.

-I mean, I realise that.

-Your bottoms are the neatest that I've seen.

Very nicely finished.

Now, Jim...

-Is that putty, Jim?

-It's clay, actually.

OK, the plus is, it looks very organic, doesn't it?

-It looks like roots of a tree. But...

-Yeah...

..there's no way that was going to sit on there.

-Shame about this though, isn't it?

-Yeah, you've got a cracking there,

again it's an appendage on to the main body.

Kate, the honours.

-Nice pour, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's got the drip...

It's got a slight drip.

Few structural issues, but that design, perfect.

I felt a certain degree of triumph to see Keith

getting a bit emotional, but to see Kate going down that road as well...

I found myself going down the same street,

so it was kind of like, "Whoa, hold off a minute!

"What's going on here?!"

I was genuinely surprised that they found so many nice things

to say about it.

If I have won, well, you know, I'll be delighted.

If I don't win, I'll be really happy that I've made a tea set

and I'm pretty proud of that tea set.

You are your own worst critic so...

you know, I just see the faults in mine,

but, you know, I suppose, yes, there is a possible chance.

I don't know if I'm in with a chance, to be honest.

Would be great, though, wouldn't it? Yeah!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Excellent!

Quite a sweet sight, innit?

In just a few minutes,

either Sally-Jo, Tom, Matthew or Jim

will be crowned the winner of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Let's talk about Sally-Jo.

Look, her surface design, the colour choices she's made

are absolutely fantastic,

but on her technical ability, it's really let her down.

The wow factor with Tom is attention to detail.

We know he's technically proficient.

He's shown us a real delicacy with his cups and saucers.

He's high in our minds because he has produced a beautiful tea set.

Matthew has produced a really strong kind of boyish tea set.

It's got lovely coarseness, a sort of slightly engineered look to it.

He's used the glazes perfectly on the rims of his whole tea set.

He just has this great knowledge,

this, like, sixth sense of how to use the glazes.

Jim's surface pattern, it's so fantastic.

He uses the brush like a magician.

It's just so simple and so, so effective.

Does that mean that you are willing to overlook

-any of the construction issues?

-Oh, well, you know,

this is something that we're going to have to discuss.

The three of them all have been top potters, all the way through.

-Who's it going to be?

-Can you give us a few more minutes?

I think I'm going to have to.

APPLAUSE

It is so fantastic seeing so many family and friends here

and, of course, all our potters, past and present. Welcome all.

Will our four finalists please step forward?

The judges have made their decision

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

..Matthew.

-Well done, mate!

-Well done.

-Right decision.

-Well done, Matthew.

-Go on, mate, go!

Collect your trophy!

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Cheers.

-Fantastic. Really, really good. Well done, mate.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

-Well done, huh?

-Well done.

'What a pleasure to present the trophy to young Matthew.'

He's really been consistently there, hasn't he?

Top potter, top potter, top potter. Really applied himself.

CHEERING

'What Matthew did to win this contest was he married design'

with technical ability and a real knowledge

and a sense and a love of ceramics.

Really and truly, he's got a soul for it.

I think emotions are difficult. Words can't describe it, really.

Amazing. And thank my mother and father for introducing me to clay.

He's a natural.

I think it's like he's got clay in the blood and slip in his brains

and, you know, just...

It's definitely gone to the right guy, yeah.

Come here, mwah!

He's got that youthful thing in his work, it's almost nonchalance.

"Yeah, well, I knocked up that and I knocked up this."

Fantastic, you know.

Your father's a great potter.

The thing I'm going to miss most is the most amazing people.

We come from such diverse backgrounds,

but we're completely bonded by the same thing.

This passion to create and work with clay, that's what I'm going to miss.

Anyone deserved this and we all deserve it.

If I could break it up into ten shards, I would,

but it would be a shame to ruin a pot, wouldn't it?

MUSIC: Don't Ever Change by The Kinks