to market to market...

Hello chaps, lovely day, sprinkle of rain and lots of cheery sunshine. My trip up this morning was mixed with bay to birdwood vintage cars chugging there way on the annual run.

A couple of close-ups of Roses new work, mug and plate sets & circle motif bowl set and our stall today..

run times in the paper

Well what a treat, our run times were in the paper today - Emmas time 1.21.57, Sue 1.24, Karen 1.27.33, and mwa' 1.44 not bad considering the traffic jam at 6km mark where the 2nd set of walkers joined in and my big cough splutter/ slow down at the 9km mark.... I am well chuffed and something to improve on next year! wooohoooo...

run fun!!

Hiya, just back from the 12km city to bay fun run adelaide to glenelg... It's our 1st year in & we'll probably do it next year.

I'm not certain of my time yet they'll be posted on tuesday and I may just be surprised. I raised some funds for autism SA from whom i got the lovely purple t-shirt & hat, not my usual colour!! We all did well- in photo me, emma my niece, sister sue, & karen sues friend from work who with her partner kindly gave us a lift to the city today and then home after thanks so much!! no bussing! I really wasn't looking forward to that.. 

The weather was lovely allbeit a bit chilly this morning 7.30 in the city for 8am start, it was a rolling start in waves as it included wheelchair and elite athletes completing in just over 30 mins.

I'm thinking around the 1.45 mark but really pleased to make it under 2hrs, em did about 1hr 20, then karen then sue and me the straggler...my lungs kinda packed in with 3km to go so I slowed a fair bit to recover, I think the recent virus and asthma were taking their toll..even so feel pretty good now. Happy potting all....

tour de kiln pt1

tour de kiln pt2

tour de kiln pt3

kiln firing log

Here's my Intermittent firing log from the last firing, as the kiln is getting closer to temp I do an ox/red each hour then clean up at the end of the firing with ox. All controlled by the simple sliding damper mechanism at the flue base.. 1 inch - 2 inch on each side.

The reduction starts at 1000deg. or 900 if I'm doing a copper red firing.

Watching for smoke at the flue and flame at the bung..depending on whether I want a heavy or light reduction for this firing I wanted some carbon trapping so smoke was a good thing!

So 6pm I open up the dampers fully for 15mins, then push back in 1-1 1/2 inch for 45min, and repeat till cone 10 down which was 9.30pm

I introduced some red gum chunks at cone 9 into the bung hole each hour til finish. and that's it close everything off and block up all air intakes...

extensions

My new kiln shed yey, woohooo and all that, Kevin & Leigh came by today to do my kiln shed extension, I'm so lucky to have great friends like these who try hard to make my creative life easier... this little extension moves the kiln out into a dedicated space and also will give me more shelvage when that part is completed.

heres the duo at work... A BIG thankyou guys!!

Alan from Argyll pottery

I got the sad and shocking news last night of Alans motorbike accident, in disbelief I waited this morning for confirmation as Hannah said it couldn't be real. My thoughts are with Alans family and pottery work mates Nicola and Hugh. In the short time that we chatted Alan was witty, cajoling and just fun, i'll miss his generosity and jibing...

spring is coming..

Spring is coming and how can I tell coz the winds are picking up 25km apparently which means another noisy night at my place as the winds batter the end walls. 

Coming up for Spring my market buddy Rose and I have a busy October planned, the 1st is the long weekend and the monday we'll be at the AHAM- Adelaide Hills Artist Market held at Hahndorf  Academy. 

The next weekend Friday and Saturday is an invitation Artists Market in Kent Town. October is also Spring Fair time & one of those being The Waldorf School Fair in Mount Barker plus our usual Stirling Market..

And check out these guys at Windy Ridge Pottery  incredible kiln building of a bizen noborigama 3 chamber kiln and there mighty scrounging abilty for building materials.

colour baby...

Hi Elaine here's my pots from the pit firing 

yipee results....

proof of our chimney which was emitting a lovely blue flame into the night...

the reveal....lovely colour response & lots of reds...

into the night

kevin's brushing up on his joke telling........



muscles required we grab them young.....
You've heard of faces in the fire....where's maud ...ooh and where's pam????

moving pictures part 1

pit fire part1

moving pictures

A short reconstruction of a great day...part 2

dug dug dug

What a perfect day it was about 20deg sunny all day, the pit was dug out by the time I arrived today, thanks kevin and the boys for their assistance and work well ready and packing had begun. We finished wrapping chucked in some banana peels, copper sulphate, rock salt and glossy mags. The light up was slightly wind assisted which was great and thanks belinda for the yummy lunch and the all the prep for today. A few of us stayed into dark and polished off some snags and chicken wings, thanks john and finished with a rather large bonfire to clean up the property...cheers all great day!!

dig dig dig

weh heyyy the pit firings on tomorrow at belindas place, many pics to follow. went for a little reconnoiter today and did a we bit of digging in amongst the sour-sobs, the boys will finish that off in the morning before the late shift arrives and start the pack.... I'm looking forward to a great day, lots of munchies and great company.... 

here we go....here we go now

weheee!! absolutely chuffed as they say in UK... and the lids fit phew!! chuns came out lovely

it's all for market bar the cup which is kathy's, the chugly stuff is still a grower i like it better with less iron in the body... 'see' the bowls above as opposed to the barrels at the end...