Josie makes tableware and cooking pots in earthenware clay, which are decorated with slips and coloured glazes. Most of the pots are thrown on a traditional momentum wheel, even though many of the finished shapes are oval or rectangular. ​

After a degree in Anthropology at University College, London, Josie went to Leicester University where she trained to be a secondary school teacher. Josie taught for four years in schools in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, before she began working with clay. What started out as evening class diversion became a real passion and in 1976 she enrolled on the Studio Ceramics course at Chesterfield College of Art. After three years of throwing, building kilns, visiting potters and generally being immersed in pottery, Josie opened a workshop in Matlock with a fellow student at Chesterfield, John Gibson.