Cone 8: Meet the Fife potters whose lives converge around one kiln

On the edge of a wooded grove, in the centre of a charming Fife village, there sits a very busy kiln.

Unlike the hefty Georgian lime kilns which tower along the edge of the village, this little electric box of fire is about 3ft across and 5ft tall, hooked up to a huffing metallic chimney and a complicated set of buttons and dials.

But just as those lime kilns hold the history of Charlestown in their vast, long-cooled mouths, this kiln holds many stories of its own.

It belongs to the Cone 8 pottery club, a collective of keen novice and intermediate potters who have been throwing, sculpting and firing in shared kilns for 35 years.

The club began in 1989, long before the days when The Great Pottery Throwdown made pottery a hot hobby.

Co-founder Val Burns met some likeminded women at her beginners’ pottery class in Inverkeithing.

Feeling that they’d gone beyond the scope of the classes, the group decided to branch off and make progress together, pitching in to purchase a kiln and basic materials.

Cone 8 co-founder Val Burns loading the kiln. Image: Supplied.

They approached the Earl of Elgin, Andrew Bruce, who granted them the use of the Old Foundry in Charlestown, near Dunfermline, for their workshop.

“The Old Foundry was quite a big property, with four rooms,” recalls retiree Val. “We had other artists in there too, not just potters.

“We were there until about five years ago, when it became too derelict to use. The estate had this office space that wasn’t being used, on Rocks Road, and offered that to us.

“It’s smaller, but it’s a lovely space and it’s a lot more comfortable to work in.”

How does Cone 8 kiln share work?

Since Cone 8 was founded, it’s served more than 50 Fife potters, including well-known Dunfermline ceramicist Jo Walker and Camilla Garret-Jones of The Gallery in Culross.

Their subscription fees, as well as regular grants from Fife Council and the support of the estate, mean that all the members have access to wheels, clay, glazes and the kiln on a drop-in basis.

Christine Flynn, left and Val Burns, right apply glazes. Image: Tina Norris.

But Cone 8 is about so much more than pottery. As well as clay, the collective fires up friendships, which have set into a strong community full of sisterhood and support.

And in 2024, there are all sorts of different lives which converge around the Cone 8 kiln.

Christine: Police inspector turned pottery geek

Take for instance Christine Flynn, a former police inspector who swapped out her high-stress profession for one of the world’s most ancient crafts.

“I find it very therapeutic,” says Christine, 64. “You’re just concentrating on what you’re doing with the piece of clay and forgetting the troubles of the world.

“I had a good career, but I love doing pottery now.”

Christine shows me around the Cone 8 workshop – a bright, cheerful space where neatly-labelled shelves are crammed precariously with masks and jugs in various states of firing or glazing as the club’s annual exhibition looms.

“Everyone wants to get stuff ready for the exhibition, so we’ve been doing more firings lately,” she explains.

The kiln can operate on a timer, she says, meaning it can be largely unmanned, but someone always pops in to make sure all is well.

Christine Flynn has explored all sorts of firing techniques. Images: Tina Norris/Supplied.

Christine is one of the more experienced members of the group, having done pottery for about 15 years, and in that time she’s explored throwing (making pots on a wheel), hand-building, Raku firing (a practice where pottery is taken out of the kiln while red hot and rapidly cooled) and pit-firing.

The Cone 8 potters regularly try out Raku firing, where delicate designs such as feathers can be burned on to pottery. Image: Tina Norris.

One of the joys of Cone 8, for her, has been the opportunity to share her knowledge with other keen potters through workshops.

“I’ve always enjoyed teaching people and passing on my experience,” says Dunfermline-based Christine. “But what I like most is that every potter does things differently, there’s no ‘right’ way.”

Her pro-tip for beginners?

“Brace your arms, keep them still, and tell the clay what you want it to do, rather than letting it tell you.”

Marion: ‘Magic’ from ancient art form

For retired teacher Marion Anness, 61, taking up pottery has been a gateway to “magic”.

“Everybody at Cone 8 inspires each other,” she enthuses. “You see the work in the back room drying, or the things waiting to go in the kiln, and it’s just brilliant.”

She loves the unpredictable nature of pottery, particularly Raku firing and pit-firing, which she does in her own backyard.

“I’m in the countryside just outside Fallin, so we’ve got a bit of land at the back,” she explains. “We all got together and dug a pit for ancient-style firing.

The Cone 8 potters with their pit-fired projects at Marion’s homemade pit. Image: Supplied.

“You wrap your pots with seaweed and lemon peel, and then put it into the pit. And then you put loads of wood on and set fire to it, stick some corrugated tin on top and leave it for the day.

“After that, you open it all up. It’s so exciting,” she smiles.

“We all get together and see what magic has happened. Sometimes you’ve got these amazing results, and other times they just turn a bit brown, but that’s part of the fun.”

Annelie: From au pair to potter

Youngest Cone 8 member Annelie Strydom, 45, joined the club in her early 30s, but her journey with pottery started much earlier, when she went to au pair in the Netherlands during a gap year in her student days.

Annelie Strydom and Val Burns with their creations. Image: Supplied.

“The family I au paired for, the grandmother was quite talented in pottery,” explains Annelie. “When I went back to South Africa, I kept it as a hobby.”

Moving first to Edinburgh to teach before becoming a full-time mum (“and potter”), Kinghorn-based Annelie says not a day goes by when she doesn’t work with clay.

She’s even got her seven-year-old daughter, Mieke, hooked.

“When you work with clay as an adult, you’re always aware of what you want to achieve at the end, but she has this freedom and she’s quite intuitive,” Annelie says proudly.

Annelie Strydom does pottery at home with her daughter Mieke. Image: Supplied.

“I’m quite a perfectionist in my personal life, so pottery gives me that space to be myself a bit more.

“If I don’t do it, my hands start itching!”

Joan: Escaping the noise with pottery

For biomedical scientist Joan Benson, pottery was the ultimate escape from a disease which seemed to be closing in on her from all sides.

“The reason I took up pottery about 10 years ago was that my late husband was really ill at the time,” Joan, 59, explains.

Val Burns, Joan Benson and Christine Flynn are three of the Cone 8 potters who will be exhibiting in Culross at Bessie’s again this year. Image: Tina Norris.

“He had cancer, and I was working in a lab at the time which was working on the exclusion and diagnosis of cancer, so I just felt surrounded by it at home and at work.

“I just felt like I wanted to do something. Because I find if I’m making something, I just get completely absorbed in it rather than my head being busy.

“I very quickly realised I loved it, and after he died, I just kept going because I met a really nice group of people. It’s good for me, good for my head, and good fun.

Pots in the metal dustbin of flaming sawdust and newspaper for a Raku firing. Image: Tina Norris.

Jayne: A new journey with new community

Newest member Jayne Waring’s Cone 8 journey is only just beginning, as she joined the club in late 2023.

But her relationship with pottery has been going on much longer.

“I fell in love with ceramics at an early age,” says Jayne, who works in finance but first worked with clay at her high school in Fife.

“I’ve worked in a lawyers, I’ve worked in a bank – going to art college just wasn’t an option for me,” she says candidly.

Pots made by the Cone 8 potters by Raku firing. Image: Tina Norris.

“That was a fantasy, for wealthy people. But I picked it up again about 10 years after I left school, and since my 20s it’s been a hobby.”

She was involved with various pottery circles on and off, but the turning point came when Jayne got a dog in 2022.

While out walking in Dunfermline where she lives, she spotted a pottery sign in a garden and asked who she thought was the maker’s husband about it.

However, the man in the garden was a construction worker, and the potter in question wasn’t home.

Pots are quenched with cold water after taking them out of a metal dustbin of flaming sawdust and newspaper during Raku firing. Image: Tina Norris.

Just a week later, Jayne was walking by again when none other than Christine, one of the longest-serving Cone 8 members, came out to have a chat and told Jayne about the club.

“It was just immediately easy, and I had such a good feeling,” recalls Jayne. “I think you meet people for a reason.

“The Cone 8 ladies are very selfless in sharing the secrets and tricks of the craft. It’s a real creative space, with a community of likeminded people coming together.

“We even do potluck lunches, which is a lovely way to spend an afternoon.”

Cone 8 will present their exhibition and sale, ‘All Fired Up’ at Bessie’s by Culross Palace from Saturday August 10-18, 11am until 4pm daily.

The club is currently operating from a waiting list for membership. Enquiries can be made via the group’s Facebook page.