Primrose Ceramics – Sgraffito decorated slipware

Commissioned Pot

A challenging commission. The person wanted it made for his brother’s 80th birthday who in 1967, whilst serving in the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. Victorious in the South China Seas, was feeling homesick for The Lizard and wrote a poem. In order to get the five verses onto the pot I arranged them in a spiral and placed subjects mentioned in the poem in the gaps around the verses. This is one of the best pots I have made and is now in Norway with its owner.

Mackerel Fishing Bowl

12" Bowl with mackerel, and the rhyme:
Good luck to the hoof and the horn
A fishing I have been my dear,
Some mackerel I have caught my dear,
Some mackerel for our tea.

Sgraffito Jug

8" Jug with poultry design.

Sgraffito Brig Flagon

Front and back of a one gallon flagon with H.M. Training Brig MARTIN.

Sgraffito Mackerel Vase

Vase, stylised with mackerel.

Sgraffito Beach Scene Vase

7" Vase showing fishing boats beached on the sand.

Sgraffito Butterfly Apple

An apple decorated with butterflies.

Lidded Jar

Lidded jar in owl form. The head serves as the receptacle.

Mugs with Milk Jug

A set of mugs and a milk jug all with maritime depictions.

Winged Butterfly Vase

A 6" winged vase made of red clay with white slip. A 21st birthday present.

Sgraffito Jug

Jug – cockerel with hens design, 6" high, 5" diameter.

Sgraffito Brig Plate

8" Plate depicting a two masted brig under full sail, entitled Sailing By.

Sgraffito Serving Platter

Serving platter with lobster, crab, mackerel and a John Dory fish around a ship’s wheel.

Sgraffito Bowl of Apples

Bowl with apple branch on the outside containing 5 apples depicting garden invertebrates – grasshoppers, butterflies, caterpillars, snails, beetles.

Milk Jug

5" Milk jug with dairy cow and rhyme:
Pray take care
Don’t let me fall
Lest you lose milk
Jug and all.

Lidded Jars

Lidded jars in owl form. The head serves as the receptacle.

Sgraffito Milk Jug

Milk jug with butterflies on.

Clough’s Stores Plate

Plate showing my late Grandmother’s shop as it was in the 1950’s (at 21 Horley Road, Earlswood, Surrey). A gift for a family member.

Green Man Jug

The Green Man, mythological symbol of fertility. Leaves cut out from an oak leaf template and stuck on.

Minack Theatre Jug

8" Jug depicting the famous open-air Minack Theatre at Porthcurno near Penzance in Cornwall.

Sgraffito Cream Jug

3" Jug for cream.

Cornwall Scenes Flagon

Coil built. Glazed inside and top/bottom. Decorated with scenes of Cornwall:
Tintagel (King Arthur’s) Castle;
Men–an–Tol megalithic holed stone;
Fishing off Godrevy Light, St Ives Bay;
Rinsey Mine Engine House.

Sgraffito Lugged Flask

Lugged pilgrim’s flask with two horse designs.

Sgraffito Apple Designs

Bowl of apples with various designs.

Lidded Jug

Inspired by a 17th century lidded owl jug I saw on Antiques Roadshow, I have put a twig handle on mine. 6"

Sgraffito Milk Jug

A small milk jug with grey mullet and mackerel on the sides.

Ale Tankard

A tankard for an avid real ale fan – my brother! (who created this web site).

Sgraffito Cream Jug

5" Jug for cream, based on a dairy cow. A Wedgewood inspired 17th century shape.

Beached Boats Bowl

12" Bowl showing fishing boats beached for the winter, and the rhyme:
Haul ’em up on the beach me boys
Lay ’em up till spring
To where the sea won’t reach me boys
And the harm that she may bring.

Agricultural Bowl

12" Bowl with an agricultural theme, and the rhyme:
Success to the farmer
The plough and the flail
May the landlord ever flourish
And the tenant never fail.

Pint Tankards

Two 1pt tankards – one with mackerel, the other a mermaid sitting astride an anchor.

Sgraffito Poem Vase

Vase – depicting a woman looking out to sea for someone, with stanzas from the poem My Grief on the Sea by Douglas Hyde.

Sgraffito Bottle

Bottle with mackerel swimming around it and into its opening.

Clough’s Stores Flagon

Different views around a half gallon flagon showing my late Grandmother’s shop as it was in the 1950’s (at 21 Horley Road, Earlswood, Surrey). A gift for a family member.

Green Man Jug

7" Jug decorated with a Green Man, an ancient Druid symbol of fertility. Leaves cut out from an oak leaf template and stuck on.

Milk Jug

8" Milk jug with dairy cow and rhyme:
Pray take care
Don’t let me fall
Lest you lose milk
Jug and all.

Sgraffito Rhyme Jug

Jug – depicting the rhyme A swarm of bees:
A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July isn’t worth a fly.

Sgraffito Jug

Jug with stylised fish and seaweed.

Sgraffito Cream Jug

A Wedgewood inspired jug with the old rhyme:
Good luck to the hoof and the horn
Good luck to the flock and the fleece
Good luck to the growers of corn
May we always have plenty and peace.

Good Luck Bowl

12" Bowl with a cows head made up of different farm animals, and the good luck rhyme:
Good luck to the hoof and the horn
Good luck to the flock and the fleece
Good luck to the growers of corn
May we always have plenty and peace.

Lidded Jar

Lidded jar in owl form. The head serves as the receptacle.

Tagine

A Moroccan style earthenware tagine. A gift for a family member.

COFEPOW Vase

8" Vase made for the charity The Children (& Families) of the Far East Prisoners of War (COFEPOW). It shows the charity emblem on one side and a scene of POW huts in a jungle clearing on the other. It’s in the shape of a section of bamboo that grows to huge proportions in the humid jungles and was used as drinking vessels. I make and donate one of these vases annually, which is auctioned off to raise funds.
COFEPOW is dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the Far East POWs and advancing knowledge of their suffering and sacrifices in World War II.