Technical instructors provide a day-to-day source of advice and demonstration and may also assist in the making of students’ work. The team of four technical staff is expert in the main areas of practical activity, that is: hot glass-making; cold glass-working; kiln-forming; plaster model- and mould-making; plastic clay-making; and clay and glaze development.
Facilities:
Personal workspace in the studios alongside the workshops
Ceramic workshops:
Wheels, slab roller, pneumatic extruder, jigger/jolly, batting out machine, vertical jolly, pot lathe
Clay preparation
Dough mixer, Pugmill, blungers
Mould-making area:
Sledging equipment, lathes and whirlers (including oval) for plaster model- and mould- making as well as facilities for rubber and lost wax casting
Glass furnace room:
Two pot furnaces melting lead-free pelletised batch, with one available for the experimental melting of colour for either blowing or subsequent casting
Two glassmakers’ benches each with a glory-hole, Lehrs, pot warmer, colour warmer, slumping kiln, centrifuge
Cold glass-making shop:
Flat-bed grinders, reciprolaps, linishers, diamond and stone lathes, diamond saws and drills, two sand blasters and a lamp-working torch
Kiln room:
Gas and electric kilns for all ceramic- and glass-forming requirements – all with programmable controllers
Computing facilities:
- Apple Macs, PCs, scanners, laser and inkjet printers
- standard software includes Photoshop™, Illustrator™ and Rhino™ 3D-modelling program
Glaze lab:
- all standard materials for clay and body formulation
- wide range of colours, stains, oxides and soluble salts
- glaze calculation software
- spray booth
- mixer
- ball mill
- electronic scales
Print facilities:
- silkscreen bed for the production of glass and ceramic enamel transfers
- RIP station and wide-format printer for the production of high-density films for screen exposure
External facilities:
- if other facilities are required, industry links and other workshops within the College and elsewhere enable work to be completed
- opportunities exist for special access to the collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum
- 3D printers, laser cutter