Computer-generated illustration of Alesha at her workbench in glasses and a leather apron, looking down as she carves scale patterns into the body of a clay swan with a sculpting tool.

Alesha makes everything here

She gives her creations their own personalities

Geese, pigs, and whatever else the moulds turn up — carved, altered, and glazed until each one is doing something a little unexpected.

This picture is an illustration. Every photograph further down this page is of work that actually exists.

See what she has made

Her work

Pieces with a bit of character

Carved sculpture and slipcast ornaments, straight from the bench. Some of these are unfired bisque — that is what they look like before the kiln.

Illustration of Alesha standing at a workbench holding a clay pig she has been shaping, with tools and slip nearby. — Computer-generated illustration — not a photograph of a finished piece.

An unfired white bisque swan with a carved feather pattern, beside an unfired tan bisque jack-o'-lantern with a carved face, on a turntable. — Swan and pumpkin, unfired. The feather and face patterns are carved by hand.

Around forty plaster slipcast moulds on a rack, some still holding carved leaf and pinecone relief, some emptied after casting. — The moulds from her first production run — over two months of evenings to cast.

The making

Slow, hands-on, and repeated

Alesha's workbench covered in plaster moulds, cast ceramic geese and pigs, unfired sprues and clay scraps, with a spirit level resting across the back. — A working bench mid-run: moulds, casts, sprues and scraps.

Every stage is slow and none of them can be skipped. Casting the plaster, pouring the slip, easing the piece out, trimming the seam, cleaning it, glazing it — each one leaves a mark on the result.

The mould designs we use are the work of Old Forge Creations, and we are grateful for them. The plaster, the casting, the trimming and the glaze are Alesha's.

Two ornaments from the same mould on the same afternoon will not come out of the kiln alike. That is the whole point of making them this way.

See the full process

The studio

Two people, one small studio in Staunton

Alesha

The artist. She builds the forms, chooses what to make, and decides how each piece should look. She also holds a full-time office job, and does this as well — the photographs here were taken across a lot of late evenings.

Illustration of two people working side by side at a pottery bench, one of them shaping a piece while the other looks on.

Jesse

Alesha's partner. Keeps the kiln running, shoots the video, writes it down, and makes ceramic ornaments as well. The ceramics are hers.

Illustration.

More about Alesha

Follow the studio

Firing days, new pieces, and what Alesha is experimenting with. Occasionally, not constantly — and you can leave whenever you like.

Or just send us a message.