Oh, I'm just pottering among the plants for this week's garden theme,
because our potters are going to be at one with pots
for the great outdoors. We've just got seven potters left now,
so who's going to emerge as the budding star and who, sadly,
is going to be pruned and sent packing from the pottery?
Last time, the potters tried their hand at the Japanese art of raku...
Oh, no!
Nam came through in a blaze of glory, winning Pot Of The Week.
It just looks like true alchemy - it's brilliant.
- James crashed, burned... - Please work!
..and left the pottery.
Sad to go. Yeah, man, pleased with what I did.
- This week... - So good.
..it's all about the garden.
Roses are red, your face is too - a little bit.
There's a flowerpot flinging Throw Down...
I'm kind of getting a bit excited.
Are you?
..a rather romantic spot test...
Making them for you, Sara.
I HATE a fuss, shut up!
And as they tackle their biggest throwing challenge so far...
Go on, Elaine! Get them guns out, Elaine.
..there's carnage in the kiln.
This is probably the most catastrophic shelf.
Aw, no.
I could do with a pint.
# Makin' time
# Shootin' lines
# People have their uses
# People have their uses. #
The potters are back to face a whole new set of challenges.
Even though it's the fourth week, the nerves are just horrendous.
One win underneath my belt, and hopefully I can get a few more.
I've never made a garden sculpture,
but I'm going to push myself and throw something really big.
This week is garden week, I'm completely, 110% inspired,
you can see the ones who are out to win it.
'Blood may flow on this one.'
So, it looks like the garden gloves are off and the game is on.
Good morning, potters, welcome back to the pottery.
Now, today, we are going to be making
the great outdoors even greater.
Cos for your Main Make challenge,
Kate and Keith would like you to build a water feature.
You're going to be making it out of stoneware clay,
cos it's got to go outdoors, and it must be at least two tiers tall.
For this challenge you'll be using
the largest amount of clay that you've used so far.
All your pieces have to be hand thrown at the wheel,
and that's including the tiers and supports.
And it has to fit this pump and this hosepipe.
Did you just whip that out your handbag, Kate?
Where did that come from?!
You have got three hours so, potters, get potting.
No problem, three hours, no bother.
Working with such massive amounts of clay...
Go large or go home.
..is going to take real skill at the wheel.
Are you throwing something already, Ryan? You're making me nervous.
Elaine, I don't know how you're going to centre a whole bag of clay.
Oh, dear, don't anybody watch.
I'm struggling with THIS! Go on, Elaine.
Get them guns out, Elaine, get them guns out.
You can do it. Give it some!
Stop looking!
Right, you bad boy.
So, we've asked the potters to raise their level this week, haven't we?
They really have to think how the water is going to flow through their
piece. That main base bowl has to be wide enough not only to physically
hold the water but also it's got to be big enough to catch the water
from the tiers above.
They've really got to consider how they fit together, how they stand,
and how stable it is.
And they have to be robust enough and look beautiful
with this water cascading down them.
It's very calming, isn't it, standing next to these?
I don't think the potters are that calm!
The potters have just three hours to throw and shape each individual
element of their water feature.
That one's got three tiers in that drawing, but I'm hoping to do
a couple more. It's just bowl, bowl, bowl, stilt, stilt, stilt.
Simple.
I'm starting with the bowl at the bottom,
cos that then sets the size for everything that then goes inside.
The bottom bowl is the toughest to throw.
I don't think I've ever thrown something as big as this.
To catch the spray and support the rest of the structure,
these babies have got to be big.
I love throwing these big shapes, I love it, I really enjoy this.
I have never thrown a bowl this big before. I've always wanted to.
I think it's one of my ambitions in life, to throw big.
Elaine's water feature is based on the splendid Brighton Pavilion.
It has an ornate minaret top over a stately column,
but it's not just for ornamental use.
We have seven cats and two dogs.
They love drinking out of anything - they'll drink out of the tap,
if it is dripping. I thought, a nice little fountain, they'll go in that.
- Very nice. - The water is travelling up from the bottom bowl
and coming out in how many points?
I'm hoping it's going to come out from the bottom of the sphere.
There will be holes going in the side of the sphere around,
so it just gently flows over the collar of the sphere, and down.
So it's not coming out of the top of the sphere?
- No. - Think that's quite sensible.
- Less Freudian. - No, absolutely, I wanted a gentle flow,
and then I'm really going to go for it on the decoration.
Nice to hear that.
I'm going to try. I'll try my best.
- We'll leave you to it. - Thank you.
Clover's hoping HER fountain will be at one with nature.
Lotus is going to be the theme of my design.
I did some sketching there, and there's one from my painting there.
It's a flower that grows in the water
and is really common where I come from in China.
The lotus is the centrepiece for Clover's two-tiered design.
Supporting it is a bulb shape to house the water pump.
To catch the spray, she needs a really wide bottom bowl.
The thing you're looking at is the biggest thing I've ever thrown,
so hopefully from here on, it's going to be a little bit easier.
But I don't know.
I don't even want to know what the time is.
Most of the big bowls are complete and ready to dry, but Nam's
first attempt is just a warm-up exercise.
I made a quick sample of the bowl.
I'm going to make a bigger one in a bit.
Elaine's bowl is huge.
Really impressive. Freya's looks really nice and curvy.
True to form, Freya is going for
an unconventional and time-consuming design.
I'm just using my fingertips and pushing it from the inside,
and then using a rubber kidney to press it back here.
You know what, I'm going to spend so long on this first bowl,
I'm not going to get anything else done.
Freya's going for four tiers of organically shaped bowls
inspired by her love of fruit.
When I went to Guyana, me and my sister were eating fruit every day,
and everything was really ripe and succulent.
I've just always really liked fruit.
I've made bigger individual items, but not anything as big as this
when it comes to putting it all together.
History buff Richard is also planning to incorporate his theme
into the surface of the clay, which he is forming into an Aztec temple.
- This is nice. - I've made quite a few stamps of the Aztec animals.
So you're going to press these into the surfaces?
- Gorgeous. - What's your design? Is the sphere at the bottom, middle, top?
The sphere is at the top.
It's going to represent the Aztec god of pottery.
Is there an actual Aztec god of pottery?
- Yes. - Has he got a name?
I can't pronounce it. I have tried...
- Is it Clive? - It could be Clive.
I think it is Clive. So, Clive, our newly named Aztec god,
will sit on top of three highly decorated tiers,
and no Aztec temple would be complete
without a nod to human sacrifice.
I shall put a bit of food colouring into the water to make it
nice and red, so it's like blood flowing over the Aztec temple.
I love it when you're pumped-up like this, Richard, it's great.
- It's good to see. - And I've got you a present, Sara.
As it was water feature, I thought...
- It's a shower cap. - Is it going to be such a big moment when the water...?
It could be. You never know.
Very good.
- I'll leave you to it. - I'll walk away with dignity.
# Well, it's water, water everywhere And not a drop... #
Not only do the fountains need an eye-catching design,
they must be structurally sound.
Struggling to make it wide and tall. It's a bit wobbly.
I think you need to be an engineer AND a potter.
They also need to have an understanding
of how to use the sculpture to guide the water as it falls.
So this is the middle tiers, water will drip from the top,
and then I've just pulled from all these angles.
My idea is to break up and control the water flow,
so I'm going to do these discs and then pierce them
in different sections, so the water is going to hit the disc,
fill up and then go through a hole.
Ambitious Ryan is going for more tiers than anybody else,
using a stack of seven discs for the water to flow through,
before hitting a large sphere decorated with rings of clay.
They're like doughnuts that will be stuck onto the main sphere
but they are going to be quite deep, so water can get trapped in each
disc itself, so it'll be like little pockets of water, on the sphere.
Hopefully.
This is really nice. Cos we get to stack and layer and form
different shapes on top of each other. I don't get to do that much.
But it's also a bit scary in that sense of, it's the unknown.
Nam's piece will feature three-dimensional tentacles,
and the main structure will be made up of three balancing globes,
so you could say Nam's using SPHERES FOR TIERS -
I think I've got their album, somewhere.
These drawings are absolutely gorgeous.
Is this kind of part of the design you want to put on the piece?
There will be tentacles coming out my forms,
and creatures trying to get out, somehow.
If it turns out half as good as the drawings, I think you'll be
all right, that looks great.
My inspiration has been our former family dog, who was called Reuben.
He was a real character, but sadly had to be put down at New Year.
Aw, I don't want to start crying.
A few months ago, my mum asked me
if I could use some of his ashes and make a pot.
This is for Reuben, and my mum.
Cait's doggy nose will form the top of her fountain -
the main part represents a mountain with a stream at the bottom because
Reuben was a mountain dog.
Hey, Cait. How you doing?
Sorry.
I need to stop crying.
Oh, sweetheart. I totally get it.
My old dog's ashes are in the pantry at home
next to all the breakfast cereal! That's where his biscuits were,
- and I think that's where... - He'd like to be. - He was always trying
to get into the pantry and now he's there.
In a bid for perfection, Nam has now thrown three bowls.
The biggest challenge is to get everything to fit.
I hope they've got their geometry right.
That's 35.
Elaine is such a perfectionist, I'm sure she's got it spot on, really.
Two nines are 18.
- 18 from 35... - 17.
Thank you.
In this challenge, if their calculations are out,
they could be, too.
The supporting columns will house the pump and water pipes,
as well as adding height and drama to the fountains.
- How you getting on? - Really behind, actually.
- Are you? - I haven't got something to fit the pump yet.
OK, potters, I don't want to make a FOUNTAIN out of a molehill...
- Boo! - ..but you have only got 30 minutes left.
Lots of things to do still.
It's a bit of a speed rush.
I need to get these babies done quick and fast.
There's a lot of components I need to start making.
I can't stop measuring!
Oops!
Oh, there's a bubble in the top...
With time slipping away, Nam's not happy with his tentacles.
Looks a bit too phallic for my liking.
Potters, you've got five minutes left.
All your stuff needs to get in the drying room, please.
Time waits for no man.
They actually look all right.
- I know they look all right! - These are like penises!
Get out of here!
One minute left, potters, one minute left.
Anything you want to get in the drying room needs to go now.
OK, potters, ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four,
three, two,
one. Time is up.
Come out of the drying room, please.
Potters, you've worked really hard this morning, well done.
You can go and get a breath of fresh air,
we'll see you back here shortly for the Throw Down.
I have never had to measure anything before.
Being in the pottery has made me do this.
It's ruined me for life.
I did notice that everyone was doing giant pots, or amazing pieces,
so I upped my game by throwing extra pieces,
just in case something went wrong or I can figure out a new design.
I hope I made the bowl big enough to fit the pump.
If it doesn't work, I'm going home.
I am fairly confident what I've done is calculated right
but until we get them all put together,
could be tears before bedtime.
Once their work has dried,
the potters will have an opportunity to turn and trim before firing, but
first, the judges have another challenge for them, the Throw Down.
Potters, time now for a Throw Down challenge that would make
Bill and Ben proud. Because you're going to be making flowerpots.
We need a big one, a medium one, and a small one, OK?
Master of the wheel here, Keith, as usual, is going to demonstrate.
So the first one you're going to do is with three pounds of clay.
So you're going to open up your base,
and then you're going to put the hole in the middle straightaway.
We want a nice, straight, tapered side.
And then you're just going to flip that rim over.
He's like, "Just flip it over!"
And the art is, not to get any air trapped inside.
So, I'm just throwing under that rim, shaping that tapered form.
You take that off...
That's the first one. Then your medium one, with six pounds of clay.
Oh, that's the SMALL one? I thought that was the big one.
I thought it was the big one!
So good.
When I flip the rim over, I start at the top and I work my way down,
so the air has got a chance to escape.
And you just naturally stop at that rim.
Now, the largest one is nine pounds.
Oh, Lord.
And just take your time, take your time.
It's mesmerising, I'm going in again here, I'm swaying.
Hopefully, when I cut that in half...
..you're left with no air in that rim, and a nice hole at the bottom.
- Oh, look at that! - That's what we're looking for.
So, potters, go back to your benches, get behind your wheels.
You have 15 minutes and your time starts now.
Golly, it's hard clay.
Using three pounds of clay,
the potters start with the smallest of the three flowerpots.
Don't forget your hole, guys.
Once they've built the height, they need to tackle the rim.
Nice and controlled with that rim.
Just imagine that air escaping as you draw it down.
Really think about that shape and form.
Richard has got a little wrinkle happening there.
Elaine's got her rim over.
Don't forget, you're making a set of three here, so think of that taper.
Looking good, Freya, looking really good there.
Nam, one down, excellent work.
Nam's going for the six-pounder!
Come on, Nam.
Halfway through, guys, you're halfway through your time.
Oh, what?! No!
- Focus. - Nice and tidy.
So hard.
Do the best with what you've got.
- Keep your cool. - We join Ryan just as he's folding his rim.
What a sight it is.
Clover's on her third lump.
Elaine, you hate this bit of clay,
you hate it, you're going to centre it.
Leaving the biggest pot till last...
Come on.
..ramps up the pressure, with only seconds to go.
Come on! Come on, girl.
I'm kind of getting a bit excited.
Are you?
One minute.
Get as far as you can.
Oh, Elaine, get it taller.
- Get it taller. - Ten, nine, eight,
seven,
- six, five, four... - You don't know what to do!
- ..three, two, one. - Pick it up or pull it out...?
Stop your wheels, step back from the Throw Down.
Well done, guys, well done.
- Right, you can all breathe again, now. - Ryan actually looks tired.
The judges have asked for three flowerpots,
but it's not just about the quantity.
Quality is key in this test of the potters' throwing skills.
- Hello, Clover. - Hello, Kate.
- Hello. - Hi, Clover. You've got three pots here.
Obviously, not much of a taper there.
You've got a thick area that goes to thin, so it's that knuckling and up.
- If your knuckle's not hurting, you're not doing it right. - Yeah.
- Hello, Ryan. - Hi, guys. - Nice, flat base there inside.
I'm just missing a tiny bit of a taper, on both of them, really.
That's the better of the two.
See how that rim's folded over.
Pretty good. Really good.
I'm really liking the flat base there.
- Hi, Freya. - Hello.
The first thing you notice is the size difference, it's great.
Three pounds, six pounds, nine pounds.
Obviously, that's not finished.
But it's looking good, isn't it?
Pretty good. They're tapered, this one especially.
- How are we for air? It's good, - isn't it? Bit on the thin side.
- A tiny bit. A millimetre or two. - Not too bad at all.
Very nice junction in the corner.
- Really nice. - Well done.
Hello, Elaine.
As a set, they're looking really good.
Nicely turned-over rim.
- Yeah. - Slightly tapering to thin, just on the base there.
- Oh! - You've got a bit of air trapped in there, but we know why that is,
because you ran out of time.
Nam. Profile's good, isn't it?
Good straight size, they're tapering.
No air at all in that. Nice thickness on the base.
You could have just made the whole thing thinner and further up.
Cheers, Nam.
Just a tiny, tiny bit of air there.
- Oh, yeah. - Oh, yeah, there it is.
- Not too... - You can open it up, there it is.
Nice cross-section, though, across the whole wall of the pot.
Well done, Richard.
- Hello, Cait. - Hello. - Hi, luvvie.
- CAIT GIGGLES - Yeah...
I think the water would drain out of that rather quickly!
Kate and Keith will now rate the potters' work,
from worst flowerpots to the blooming best.
So, in seventh place,
Cait.
Good try, Cait, that's all I've got to say!
In sixth place,
Richard.
Really nice, small and medium, just way off your large one.
In fifth place, it's Ryan.
Clover's fourth,
and Nam is third.
So, in second place...
Elaine. Quite nice defined rims, just that third one not quite there,
- was it? - Oh, yes. - So the winner is Freya.
Great, Freya. Got the third one up, and it was just fabulous.
Well thrown.
'I'm really happy.'
Yeah!
Go me!
Commiserations, my lovely Cait!
I nearly joined you at the bottom there.
- Good effort. - It's fine margins now.
I mean, any one of us can slip.
- Yeah. - We've worked hard today.
It was a real pot work-out, wasn't it?
And they are not finished yet.
The potters now have 90 minutes to finesse all the elements
of their water features before they enter kiln for the first time.
Oh, that's fun!
By trimming and turning, they can shape their pieces further,
and get rid of any excess weight
which could cause the pots to explode in the kiln.
I'd rather not turn it if I don't have to,
but I can't take the risk of it wobble when it's being fired.
I'll do a little bit of turning and trimming as I go along,
just to make sure the pieces fit in together.
But the bowl is absolutely fine.
It really is a feat of engineering.
They really need to think about all the holes for the hosing.
And they really need to think about shrinkage,
making sure that water pump fits.
It may LOOK beautiful,
but if that water doesn't flow round it properly,
I'm not interested.
This column fits in this base,
and the pump sits inside here.
And then the next column has got to fit into that bowl
and slot into that.
And that has to slot into that.
OK, got it, Elaine. Easy-peasy.
Or is it?
There's the base, it goes in there.
And the wire goes... through there and through there.
So basically, the water flowing off here
is never going to land in there.
So I need to try and flare this out, or try and get this bit in a bit,
so that that bowl...
No, but that's still not going to work.
Clover's got a similar problem.
But she's thought of a solution.
Put this on, where the water's going to go, outside of the bowl.
- So how are you going to fix that? - Well, cut it.
But you've got to cut it beautifully, yeah?
The clock's ticking. I know you know that, so just focus.
As well as getting their technical detail spot-on,
some of the potters are embellishing their designs.
I'm putting my tentacle on. Not a line I use every day!
But I'm looking forward to adding everything together and seeing
how it looks, cos I'm so excited.
I'm panicking a little. This is the first time I've panicked.
- Why are you panicking? - Because I want to put the decoration on it.
All of these straight pieces, it's not very interesting.
It needs to have that wow factor.
- Good luck. - Thank you, I'm going to need it.
Ryan's design is the most ambitious.
His water sculpture has over seven tiers and many different sections.
I made a lot of pieces so I can literally kind of sculpture,
play around with these ideas. I wasn't sure that I was going to cut
these in half, but I think it's going to catch the water,
it's like a little shape. It just feels like rush, rush, rush.
Ryan, he's got pieces in the drying room, he's got pieces on the floor.
He's still attaching.
Just flat-out, I've got a lot to do.
I always try and push myself as much as possible.
But I think I maybe pushed myself a bit too much.
Richard's cunning plan to press Aztec symbols
onto his three-tier design are, well, not quite going to plan.
Because the clay is hard,
the stamps aren't leaving a very good impression, but...
..we will persevere.
No plan B, I'm afraid, this is it.
Potters, you're halfway through your time, you have 45 minutes remaining.
- It's crazy. - Not enough time.
You know, you're going to rush a bit now, so stay focused.
Focus, focus.
Yeah, one, two, three and turn it that way.
- Go easy! - One, two, three.
Oh, my word, that looks beautiful!
That's like a proper fountain.
- Where do I put it? - Look at Nam.
I mean, what a great design, to throw those flat discs,
cos they are already circular.
- It's brilliant. - I'm trying to gather my water so it follows the circle.
And once it hits the bottom one, it releases out.
I have to up my game on decoration.
So just scratching and slipping the little balls,
otherwise they might possibly drop off.
And we don't want my balls dropping off, do we?!
Potters, you have ten minutes left.
- Flipping heck! - We can do it.
- Freya's... - Oh, my God, it's like the Trevi Fountain!
It looks like an alien!
Nothing I planned went right.
Potters, you have one minute left.
Potters, this is the final minute.
Oh, moment of truth!
It's like a ticking time bomb.
Put the wire in, Clover!
I haven't got it now.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three, two,
one.
Time's up!
Brrr.
OK, potters, we need to calmly get your pieces, please,
into the drying room, where Rich will look after them, OK?
He'll dry your TIERS, as it were.
I spent a lot of time on decorating.
I'm not satisfied. It wasn't nice.
You just don't realise how long it takes.
I think I probably was a bit too adventurous.
It needs to be quite impressive, I think.
Playing it safe in a competition isn't always the best idea.
After the kiln firing, anything could happen.
Warping could take place, cracking could take place,
air bubbles may appear. There's nothing I can do now.
They're in the hands of the kiln gods.
The water features are left to dry for 48 hours
before they are bisque-fired,
which turns them from raw clay into ceramic.
It's all part of the routine at a working pottery like Middleport.
Built in 1888, it has adapted to modern methods of production,
but the basic process is much the same.
The first firing was always the moment of truth, and still is.
After the firing, they have to cool down overnight.
Then the potters arrive back all rested and raring to go.
Really up for my challenge today. We get to glaze our water features!
The whole thing starts to come to life.
Fingers crossed that there is nothing
coming out of the kiln broken or in pieces.
Oh, dear. It looks like we've had some fairly catastrophic explosions.
I mean, it happens. I've had it happen with my own pots.
But it's kind of worse when it's somebody else's, really.
- Morning! - Good morning! - How are we doing?
All right. I've got a bit of bad news.
Oh, my God.
There were a few explosions overnight.
We've lost a few pieces.
So as they come out, if you grab them and move them away.
Grab yourself an area on the tables.
Oh...
- Is it mine? - Yeah, that's mine.
Elaine's main bowl has exploded.
I think it's just moisture in the base.
I was worried about the decorating, I don't know why I bothered now!
And as Rich empties the kiln, Elaine is not alone.
This is probably the most catastrophic shelf.
Oh, that's my bit, that's mine.
Oh, no.
Nam has also lost his base, and tentacles.
My main base,
which had all the features of the tentacles that I wanted on,
I can't use it now. So I have to replace it with a smoother one.
Whose is that?
One of my back-ups. It's less attractive, but it does the job.
A crack for Richard could be fixed,
but Clover's base has completely shattered.
I don't have a base any more.
It's all smashed into pieces.
And I don't think I have all the pieces
to glue them back together, either. So...
Absolutely.
Basically, a summary of today, there has been carnage in the kiln.
And we've got large bowls exploding, taking the pieces next to them.
That's the beauty of the beast, really. It's the nature of it.
And that's when you really enjoy this craft,
because it's got all the risks, and they are really quite low.
And then it's got the highs that are amazing.
Right, cracked it!
THEY CHEER
Wow!
Does nobody want this bit?
Well, I'm having it, then. I'll stick it on the bottom
of my bowl!
# I'll keep holding on
# Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. #
Well, morning, potters.
- Morning. - So, in front of you on your benches are your water features.
Some of them, admittedly,
in slightly more pieces than you perhaps originally intended.
Yeah, it happens to all of us.
When something blows up and your heart's in it, it hurts, doesn't it?
Think forward, think logically, be creative,
and that's what you've got to do today.
You've got two hours to decorate your water features.
And time starts now.
For some of the potters, this is more of a rescue mission.
So I've somehow got to think about sticking it together.
I've got to glaze all those pieces
and then glue them together later, I think.
But Nam's earlier decision to make an extra couple of bowls
has paid off, and he is feeling generous.
Clover, you can use my bowl.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, that's fine. - Thank you so much.
- No problem. - Nam has been really kind and donated the base.
It's not far off of the shape that I had anyway,
so I'm going to use the same decoration.
I'm going to use a layer of glaze,
and then try to paint some flowers on it.
And whilst Richard's attempting to camouflage his crack with glaze,
Nam is replacing his 3-D tentacles with 2-D ones.
It was more impressive when I had the tentacles
coming out of the base. It gave it another dynamic.
But at the moment, I've lost that,
and I'm having to retrieve that in another way.
Base glaze, I'm doing a nice sort of stony grey glaze
over the whole thing, then I'm going to add in some drizzles of colour
from the top down. So it's a quite a straightforward glaze, really.
I'm copying Ryan. Whatever he does, I'll do!
Seriously. So he is using the grey, so am I.
But, no, I'm going to have a lot more going on, I think.
- A lot more colours. - You haven't seen what I'M doing yet.
Not going to be boring like him! I'm like that...
What is that?
I shall be kicking off in this wonderful colour.
Which, believe it or not, is grey.
Some glazes change during firing,
making colours hard to predict.
I don't know if this is going to look good or just weird.
I don't know how I can tell that's blue, but it's blue.
I'm not a risk-taker.
I'm not going to take any risks.
I'm going to just do what I thought I was going to do and leave it
at that. There's nothing I can do to improve on it.
I really love the carving marks.
You going to pick out those marks?
I'm going to use a bit of oxide, I think, just to make it darker.
What oxide are you using?
- Copper. - I might push the boat out
and use some oxide this time as well.
Yes, but you know, playing safe will never keep us in this competition.
Potters, you've got ten minutes left.
Ten minutes until tools down.
Even if I had another six hours, I don't think it would help!
Look at Elaine. She's glazing away her broken pieces.
Well, she's hoping that she can glaze them all,
fire them all separately, and then maybe stick it back together.
That's going to be quite a job, isn't it?
Yes.
Plan A was to use the stamps I'd made.
Plan B is to paint them on by hand using the underglazes.
I'm not in the best of moods today because of what happened,
but I'm trying to put it into a positive way.
You've really got a rainbow of colours going on here,
from orange to blue.
In fact, it could be better than you originally planned, we have no idea.
Potters, you've got one minute left.
Two hands, two hands.
- Any last-minute touches, flourishes, tweaks? - Whole bowls(?)
30 seconds. You want to throw another bowl?
- Yes! - Be quick!
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three...
two - I can't bear it! - one! Tools down, please.
Step away from your water features.
Tools down. You now need to load up
your ware boards and take them down to Rich at the kilns, please.
Whoohoo, look at that!
Wow!
Oh, my God, wow!
So the water features have been decorated.
It's been quite a dramatic day, hasn't it?
Yeah, we've had Elaine lose her base bowl.
We've had Clover lose her base bowl.
And Nam, he had this great, adventurous octopus water feature
with beautiful drawings in his notebook.
Incredible. You know, he's still got the top half,
but the bottom half was such a main idea of the concept.
Let's talk about Elaine, what do you think about her decorating?
As she says, her decoration is limited.
Maybe that simplicity will work with this fountain,
and it will be a strong and simple, pared-back message.
So who is in line for Pot Of The Week?
I think Ryan is in line for Pot Of The Week.
He's made quite a monumental sculptural piece.
For me, it could be Freya.
I say "could be", because she's still a bit vague
on the mechanics of how the water feature works.
So we have just one challenge remaining before the judging,
and that, of course, is the Spot Test,
and we've got a very special guest judge - is that right?
Yes, we have, we've got someone who wowed the nation.
I think the potters are going to be super-excited.
So, potters, with it being garden week,
we have got the perfect Spot Test for you today.
The judges would like you to hand build a bunch of flowers.
Oh!
So romantic!
Now, a person who knows quite a lot about building flowers is today's
guest judge. He is responsible for the exquisite sea of poppies at the
Tower of London. He's a top artist, and his name is Paul Cummins.
Come in, Paul Cummins!
Paul Cummins's world-famous installation
saw a sea of handmade ceramic poppies filling the moat
of the Tower of London.
It was a breathtaking spectacle
made up of almost 900,000 individual flowers.
Now then, Paul, what would you like our potters to do, exactly?
Um, right, it's a dozen roses, basically.
So it's your adaptation of what you think they should look like -
how they feel, how they look, the texture, the thinness of the petals,
how you're going to make them your own.
Come forward, get a rose each.
'The potters each take a red rose as inspiration for their bunches,
'but the style and design is up to them.'
OK, so you can remove your hessian, guys.
We need a bouquet a beautiful roses, we want 12 of them, please,
and you have one hour.
Your time starts now.
The potters have a choice of red or white clay, or even a bit of both.
It looks a bit like streaky bacon!
But the roses must be completely handmade.
We've got to make a dozen, that is mad!
So something like the sea of red that you did at the Tower of London,
how long did that take?
It took about a good nine months to make them all - and 300 people.
- That's 100,000 a month - that's nearly a million flowers. - Yep.
Hand-building is definitely not my strength.
I think I'm just making pancakes at the moment.
I've made origami flower before,
and I've seen my mum making flower with ribbon and then sew it onto
dresses, so I just thought that, initially, the core of the flower,
I'm going to use that technique, which is you have a thin strip,
and then you rolled it and pinned the petal on the way.
While some are using the rolling method
- to quickly create their shape... - I'm not feeling that confident,
there's some really good people who can hand-build here.
..others are crafting individual petals to build up their
roses gradually.
This is quite fiddly.
But Richard has got his own way of doing things.
I think I might have made them a little on the large side.
There's a lot of nice roses being produced, and quite a lot of them -
- a lot more than - I - have managed, so it's not looking good at the moment.
You're halfway through your time for this war of the roses,
girls and boys, 30 minutes left.
I've noticed Clover has made about ten already.
I want them to have a certain size, I have a vision of that,
it's just that I need to add a lot more detail on to them.
- I'm making them for you, Sara. - Are they meant for me?
- Yeah, I'm making them for you. - You've got me blushing!
I hate a fuss, shut up!
I hope I'll be able to make a decent enough to rose
to give my girlfriend. I'm very romantic, believe it or not.
The way I asked my girlfriend to be my girlfriend,
I invited her to a skate park,
and I lit the skate park up with candlelight, saying,
"Would you be my girlfriend?" So I always do romantic stuff.
Nam is not the only one who can turn on the charm.
Roses are red, your face is too - a little bit...
- A lot! - This Spot Test is blooming lovely
- And so are you. - Thank you very much!
- Enjoying it? - No.
- What you mean, no?! - It's horrid, I think I made them too big.
They're whoppers, they're like those big breakfast muffins.
Well, they are, but, you know,
I like a girl to have a nice big flower.
The potters have just five minutes to complete their dozen roses.
I'm looking at quantity, not quality.
- What are we on, then? - This is my tenth, so I've got two more to go.
Nine, ten. Oh, well done, two more to go.
One, two, three... Six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
THUD!
Oh, dear. Oh, Richard!
Oh, Richard!
They were looking so lovely as well, sweetheart, I'm so sorry,
what a pain.
What are you going to, are you going to
start on some new ones and then...?
- I'll carry on. - Carry on, don't worry, Richard!
Keep going!
Come on, Rich!
# Everybody knows that a love like ours will never die... #
Faster, Richard.
# When everything in the garden is growing so high... #
You can do it, Richard!
# Everybody knows that a love like this just cannot fail
# When everything in the garden is growing so fine.. #
Step back from your flowers, please!
Now then, one at a time, you need to get your beautiful blooms and bring
them up to the ware boards, please, ready for judging.
Paul and the judges are looking for a dozen hand-built roses.
I think the person who did these knows how to do flower arranging.
Cos they look really beautifully presented, don't they?
I preferred where it's not as tight, and it's not as...
chintzy.
So these ones...
They're all a uniform sort of shape and size.
They're not quite a rose. I can see what happened,
you carried on doing at the top, and it went down and folded out.
But they've ended up looking more like a collapsed flower.
- So these ones. - I do like how they've been pulled together,
because they look like they're just about to droop,
but you caught them in sort of the second when they're not.
What do you think of those, then, Paul?
I like how they've started off, how they've gone... this area,
but I don't like how these have ended up.
They're getting more like ice-cream cones.
To use the white clay, it makes it a little bit more delicate than
the red. They're organic, they're a bit smaller than I was expecting,
but they're really quite nice, how they've been put together.
There are 12, so that's good.
They do remind me more of carnations than roses,
but I do actually like them, they're nice and thin at the edges.
And a little bit more finesse at the bottom, but they're really nice.
There's about five roses here.
This seems like there's been a bit of an accident.
They're a bit chunky, they could
refine them slightly more around the edges.
But they look really nice.
So whose roses are the best of the bunch?
Paul now has to decide on an order of merit.
Seventh place, this one, who is it?
- Mine. - I do like them.
Shame you dropped them and couldn't make the rest.
In sixth place is this one - who is it?
- That's me. - They do remind me of pine cones more than roses,
- that's my only problem. - In fifth place is Nam, Elaine was fourth,
- and Freya third. - They're more delicate than the rest of them,
and I do like the use of the white clay,
it makes it look more like paper.
And in second place is these, I like the uniformity of the flowers,
and they do look like very, very tiny tea roses.
And in first place is these.
Whoo!
I do like how they look, they're very delicate,
and they actually have some sort of life within them.
Cait, a world-renowned artist thinks that your roses are the best,
well done!
And you managed to finish them off in the time!
Well done, all of you have worked so hard, thank you very much,
and thank you to our guest judge today, Paul Cummins.
- It's been awesome, thank you. - Thank you. - Guys, the next time we see you,
we're going to be judging your water features, so go home,
lie in a darkened room perhaps,
and we'll see you back in the pottery tomorrow. Thank you.
When you're hearing the seventh, I was like, "All right, well,
"I'll probably be sixth." And then it wasn't sixth, so I was like, "OK,
"maybe fifth." I was like, "Oh, wow, I'm actually doing all right here!"
I don't think I'll be making flowers again, to be honest!
I could do with a pint.
You know, if the worst comes to the worst,
I'm going home early, you know.
It's assembly day,
and the potters arrive at the kiln to collect their water features from
Rich - and the moment of truth, have their glazes taken?
Oh, look at that!
That's not grey!
It's not grey, though, is it?
- That's lovely! - Wow! Look at that!
- That is lovely. - It should be greener.
For Elaine, it's time to assess what she's got left to work with.
That's pottery, that's what happens.
I'm going to fix it with a lot of glue.
Each of the pieces must now be assembled, ready for judging.
I can't get my wire through.
This is going to be a mission.
This connects to here...
How accurate the potters' measurements have been
will now prove crucial.
Interesting.
Wobbly, wobbly!
If the pump doesn't fit, the water won't flow.
Yeah, it's a bit of a tight fit,
but I'm just screwing it in at the moment.
And then it's going to come out, hopefully, the other end.
It's a bit of a stressful situation for everyone at the moment.
Oh, God, my fingers are sticking together!
Elaine has more to worry about than how to fit a pump - with no base,
- she's in pieces. - This is just not going to happen.
Maybe if I do it that way.
Elaine, take your time, slow down.
It's just not going to hold.
It's not even worth trying.
Just cos of the bottom of the crack on the main piece,
so I've had to prop it up to get it as level as possible.
- Want a hand? - Are you done?
There's nothing I can do, it won't stick.
If you can hold that for me, I'll give you a hand as soon as I...
No, there's nothing to do.
There's absolutely nothing to do.
Elaine can't solve her own problem, so she moves on to everyone else's.
That goes in there, and then that goes in there.
Genius! Elaine is a genius!
Oh, look at that! Thank you, Elaine, magic.
Nam can't get his spheres to fit,
so he gets a bit trigger-happy with the silicone gun.
That gun, you're making a mess,
and if you lick your finger and then run it round...
Yeah, but it needs to hold.
See? It just goes like that.
With ten minutes to go, Nam thinks of a way to return the favour.
Elaine, get a bucket, put it in the bucket.
- No! - Elaine... - No!
At least it would work. You can get through, I promise you.
Yeah, but half the thing is going to disappear into it, look.
- Don't be daft. - They'll need to see it work.
Elaine!
It's like World's Strongest Man competition.
But with just five minutes left, as everyone's rushing to finish...
Oh, my God, I'm running out of time, am I?
..Elaine decides it's worth a shot after all.
Well done, Elaine.
Sorry, I do a lot of grunting, don't I?
Oh, f-f-flipping heck!
Well done!
You finally listened to me for once in your life!
You hate listening to me!
Over the past four days,
the potters have used almost 300 kilos of clay
to make their water features.
They now have to see if they work in front of the judges.
Well, potters, what a Main Make it's been.
You've all worked so hard.
Judges, please remind us of your criteria.
We want your fountain to be a beautiful feature for a garden.
Up close, we want to see great attention to detail.
And they have to work as a water feature. They have to work.
OK, without further ado, let judging commence.
We understand that this isn't your bowl.
- No. - This was given to you by Nam,
because yours obviously blew up in the biscuit firing.
- Yep. - Very sweet of Nam to do that, wasn't it?
- Yeah, really thankful. - So I have to say, from a distance,
I think this would stand out very well.
- Thank you. - For me, the paintwork is a bit stiff.
You've got a bit of a crack here.
- Mmm. - Shall we see if it actually flows with water?
- Let's try it! - It makes a nice noise, doesn't it? TRICKLING
Oh, it gets louder.
I love the way it moves from one chamber to another to another,
- and down. - The reason why some of these aren't working so well is
because the gap is that little too narrow
for the water to pour through.
- It's very pretty, though. - Excellent. Thanks, Clover.
- Thank you. - Thanks a lot.
I'm really sad about your stamps - I loved your idea of stamps.
My mistake, really, allowing the clay to dry a bit too hard
and I couldn't get a real good impression.
So shall we turn the temple on?
Yeah, let's turn that blood on.
It does... It's quite disturbing, isn't it?
I think the neighbours are going to be like, "Harold, we're moving!"
Can I just ask, these lighter bits, is that bits of Reuben's ashes,
have they still come through?
- Yeah. - Ready. Oh, here it comes.
Hmm...
I don't feel that you've guided the water.
And this doesn't really resemble a dog's nose for me.
But, Cait,
it's actually really good.
I love, I love this texture, I think it's great!
But as for your theory, your main concept, forget it.
Forget it!
- Elaine... - Hello.
There's nothing to see here, judges, it's all fine.
My beautiful white bowl.
The first thing I think of when I look at that, I just think,
- where are the tiers? - Yeah.
- Where are the tiers? - No, exactly.
There should be a bowl here, there should be a bowl here,
and then maybe this wouldn't be so relevant.
It's my design...
- Shall we give it a whirl, then? - Yep.
- It is coming from all the holes. - It's very even, actually,
it's incredibly even.
This just needed a bigger one, didn't it?
The faults are fairly blindingly obvious, OK?
But you are a good thrower, you are good.
- Thank you. - And that's what's so frustrating. - Mmm.
We asked for at least two tiers, you've got that.
I think the drawings of the squid or the octopus or the deep-sea creature
was fabulous, and I was so looking forward to seeing it,
but even if the bigger bowl had been here and the tentacles
had been there, I don't know
if this structure would have worked, visually.
The silicone sealant is showing quite horribly.
I got a bit trigger-happy with the...
Yeah, yeah, you have to be very careful with silicone.
So, without further ado, I think we ought to switch it on.
- Here it comes. - This spiral has really worked, hasn't it?
Yeah. The way the light is playing on the water as it moves down is
really, really effective.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
It's a bit disjointed.
This looks like a completely different style to maybe this.
And then this bowl, for me,
it does look completely disjointed from the rest.
The colour, yeah, it's brown, innit?
- It's brown. - Nasty brown. - You've done a brown thing.
It's nasty brown.
Because the blue hasn't really accentuated it that much.
Shall we turn it on?
You got all these different columns of water happening
- in all different places. - It's actually enhanced the structure.
- Yeah. - That's got to be a good thing.
It's an impressive build, don't you think?
Oh, yeah, it's definitely an impressive build -
just a bit too brown.
Well, first of all, I have to say, from a distance,
there's a lovely height.
You've elevated your bottom bowl very nicely, and I loved the way,
when you were making, you had your two fingers,
and you pressed from the inside,
and you really showed the malleability of the clay.
- Shall we see how it works? - Yes, here it comes.
Oh, God!
It's lovely!
The reason why these are working quite well
is because you've done them like a jug, a lip -
you've thought about the water flowing.
I can imagine this in a garden, you being drawn towards,
having a look at it. It's a successful piece.
Lovely, OK. Freya, thank you very much.
- Thank you. - Cheers.
OK, my darling potters, you can go, get a breath of fresh air,
and we'll see you back here shortly.
Kate and Keith have got a lot to chat about,
because they've got to decide
who will win Pot Of The Week and who, sadly,
will be leaving the pottery.
See you in a little while, off you go.
Ah, my tiers were very minimal, and I could see that now.
Not good news, really.
I desperately want to be here next week.
I just don't know.
You know, the vision was not there in the final piece,
and I think I might be the one going home.
Well, I'm rather enjoying garden week,
I might try and pocket one of those water features on my way out.
So let's start with the fun stuff,
who have you got your eye on for possible Pot Of The Week?
Well, one of them is Freya.
Her throwing skills are really, really good, very competent.
It is a gorgeous fountain that she's made, the tiers are there, it works,
it shows the softness of the clay, when she was making.
- Whose else did you like? - It was Ryan's.
I thought he'd really put himself out there
to a very playful water feature.
And it was fairly obvious that he'd really,
really thought about how that water was going to cascade down the piece.
And for me, that really said it all.
Now, you got quite emotional over Cait's dog nose.
I did! She's done it again, she kind of pulled it out of the bag,
and that surface that she got on the top was quite incredible.
I thought it was brilliant.
It seems so cruel that somebody's got to leave the pottery,
because all seven of them have worked so hard,
but who do you think just aren't cutting it?
It's down to two people.
One of them is Nam.
And for me, really, with deep regret, really deep regret,
is Elaine.
You know, she hasn't fulfilled the criteria.
This is really tough, really tough.
Well, potters, the judges have had a long old chat.
Doing the happy job of Pot Of The Week is Kate this week.
It IS a happy job,
and I'd like to say that the water feature that uses clay to its best,
that uses glaze very beautifully,
and moves water over a lovely set of tiers is the water feature that was
made by...
..Freya.
Well done.
- Thank you. - I'm left with the less-happy task.
The person leaving the pottery this week is...
It's Elaine.
Oh!
- I guessed that. - Did you, did you?
They talked a long time.
Sweetheart, they really did.
- Thank you. - What a pleasure, absolute pleasure.
- Cheers, Elaine. - Bye.
'Oh, I will miss everybody, we have become such a good group.'
Absolutely devastated and shocked that Elaine is going,
she's an amazing potter.
Elaine was the only person who actually took care
of me, it's insane that I survived. She was like my surrogate mother.
The judges made the right call, I didn't have defined tiers,
I thought that previously, so I guessed it was going to be me today.
Sending Elaine home was a really, really difficult decision,
because her throwing skills are really fantastic,
but she just had to go - she hadn't fulfilled the criteria.
Freya, well done. Yeah, you are Pot Of The Week!
Freya's water feature becomes the fourth piece
to earn its place in the gallery.
The fluidity with which she made her bowls and bent them was gorgeous,
and the glazes worked, and that is why she won Pot Of The Week.
I didn't expect to be Pot Of The Week, not at all, no, not at all.
Not at all! You know, there's very little
that I've really been proud of,
and I really want to, like, flourish and blossom through this process,
so it's nice to have something to be proud of, yeah, it's good.
Happy about that.
- Next time... - It's like we're entering the jungle!
..it's pit firing...
- It's a World War II bomb! - Don't touch it, everybody!
..as the potters go camping.
You can't go on strike, potters!
'A spot test that gets a little fruity...'
Who wanted the pumpkin?
- I wanted the pumpkin! - ..and a Throw Down that gets fierce.
ALL: Oh!
# Cos we'll see the mountains tumble Before we say goodbye
# My love and I will be In love eternally
# That's the way
# Mm, that's the way it's meant to be
# That's the way
# Mm, that's the way it's meant to be
# That's the way That's the way it's meant to be... #