Stones and rocks are a total obsession for ceramicist LOTTE GLOB. Over the past 40 years she has developed a close relationship with the landscape and wilderness of Durness where she lives and this has inspired her recent work of floating stones and books of melted granite.

“Everybody likes stones” explains Lotte, who is originally from Denmark. “Little children pick up stones. We all go round with them in our pockets and they are so beautiful, but we get disappointed when we get home and they are dried out and out of place. So I started to make stones in different colours and put them in my fish tank, and some new stones floated, so I had floating stones and this led to a new direction.

“I would take them in my pocket to the beach and put them in the sea and watch them float around. Not very profitable but it’s nice. I had a wonderful time learning about the tides and the movement. Then I wanted to set a big stone circle in the spring tide. I wanted 333 stones and to see what happened. I was very excited when the first sea came and lifted them all up and they floated and then the tide went out and left them in lots of different patterns. They finally ended up in a long line in the seaweed along the beach and 30 to 40 headed out to sea and on the horizon.”

Lotte walks every day and loves the little lochans hidden up in the hills. “I thought it would be nice to take three of my floating stones and put them in as a ‘thanks for being there for me’. I’ve now visited 113 lochans; it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or windy. I’ve been in the middle of the winter and sent them out into the loch on the ice so they are waiting for spring.” Her idea has been infectious; a Mexican student loved her floating stones and took one back to Mexico then told her where and when she had floated it. There are now floating stones in Iceland, Japan, Tibet, Africa, Australia and Finland, and as well enjoying the collaboration, Lotte loves the idea of lots of little floating stones across the world.

Lotte has been “totally hooked” on ceramics since she threw her first pot when she was 13 years old. She came back from a school trip to a pottery “with the smell of clay and fire in my nose” and asked her parents if she could go to evening classes. This proved frustrating as there were 12 people and only two wheels so her parents gave her a wheel for Christmas and she set it up in the back of the garage and threw pots. After two apprenticeships in Denmark she moved to Scotland and set up her own studio.

She sells a range of large dishes, bowls, and works to commission, but she also experiments with the medium. “I always have something experimental in the kiln so I can get excited” she says. She takes sediment, clay, sand and rocks from the hills, puts them into her kiln and fires them at 1350 degrees. Through experience she has learnt what melts and she has gradually added other found items, such as animal sculls, and explored different glazes.

“You get inspiration from the rocks and beach – you give and take and get it all back all the time” she explains. “The rocks stacked together look like big libraries so I started making ceramics books with paper clay. I make the pages and bring back rocks and sediments and put it all together with the paper between and fire them. You can’t open them, just hold them, but they’re all there. I fuse them with bones and branches so there are traces of life with imprints of dead snails, bracken and my thoughts.” She is now experimenting with ways to etch on the clay using printmaking techniques as she likes the contrast of the fine detail and the melted rocks.
Lotte has always had a clear vision about her work and feels there is no difference between her experimental craft and her bowls. She says “A beautiful mug is as important as a beautiful sculpture, and when I make a bowl or mug I put all my passion into it.”

© Tina Rose, 2005