Sitting on Baile an Bhiataigh beach in County Meath, Ireland, I sketched the wandering rooks as they strode curiously across the sand, studying the tourists. Their humorous sideward glances caught my attention, and I wanted to capture their expression in my tile design.
Sitting on Baile an Bhiataigh beach in County Meath, Ireland, I sketched the wandering rooks as they strode curiously across the sand, studying the tourists. Their humorous sideward glances caught my attention, and I wanted to capture their expression in my tile design.

Bethan Lowri Hughes Jones carves a pattern into wet clay, floods the hollow with coloured slip, then scrapes the surface back to find out whether it worked. She works in Welsh, from a studio at Fireworks Clay Studios in Cardiff, and she will teach you the method as well as sell you the result.