Potting a world of colour!

"Considering the really nice things you can make, and the pleasure you get from the process, it is a relatively cheap hobby - money cannot buy the satisfaction you get from making your own ornaments"

Force artists have taken some top honours in a pottery exhibition now being held at the Museum of Tea Ware.

Police Handicraft Club Chairperson Helen Kwong won second prize in the tea ware exhibition for her 'Snail on Shell' design, while member Rainbow Chiu received the critics' choice accolade for her 'Bitter Mellon' piece. Their works were among the 160 selected by exhibition organisers from some 240 entries. The free exhibition was set to continue until June 24 at the museum, in Hong Kong Park.

With their entries causing such a stir, OffBeat asked the ladies to display their personal collections, each consisting of several dozen works. They were joined by another member, Louisa Peasley, and her collection.

Helen said pottery had become more than just a hobby for the team who now present top works to close friends and relatives as gifts, and use them to decorate their homes in style.

"We have been learning from the famous potter Ho Tai-kwan who has a workshop in Fo Tan, and he encouraged us to enter the competition. I started going to his classes about 10 years ago, and our Club members have been attending his courses almost every Tuesday since June," Helen said.

"Depending on how much experience you have, and how complicated your idea is, it takes about four to six lessons to make a clay design, fire it in the kiln, paint and then glaze it. Some pieces we keep, some we give as gifts and some just end up broken!"

With over 400 members, the Club not only works in pottery, but also flower and balloon arrangements, knitting, sculpturing and even work with semi-precious jewellery.

"More and more men are joining our Club too and it is great to see them taking part. Perhaps they have seen our exhibits which may have aroused their interest in handicrafts," Helen said.

"And considering the really nice things you can make, and the pleasure you get in the process, it is a relatively cheap hobby. Plus, money cannot buy the satisfaction you get from making your own ornaments."

You could even follow the lead of Louisa who took some recent designs of hers a step further, creating a stylish lamp for her lounge room.

"Having made several small pieces I wanted to do a bigger one. I had made a boat and a tree trunk, and figured I could merge them together somehow into one piece. Through that, I came up with the lamp," she said.

The trio encouraged officers to take up pottery. Those interested could contact Helen 2611-3220, or Rainbow on 2798-3312.