A Process Talk | Francesca Kaye | Episode 744

Francesca Kaye | Episode 744

Francesca Kaye earned her degree in fashion and textiles in the early 80’s . Though she was well versed in all aspects of textiles, the only thing Francesca liked was print . Francesca was asked if she could make tiles for someone’s kitchen and she said yes and made them at home while watching tv !!! Eventually Francesca got a studio in the late 80’s at Cockpit Workshops … the most brilliant place in central London. Francesca’s first order was for a well known store in London called Liberty and that’s when everything took off. 12 years later Francesca’s lovely father in law built me a studio at the end of the garden and she bought a kiln and making again.

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When you sit down to make your work do you have a finished product in your mind?

Yes. Yes, I think I do. I’ve got an idea of what I want to do decoration wise, but once I start it could alter, but yes, Is the answer to that.

Do you plan a piece to fit the scale of the artwork or do you make the art scale down to fit the piece?

I look at the piece I am making and I think I just make it to fit that piece. So I don’t actually think…that doesn’t enter my head, I just think, What would look good on that. If I am drawing an animal I just fit it to fit that mug. With mugs I like the smallness of it.

Are you doing coil built mugs or are you doing slab built mugs?

Slab built.

Do you have a set pattern that you use every time, like a template that you put on your slab and cut out?

Can I tell you how I do it?

Tell me please.

So I roll out the clay very, very thin. I’ve got two little bits of wood that I use on my plaster bat that I have had for about fifty years or how ever long, and I get the clay very thin. So I roughly know the size of the mug and I wrap it around a bottle of glaze or whatever fits it so it sort of dries and just at the point where it is leather hard, I will remove the glaze from the inside. It goes around the glaze in order to get the shape and that’s the process. I make it a bit bigger than I need and I cut off about an inch and I use that as the handle. And I use a round cookie cutter to make the base. It because I can make it very thin, I like the mugs to be very thin.

Do you bisque your work before you decorate work?

Yes. I used to do sgraffito where it is leather hard and I put the white glaze on and then I scratch into it. I did that for awhile and then I just started bisquing because I became more interested in the decoration. I wanted to make them look quite old and put figures on and animals and stuff like that. So they are bisqued and when they come out that’s when I paint the decoration or I might do a wax resists which I quite like as well.

Are you using underglazes to do your bright colors?

Yes, underglazes and glazes. It’s a whole mix. I love my glazes. I have loads and loads of different glazes. We are like friends. It’s like painting a picture and using paints, like using a gouache and watercolor. It’s the same thing. It all goes on the mug.

And the gold you put on is your final firing?

The luster is in the final firing if I am putting gold on. But the luster is the final thing.

Where is your favorite place in the world to travel to?

I think I love going to Morocco. I just love the tiles. Marrakech. Just to see buildings covered in tiles. The culture, the market, the buildings, the courtyards, the big pots, it’s really the color and the tiles that I love. That’s the thing for me. If I could tile the front of my house, I would do that.