63: Ceramic houses, monthly sales and winging it with Amanda Banham

A handful of ceramic animals and a walk along a road of Tudor houses are just two of the steps on Amanda Banham's path to becoming the much loved and in demand ceramic artist she is today.

Amanda is best known for her collectable raku-fired ceramic houses, each with its own story, which she makes in her studio in Saffron Walden in the east of England. Her route there took in floristry, teaching horse riding, a farm in Cornwall, four children and an illustration degree, before a single talk at university - by an illustrator who also made the aforementioned ceramic animals - sent her back to clay.

In this very lively and entertaining episode, we talk about:

• Discovering pottery and other crafts at her beloved 1970s village primary school, and then barely touching clay again for years
• Her university course in Illustration coming to The university talk where an illustrator pulled out a handful of tiny ceramic animals, and Amanda went home and announced she was going to be a potter
• Her first terrifying but rewarding fair with Anglian Potters which included putting up the marquee but selling almost everything (probably for less than it cost to make)
• How the houses began: reluctant afternoon dog walks along Castle Street, peering into wonky Tudor windows and inventing the people inside
• The first houses-only sale, which she was sure was ridiculous, and which sold out in about an hour
• Why she sells once a month (the kiln has to be full),
• Her January commission slots, which bring in money up front at the quietest time of year
• The real-home commissions she now turns down, and the American veranda house that took a month and a lot of tears
• Instagram fatigue, and deciding to go back to what she actually enjoys
• Why she feels she's been "on ice skates" ever since primary school, and her advice to any business: get a dog, and protect time for laughter

Find Amanda's work at amandabanham.com and on Instagram @amandabanhamceramics.