in 1912, reynell and preston traveled to paris, where they stayed for a year before moving on to london and ireland. their plans were derailed by the outbreak of world war i and by the death of reynell's younger brother carew at gallipoli in 1915. the following year, at the instigation of her surviving brother rupert, reynell (and preston) began to learn pottery at the camberwell school of arts and crafts in london, with the goal of teaching it to disabled soldiers. the earliest surviving pieces of reynell's pottery date from this period, and she had already begun to manifest an interest in using clay from her native land by having a sample of clay from kangaroo island sent to her in london.