Meet the Maker – Lucy Ormsby Pottery

Meet the Maker behind Lucy Ormsby Pottery

Lucy Ormsby’s ceramics are full of warmth, whimsy, and a wonderful sense of joy. Working from her garden studio in Melbourne, South Derbyshire, she creates a delightful mix of wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery—ranging from functional tableware to charming animals and ceramic flowers. Her pieces are inspired by nature, simple shapes, and the little things that make life feel special.

Surprisingly, Lucy only discovered pottery a few years ago, but as soon as she sat at the wheel, she knew she had found her calling. In this interview, she shares her journey into ceramics, her creative process, and the joys (and occasional frustrations) of life as a full-time potter. Plus, we meet her adorable studio assistant, Bruno the dog!

Treat yourself to 10% off Lucy’s Folksy shop with code ‘Spring10’ throughout March.

Shop Lucy Ormsby Pottery on Folksy

Hi Lucy, could you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Hi, I’m Lucy, a full time potter based in Melbourne, South Derbyshire. 

How would you describe your work?

I work in stoneware, making a variety of wheelthrown and hand-built pieces, from functional tableware, whimsical animals, to ceramic flowers. I enjoy combining my observations from nature and my surroundings with my love of simple patterns & shapes. I make whatever brings me joy and I aim to convey and share that joy with whoever sees and touches my work. 

How did you get into ceramics?

I’ve always had a need to create. I studied art and design at college as a teenager many moons ago and since working, had creative roles, plus creative hobbies if the urge wasn’t filled with the day job. Fast forwarding to after Covid, I had very limited experience with clay historically and I enrolled on an evening course at college. I’d always wanted to have a proper go at pottery but spent many years talking myself out of it. I was sat at the wheel at night school, full of excitement and a switch flicked in my head – I’d finally found my thing, at the age of 48.

Your pieces have a lovely whimsical feel about them, is this something you actively thought of or did it just happen as you were exploring ideas?

Thank you! It just happened really. Creating for me is joyful and I want to share that. The subjects in my decoration are all uplifting to me; from flying birds, my dog Bruno, to flowers, leaves and seeds. Slightly abstract, sometimes with a sprinkle of humour, certainly not overly serious – I think people who know me would probably describe me like that. 

Life is so serious – the world needs more whimsy!

What’s your process to bring an idea to a fully-fledged piece of pottery?

Ooo, that’s going to need a long answer, sorry readers! Let’s take the humble mug – an everyday item every potter gets asked for. I usually work from sketches I’ve made on my iPad.

1. Wedge clay (to remove any air pockets) and weigh out 375g per mug
2. Throw mug body on the wheel – leave to firm up a bit but not completely (24 hours (ish))
3. Return mug to wheel and trim foot
4. Cut paper stencils with my tiny scissors, apply to mug body with water
5. Paint with slip and leave to harden a bit but not too much
6. Make handle (I extrude mine) leave to harden
7. Attach handle, tidy up joins, stamp with makers mark & leave to harden some more but not completely
8. Carve final design elements to mug with needle
9. Leave to dry completely (a week ish – depends on the weather)
10. Load kiln and fire to 1000 degrees C (bisque firing)
11. Remove from kiln – check/wipe, sand any rough spots
12. Paint foot with wax resist (so glaze doesn’t stick and fuse mug to kiln)
13. Paint more design elements to bring out texture (depending on the design) then wipe clean with sponge.
14. Leave to dry completely
15. Clear glaze mug all over, check for drips, clean up glazed areas and ensure clean bottom
16. Leave glazed mug to dry completely (usually overnight)
17. Load kiln and fire again to over 1220 degrees C
18. 24ish hours later, unload kiln, check mug, ensure foot is really smooth, sand if required,
19. Rinse and dry
20. Photograph and list for sale or pack for an event

Pottery is a labour of love, and generally can’t be rushed. The overall process from start to finish takes me a number of weeks. It changes depending on the time of year (due to temperature and humidity) plus with firings, potters don’t generally fire their kilns unless they’re full.

What is your studio space like? 

I have a cabin studio in my garden with lots of shelving, a large table and my wheel. My kiln (electric) is in the garage with lots more shelves. 

Is there any part of the artistic process (or the marketing/selling process) that you don’t like and would gladly delegate to someone else?

I would more than gladly delegate taking photos! I spend forever waiting for a bright day, or faffing with my photobox, trying different backdrops, balancing extra lights on props that fall over, tripping over cables, realising the light is all wrong anyway and forgetting to take pics from all angles or packing everything away to find I’ve forgotten several pots completely. At this point (it’s usually evening by now) I go and check how much gin is left in the bottle. 

Is there a project or concept you’d love to try but haven’t got round to yet?

I’d love to experiment with some larger, more sculptural work. I really need to carve out (pardon the pun) some time for that. I also want to play with screen printing, I use paper stencils on lots of my work and I think it could be interesting to combine screen printed elements too.

Your social media is great! How do you do it? Do you plan out your content?

Thanks! And no, I wing it. I’ve actually changed the settings on my phone to restrict my social media time significantly and I feel so much better for it. I do enjoy creating little reels though. I do everything on my phone. I use a great free app called VN Editor which makes it so easy to edit video, chop bits out and alter the speed.  I just have to actually remember to film what I’m doing and ensure there’s plenty of space – videos take lots more phone memory – I backup and clear mine off very regularly.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

You’d probably find me huddled on the floor in the corner of a darkened room, mumbling incoherently.  Now I’ve found ceramics, I just can’t think about alternatives – this is the life for me and I feel so thankful and lucky to be able to do it.

Don’t forget to check out all of Lucy’s amazing creations on her Folksy shop and use Spring10 for 10% off throughout March.

---

Meet the Interviewer

The maker asking the questions this time is Daniel Morley, the artist behind The Pale House.

Read more about Daniel here – https://blog.folksy.com/2025/02/03/meet-the-pale-house

Shop The Pale House on Folksy – https://folksy.com/shops/thepalehouse