• Butter: a soft yellow that warms up on the buff clay.
• Sage: our best seller, back with a little more green in it.
• Sky: new this year, a pale blue that breaks to white on the rims.

All three go on the tall bud vases first, then the wide bowls in May.

Each vase is wrapped in two layers of kraft paper and sits in a small box padded with shredded paper from the studio. That box goes inside a larger one with a hand's width of padding on every side.

Before it is taped, the box gets a firm shake. Nothing should move. If something does, it is opened and packed again.

No plastic goes into a Fernhill parcel, and every piece of packing can go in the recycling.

1. Group in threes and fives.
2. Mix heights: one tall piece, one short, one in between.
3. Repeat a colour across the shelf so the eye travels.
4. Leave one gap. Empty space is part of the display.
5. Add one living thing, even a single stem.

Start with the largest piece and build out from it.

Start with one tall stem, add a shorter one leaning away, and stop at three. Sweet peas, a single tulip or a sprig of rosemary all work.

Cutting stems

Cut each stem at an angle and strip any leaf that would sit below the water. Leaves underwater turn the water cloudy within a day.

Each vase sits on its own patch of shelf with a finger's width around it. Glaze is glass when it melts, and two pieces that touch become one.

Opening day

Opening the kiln is the best part of the week. Most pieces come out exactly as planned, a few surprise us, and one or two go on the seconds shelf.

• Wash it by hand in warm water with a soft bottle brush. The dishwasher is fine for most of our pieces, but the glaze stays glossier without it.
• Change the water every two days. Old water leaves a ring that takes a long soak to lift.
• Keep it off a frosty windowsill in winter. Water left inside can freeze and crack the base.

If a ring does form, fill the vase with warm water and a spoon of white vinegar, leave it overnight, and rinse.

First, every piece is thrown by hand, so heights vary by a centimetre or so. Second, glaze moves in the kiln. Where it pools it darkens, and where it runs thin the clay shows through.

Third, each shelf of the kiln fires a little differently. A vase near the top comes out a shade warmer than one at the bottom.

We photograph a typical piece from each batch, and we pick the one we would be happy to receive ourselves.

Clay arrives in 12.5 kg bags. Before it goes near the wheel it is wedged by hand to push out the air, which is the least glamorous and most important ten minutes of any piece.

Why it matters

The clay decides how a glaze looks. The same glaze is creamy on the buff body and cooler on the grey, which is why two vases from one batch can look like cousins rather than twins.

Mira throws the tall pieces. Ade trims, handles and packs everything that leaves the studio. Tomás mixes the glazes and decides, most weeks, what colour the next batch will be.

What we make

Mostly vases: tall bud vases, wide bowls for floating flowers, and a few planters each season. Every piece is thrown by hand, so no two are quite the same.

This journal is where we write down what we learn. Expect firing notes, care tips, and the occasional photo of the studio cat asleep on a glaze bucket.