Always on
This project successfully funded on 25th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Amy Thornley-Heard Kiln Repair (Sampfire Ceramics)
Tiverton, Devon, United Kingdom
Aim
To raise funds to pay for the Sampfire Ceramics kiln to be repaired & buy materials to run classes for my rural community and beyond.
'Sampfire Ceramics' in my home in Sampford Peverell, Mid Devon is my vision for a creative space offering small group classes (3-4 students) for mental health improvement, art based self care and fun! Benefitting my local, rural community and beyond I plan to eventually become a Community Interest Company with a bespoke vehicle that allows me to bring the clay to the most isolated rural communities
When I was 14 years old, at school in Mid Devon, I began my ceramics journey in art class. I grew up on a rented dairy farm, near Uffculme and was the first in my family to got to university. I studied French and German always with ceramics going on wherever I was studying or working. I am now 43 and those ceramics sessions lit a fire in me that has never gone out. It would be a dream to me if I could offer classes for children, young people and adults locally and give them the gift of clay play that I received as a child.
After my second kid started preschool, I began small batch production of my wheel thrown tableware (September 2025) but, sadly, my kiln took a turn for the worse last December and the cost of repair will be nearly £900 in mid February this year. My first thought was 'start a crowdfunder - your community needs your ceramics practice and it's ok to ask for help.'
Any contribution to my 'Sampfire Ceramics' kiln repair and set up crowdfunder will be sincerely appreciated. I have designed rewards to suit all budgets and cannot wait to see you for a 1hr vase making session (for £75 donation), send a personalised name magnet (for £20 donation) or give you a 1 day immersive workshop (10am-4pm) for a £250 gift...sounds like good, muddy fun, doesn't it?
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made