In 1999, after many years as successful professional potters, Eddie and Margaret Curtis found renewed inspiration on a visit to Japan. They work in porcelain, throwing and hand-building simple shapes. For decoration, they rely on the intense and varied nature of the copper red glazes. They continue to use a large oil-fired, brick built kiln which was built by Eddie over 25 years ago. The kiln has to be ‘‘. . . cajoled rather than controlled . . . the burners roar, the flames leap out of each tiny crack in the walls of the kiln, and the heat is searing.’’

A typical firing will last for, perhaps, fourteen hours reaching temperatures of over 1300C. Copper red glazes have a strict set of parameters for success so Eddie tends the kiln for the duration of the firing, adjusting the burn rate and controlling the internal atmosphere. They rely on a reduction atmosphere where the fire is partially starved of oxygen so that oxygen is drawn from the ceramic materials. Thus, a copper glaze which will take on a green colour in a fully oxidized firing will, if successfully controlled, become a rich red in a reduction firing. ‘‘Bleached’’ areas show where the flame has licked the colour completely from the pot.

Eddie and Margaret Curtis’s work continues to develop. In February, 2007, Eddie Curtis was elected Fellow of the Craft Potters Association.