explorer socks and doc martins.......

so did i mention layering...?

stirling is well renound for being chilly and if it rains anywhere it'll be raining up there...! there was even a question of snow but i did hear it was 8deg..so no chance of that happening.....

so here goes the routine double socks and docs to keep my feet warm and dry about 3 layers and 2 coats to keep the chill at bay... lots of jigging around and roll your jeans up otherwise the wet soaks up your legs....yuk!!
shove your hands in your pockets and leave them there for as long as possible......

so why do i get out of bed on a sunday morning, ..........? mmmmm well great company, lots of friendly faces and good chatter all day long and you can tell we have fun we're always the last packing up but the council rangers are great we even got a smile goodbye today 'woohoo', as they open up the road again for traffic.....

here's a few glimpses of sunshine from today.....

a ?ion of the thumb..

so what do you think.......

a handle fits the mug, the finger fits the handle and there goes the thumb placement...sitting right on top and if there is perfect balance the weight of the cup sits well in your hand and the handle size and weight suit the cup......sounds so simple but get the handle slightly in the wrong place and everything is off balance.......

deconstructing harry the teapot...

here we go just one version of the set of teapots on the go....in backwards fashion just to make life interesting, i wish i could have just played it backwards but unfortunately i don't have that facilty.. maybe i should send a note to the apple imovie programmers...

anyhoo, quite a noisy day with the football grand final on and all that....our neighbours were doing their best impersonation of a football club...speed humps again, barb and i exited early...when you hear lots of things going bump and the volume goes up 10 notches it's time to get out!!!

so a few more pots for the tea to go together yet next week...and it's market tomorrow at stirling hope it's not too chilly or wet, layering is the word,.. it will be great to do a big catchup with everyone too. hope to see you up there...cheers all..

muggage....

teapots are on their way...

here's the teapot lids, I did a quick trip to use the slabroller at the club this morning, so these guys will be ready for a blast with the heat gun tonight ready to join to the bodies, I may even do a video...!

i broke out the pastry roller on the last 2 lids so they'll be nice and gouged a couple of deeper lines for the glaze to pool in,..should be noice..I may even pop down the road to borrow my b'in laws little gas burner to see if it has enough grunt for fast drying work.... ciao for now....

come home baby...

I'm waiting patiently for my baby mac to come home, it's off at the service team at norwood suffering a cracked hinge which apple are telling me doesn't happen so it's not covered under warranty... so hello not happy jan...the part should be in and fixed tomorrow apparently it's just the cover section that's cracked...well enough of the whinging...so soon i'll be able to put some movies together again...yeh!!

today i'm off to roll out some slabs for the teapot lids, all under plastic at the mo awaiting the vital parts... so the next few days in between work those will happen..

sunday was beautiful weather for the city to bay I did the 6k this year and still have one very sore calf...I came in at 49min on my ipod pedometer... which i'm very happy with, poor lungs had had enough though...bah asthma...! so i tried out the little video feature and will put something together tomorrow night lots of cool stuff and beach scenes down at glenelg...

cooking with gas...

and another good afternoon throwing a couple of larger raku bottles, a mug bundle order and 6 teapots... you know these, the tops are made separately and dried in slump molds and joined when firm...

I couldn't have asked for a better day, the sun was shining it was warm ...nice...!!

and into the weekend we go, firing another bisque kiln down the club and time to check up on the birds that caused so much havock last wkd with the football boys haha..! I think he got his own back making some very nice dive bombs at the ratbags trying to hit the nesters with sticks and all kinds of junk.... I reckon the bird won!

ooh and gas kiln update we have connections!! woooo hoooo all connected now and with some minor alterations to the burners i think we will be set..

just the last of the inner fibre to go and the flues and we're off people!!!!!!!! yeh.............

cover shot...

these guys i reckon are ready to form a band so
1. is the obligatory standing around kinda casual but well placed shot..
2. the 3 tenors..
3. optimistic angle shot..








4. homage to the ron handle...

these are my testers for big handles....no animals here just 'the knaves knees' probably...

bottled up...

a good few hours in the studio today and i was just getting warmed up to.. oh well there's some time tomorrow to get some teapots happening and some more raku pots, these little guys are 1 & 1 1/2 lb's...hope your collective weeks are going well...

tiles on board...

wehey..here we go a very gentle drive home last night from the club, all unloaded and filling up another studio table now..I decided to bring them home while remaking some warped ones and i'll get started on the next table now too, just thinking so i don't lose momentum and while the weather is still mild to get the rest of the tiles made and decorated...

It's so good to see them at this point i really want to lay the table out to see it full scale but me thinks it would just be a major distraction right now, so onward..
I handled the mugs today they're rather large and pics later, yep pulled handles and all....

and the new ron mug, just lovely.. i've learned a lot from your handles ron..you and doug both do large strappy handles, they'll be good for the manfolk who come along to our market stall looking for the monster size mugs..

ahaa..! book#2

ahaa..! look what i found cardew book#2 and yes i found the picture of the outside of the cottage where mrs cardew met her untimely end...

this one has lots of lovely primitive pots from MC's time in nigeria..and all kinds of drawings from the big rope wheel, where's my servant..? to the brick molds i saw a few of these at the black country museum in dudley too, some with lovely curved corners..

and some really useful info in the back App.8 square roots below unity..! Bottle kiln building and the lovely drop molds that i used at dougs....

got a little studio time this afternoon made a few mugs and some raku bottles, it was nice to just sit and get my hands into clay after 2 weeks off.. hopefully i can remember what i've learned about handles and get back to pulling some rather than my reliable cheats way of extruding..i do like the flatter kind so thats where i'll be aiming, everything is under plastic not taking any chances with the weather, its been a tad windy what..?

what an event the kiln firing was yesterday, I will be v. happy when the football club gets over to their new rooms, lets just say rather loud and carpark obstacles...!

thursday london..

I have so many pics to sort into some kind of catatgory and little mac is off getting the cracked hinge looked at...... so it'll be bits at a time until i get imovie back..

these pics are from the british museum taken last thursday, the fish are from the cafe downstairs, very cool, my blue fishy next to tiled fish i can relate..!

amongst some ancient pots are very functional pots for storing beverages for long journeys,.... could have done with one of these last week haha....

marks on clay....the same today as yesterday...

howdy all, just sifting through some of the images i took last friday at the british museum, although the undertone is that everything here is pinched from cultures around the world if you can forgive that, the work is incredible...and an amazing source of reference for all who visit...

and being free its accessible, although there access for those disabled leaves a lot to be desired, a building of some years awaits air con and lift access to all areas, ok whinge over, the pieces are incredible..

hey jim check out this egg shell ware reported as finger marks but im not sure, some rudimentary brush marks perhaps... beautiful to see the mark making that you make today relate to these ancient forms...




and these great cyprus wares...wow after looking in dougs reference library and atempting to make lines that refer to these pieces then seeing them for real...amazing stuff..




























and these great pieces, great line work and carved stamps that relate to the slipware stamps i'd just used the week previous in dougs workshop, it truly was a great holiday and I can say it adnauseum but i really appreciate the trip and it's influence that i can sense already, happy claying all hope your weeks a good one...

suspension...

hey doug ..... found something for your car..! think it'll fit??????

hehehhehehe......

just a little break in editing all my pics from the hols and i meant to send it earlier...and here's the ginormous mud taking a sip from the rain...I'm sure he's grown while i've been away....big tiger!

i'm getting stuck into the table glazing, i'd like to get the tiles through this week and should do the phones been quiet today...and the big gas kiln is getting some attention too, while keith on hols he's hooking up all the plumbing yey...!!!!!

happy week all..

st ives and penzance..

part 2 of fridays great road trip... st ives and penzance..

wenford bridge..

this place was a little treasure trove amazing to wander through and pick up shards of old work, wenford bridge used to be michael cardew's pottery, doug is now the proud owner of mr cardews wheel and he must have been pretty tall or had really long legs coz i needed a leg up to get on the seat which was def. made for a guy! and i could hardly reach the pedal hehehe fun though.... we took a stop over while on our way down to cornwall, hosted by frank the 'sign guy' and his wife who put us up in their lovely little cottage overnight, all i'm going to say is kids musical toys are a lot of fun...! hehehe...

the next morning we walked along what is now a reserve with trails and more water, it goes by what used to be the china clay factory tonnes of bricks in there but it was all fenced off so no rummaging.! after the obligatory pics outside of the cottage, doug and i went on our way to st ives.. the days menu was lots of walking, john beddings gallery at which surprise surprise i found lincoln kirby-bell's work, he sent a text while in there saying check out this gallery, hahaa!, already there lincoln.. and very nice too from some really old treasures to todays work, all styles of gear I was suitably impressed..then off to leach pottery where i met up with jack doherty, lovely to catch up again jack, he did a workshop at the jam factory here in town it was good to see him again.. I had a good chat about the hols with one of the studio guys while jack was busy trimming up some work for a show.. we toured the pottery then headed off to penzance to catch up with lincoln who luckily had the kettle on!!.. lovely to see him all settled in to his new studio and producing yummy slipware again, i brought a few pieces home too..

orange peril...

i kid you not this little orange made it all the way down the hill from near leach pottery to the last major intersection before we hit the town....he dodged, he weaved, he rolled...and might i say took encouragement well, 'go you little red fire engine'..! .. the cars dodged and weaved making way for our little adventure fruit...only to become unstuck by the last mini van you see....splat.....awwww what fun, cheers doug for being the creative mind behind this one...

home..

home safe, got in rather early this morning and saw the sun rise above the clouds rather serene... twas a grand adventure with lovely folks, a big special shout out to doug and hil and the boys thanks so much, was a very lovely time and lots more to chat about soon vids and flicks in abundance.. chat soon all :)