Characters of the Cut
WHEN Sally Vaughan decided to sign up for a hand-building pottery class just before the pandemic struck, she could never have imagined how it would change her life. Now, four years later, she’s retired from her teaching job, moved on to a narrowboat, and is selling her pottery while continuously cruising the canals with husband Steve and their two dogs, Monty and Willow.
Sally said: “In 2021 I left my job in primary education to retire early. I had been working long hours and realised school was taking over my life. It was time to slow down, and having often toyed with the idea of living on a boat we decided to take the plunge as it seemed a lovely way to retire yet still keep on the move.”
Drawn to the slower pace of life and the ability to visit lots of places around the UK, the couple purchased Jenny, a 70ft cruiser stern narrowboat, and adapted the inside to suit their lifestyle as continuously cruising liveaboard roving traders. The plan, however, was not initially to be roving traders but after taking the hand-building pottery course, Sally soon realised that clay had literally and figuratively got under her fingernails.
She explained: “During Covid, working in education was crazy, with the rules changing daily, never knowing what the next day would bring. I found myself waking at 2am unable to sleep, my head spinning with it all, so I started playing with clay during those nights until I calmed enough to return to bed and sleep.”
From these middle- of- the- night creations, Sally started making wind chimes for her garden after getting fed up with the same offerings in every shop, just with different price tags. It wasn’t long before friends and family requested she make them some and the idea to expand was born. “When we made the decision to move aboard I knew I wanted to continue my ‘clay therapy,’ so becoming traders seemed a natural step. We spent the first year trying a couple of markets, and the response was so good we decided to continue.”
Sally explained that her creations are born from a sense of being a little different. “Hand-building gives everything an organic, natural look. I make big mugs, with big handles you can pick up easily, perfect for early morning cuppas. The garden pots and mobiles I make tend to be just for fun, to brighten up and add colour, or bring a smile to someone.”
She also enjoys sometimes allowing the clay to dictate what she will end up with. “I like to sample different clays, and I’m always thinking about what I can make with each type to show off colour and texture. In addition to my bright wind chimes, I like to use earthy colours and make garden art that blends well with nature and the outdoors. I also make pot stands and wall plaques that reflect the leaves of trees and bushes we pass on the towpath.”
With customers from Cornwall to the Highlands of Scotland, and even as far as New Zealand, it seems these impressions of England’s towpaths are well received and passers-by are always surprised when they realise Sally has made everything on board, and it’s functional. “It can be tricky space-wise sometimes, as during winter the clay can take a few days to dry, ready to fire, so I’m limited to how much I make at a time.”
Summer, however, offers Sally a completely different working environment. She continued: “Handbuilding is my favourite style, but I’m also developing my skills with the wheel and during warm summer days I love setting it up on the towpath where I can create alongside nature. I feel I have the best working environment on those days!”
Time to indulge in creative projects is definitely a plus point to a slow life lived on the canals, but in addition, Sally, Steve and the dogs love the community spirit they find. “We get to meet so many new people on the towpaths, or through chatting in the local stores and pubs we visit. It’s brilliant.”
In the past four years, they have travelled the entire length of the Shropshire Union, the Trent & Mersey, Llangollen and Montgomery, River Weaver, Staffs & Worcester, and the Coventry, BCN and Macclesfield Canals. It seems Sally has certainly travelled far, far away from those 2am clay therapy sessions to appease work stress, instead finding herself firmly floating through a peaceful and creative life wandering the waterways.
Website: www.potterybysally.co.uk Facebook: @potterybysally Instagram: @potterybysally
Alice Elgie is a writer and also creator of the online community Slow Into The Seasons, along with a podcast of the same name. In these spaces she muses about living a slower, simpler life: slowintotheseasons.substack.com/ Slow Into The Seasons on Spotify