Frances Spice Ceramics

Frances is a full-time ceramicist based in Cornwall, where she works from a small summer house in her garden. She fell in love with clay after working as an apprentice with a Somerset potter. She studied ceramics and design at Cornwall College and then took the plunge to make it her full-time career.

Her work is slab built and hand modelled, decorated with a subtle colour palette, sticking to three or four colours at a time. Delicate lace and embossed wallpaper is often impressed onto the surface of the clay to create beautifully textured marks. 

Frances’s process is constantly evolving. When you look back on her work you can see it grows with her, changing with fashion and her own personal taste.

Contemporary handbuilt ceramics, made in white and black earthenware clay, with an emphasis on surface decoration. An eclectic collection from teapots to brooches. Each piece is carefully hand-painted with under-glazes and engobes. Frances also uses various glazes, oxides, ceramic pencils and gold lustre to decorate my work. On certain pieces an organic food-safe beeswax is rubbed onto the exterior creating a slight sheen while still keeping the matt finish that she occasionally prefers.