Clinton developed an interest in ceramics before going on to research reduction lustre glazes at the Royal College of Art in the early 1970s.
In 1978 she set up a workshop at Newton Port, Haddington in Scotland and worked there in partnership with Jan Williamson until 1981.
Clinton undertook a number of notable architectural commissions later in her life, and her work with tiles was regarded as spectacular.
Examples of Clinton's tile work can be seen in the Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh and even the staff toilets at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
[3] A comprehensive inventory of her recipes and research of lustres is held by the National Library of Scotland along with her correspondence, financial records, and working papers 1969 –95.