The starting point for Michele’s work is always walking and sketching, taking inspiration from the forms, patterns and textures in the natural world – the mesh of branches on wintry trees, the geometric patterns in eroded rock faces or the intricate structures of pods, leaves and petals. 

In the studio she works with a range of stoneware clays and enjoys the way the forms built are affected by the differences in structure of these clays.  All her pieces are hand built using a range of techniques; pinching, coiling and slab building.  Once the initial form is created, it goes through a series of manipulations before the surface is altered by hand carving into the clay.  The form the carving takes is determined by the shape of the vessel.  As the piece gradually dries it is refined by degrees. 

After bisque firing works are glazed, usually allowing areas of unglazed clay to remain to form a contrast between surface and generate interesting juxtapositions of positive and negative spaces.  Glazes are formulated in order to highlight the carved textures of the pieces.