The evolution of brookfield pottery and me!

If you have looked at this blog before you may be wondering why I took a few months off this year; and why this is supposed to about setting up a pottery studio without mentioning anything about the process!

The picture above is my little studio. I built it myself, with a lot of help from nextdoor neighbour Simon. I could have bought a large cheap shed and adapted it, but this would have been expensive when adding on the cost of electrics, thick flooring, insulation, interior wood cladding etc. and not as nice when finished. Or I could have bought a garden studio; but they are prohibitively expensive. So I decided to build it instead.

Building a studio yourself has big advantages over other options: Firstly you can build it to fit the space you have. Secondly you can make it as simple or fancy-looking as you like. And last, but not least, you can spend as much or as little on it as you want.

Because of the nature of my injury at the time it took a few months to complete, but has been well worth the effort.

The one thing you should know is that I am not a carpenter! Which, in part, is why it took so long to complete. The most encouraging thing I can say is that if I can build one anyone can! The only advice I can give is to allow more time and money than you plan for and buy as many of the materials as possible from recycled and second hand sources. The big double glazed units I used for the large windows were gained by buying some very cheap second-hand patio doors and stripping the units from them. This alone saved hundreds of pounds!

For the greenies out there I should say that all the wood used to build the studio was either reclaimed or from renewable sources. No planet unfriendly hardwoods were used!

The months I had off this year were in part spent building a deck area. This leads out to the raised area where the studio and aviary are positioned.

Also I have been under physiotherapy for my leg injury and have been seeing great strides in my abilities, a couple of weeks ago I even ran a little; which after ten years hobbling around on a stick has been an overwhelming experience! But has motivated me to start planning seriously to start my pottery. It has also meant that the last couple of months has been spent exercising a lot and throwing pots had to be put to one side.

In my next post I will show you inside the studio.