In a complete change of direction, her present work is individually hand-built from freely cut and curved sheets of soft flexible clay. Its shapes are often derived from domestic ware – jugs and loving-cups – and from bird and human forms.

By inclination also a painter, Helen uses the flattened forms of her pots as three-dimensional canvasses. Their surfaces are decorated with slips, underglaze pigments, latex and wax resists, silver, gold and copper leaf, sometimes incorporating lettering – as did much traditional domestic slipware.

The result, in her own words, is pots that are “serious, posh and frivolous”.

Buy with an interest-free 'Collectorplan' loan from the Arts Council of Wales. Click here for details.