are we composed yet?

on the tiles...

big night out...

so it was a multiple gallery visit thingy last night between picking up work and visiting friends shows and checking out some fringe shows i think it was kinda like a 'gallery crawl'... i'll let the work speak for itself and a superb polystyrene cup sculpture at the uni gallery is at the end...

i met up with ali in the light square gallery where erins lovely pieces are in a show called ' invisible red threads' and then on to the jam factory for a show the mellie is in with gerry wedd the big teacup and stephen bowers.. she has some works inspired by her turkey trip last year.. we checked out the new shop display which is very cool and then on to the gallery crawl of 4 more spaces some every arty concept work and of course good snacks at every show!!

more of my pots today that will be later and as i'm feeling better than yesterday i'll be heading off to the club to get onto my table work, catcha later...

composed again....

howdy all, since vids are all the rage lately why not join in??

I was reading my friend Alis blog today and she got me thinking about how i mostly present things that go well, so here's a mini composite journey things aren't always el perfecto!..

and some of the process...the most important thing i'm learning here is about reversing forms in my head and seeing the sections sometimes upside down so that the continuation of the curve succeeds..

well we'll see, so here's day 2...and a lil preview from the last glaze kiln..

seeya tomorrow...

composite deconstruction....

and the destruction, i made a few pieces to get me warmed up on the composite idea and totally destroyed the first one today....

i was watching show on the teev last night ol Gavin McLeode doing his tour of Europe and revisiting the historic architecture and culture...and all that..

so he's wandering around this old ruin and marvelling at some frescos that survived a lava flow and remarking on how these English guys toured Europe and took all the stunning ideas that they saw back home...

so they were developing their skills for classic architecture and i was thinking well nothing much has changed wherever the ideas for the forms came from we still make them.... there's something about getting the proportions just right similar to the human form and how numerics play a part in getting things looking just so...

anyhoo back to my forms, well the first one i joined too soon and it just went all over the place, i tried to pull up some of the base form as it just didn't 'look right' well it looks right now back in the bag for the next one!!

heheh form 2 is all plackied up and can wait till i return to the studio after working on the table, that starts again tomorrow...

ciao for now...

scratches and squiggles...

a few scratchings for some composites i'll be getting into for a local art show in a few months....

my runny copper ash will do the treatment and must do some tests adding some clay to my glaze it gets a bit carried away on movement down the pot!

and firing up the glaze kiln today thanks for reminding me i'll set a reminder on my phone to check it at midday.. our club kilns have a timer to start early in the morning but from there on in it's all manual turn her up to hi and keep driving down the road to check the temp.. I'm still not set with the firing times as it depends on the pack and the rate of climb hence my over fire last week on the bique i think it was 1060, i normally do a 970C for bisque....whoops! the glaze looked like it took ok and hopefully it's been absorbed into the surface of the clay ok...

I'm feeling like a play with the large forms and will get stuck in this week working around the tablerrr no.2, the final tiles are in this kiln.... happy week all...

all fired up...

that was quite a squishy pack and at this point it looks like the overfire wasn't to bad..

i finished the deco on the cats munchy bowls .. ' a bit of a market treat'
and glazed and repacked the load, minus the mugs they'll be a cone6 fire with the satin black and i'm not sure i'll get that through prior to market it's next sunday and i don't quite have a load for c6 yet..

anyhoo finished the teapots cleaned up and did the handles tonight and they're all wrapped up ready for another warm day tomorrow... the wet towel trick over the plastic has worked well and they kept their moisture content well...yey!

firing monday me thinks....happy wkd all..

fresh...

here they are fresh teapots and looking a little naked without handles, they're well wrapped up for another warm day tomorrow and hopefully handles tomorrow afternoon..



and whoopsie i overfired the bisque firing today, that's the second time i've done that since the new elements were installed it's so hard to estimate the end of the firing and calculating it by the old firings has proved impossible, Note to self - GO EARLIER....ah yes the club is only 3 mins down the road but it does get a lil frustrating driving back and forth on firing days..

and the pic below is a lil texture for the lids with my trusty mesh roller..

these teapots are getting the shino treatment on request from a customer so it will be interesting to see the results...

warm wkd coming up woohoo! and some glazing of the tiles and the kiln fillers, yey!!

How does 3 before 11pm sound Mr Kline??

sideways does it...

and speaking of sideways apart from the image above if you remember a few aposts back i've turned an old raku bin sideways too after watching a simon leach video of a lil raku kiln he made from a simple cage and fibre...

last year my friend anna made a lil wood burner raku kiln that goes like an absolute rocket, it's made from a bin from ikea lined with fibre and has a firebox at the base so its still an updraft kiln my plan is to combine both of these ideas and make a crossdraft wood fire raku kiln..

when i have a minute to put this all together i'm going to reline the bin leaving the old fibre in place as extra insulation..I'll be using some second hand kiln shelves that i've accumulated here and there..and the old fibre chimney from my gas kiln that will simply sit atop the kiln when firing prob secured on a piece of fibre...the fibre is also from existing stock,so i just need the time now to put this together..

i have some pots ready made to go and some glaze recipes i'd like to expand on the black and white work that i have happening and add some turquoise and maybe a nice green with the same resist idea in the sketches above..

well back to it.. i have a studio full of thrown works from yesterday that need to be trimmed today, pics later!

scooby snacks...

scooby snacks they're not but some yummy rock melon and fresh pineapple to assist with the tile decoing last night..

so this is the very dark blue and the aqua replacements for tableer number 2..
i did some templates so i knew which way the brushwork flowed along with the surface colours, nothing like a good squiggle...must check i'm thinking now one of those tiles was supposed to be red...oh well after tea with that one....

















and just to show i did facepaint Saturday afternoon away with some very interesting background music...some heavy metal to what sounded remotely like an elvis tribute to some really cool jazz..

one of the security staff took this for me, pity it's not from a bit to the left and you would have seen the queue of mums and dads waiting patiently with their hoards of muchkins, i did a check at 5.30pm and we still had 25 to go before 6pm...that's a few kids we must have done all up!!
and talk about parents behaving badly i think we'll have to ask for a bouncer next time, there was some rabble raising which thankfully ended quietly with some gentle intervention...and a bit of queue jumping, now come on people it's a family event!....I do have a good chuckle with little ones falling asleep in my hand as i'm painting and the teenagers are always a good laugh who knew spiderman could be so popular?

cheers all.. on and into a new week, lots to be done and happy throwing common Mr Kline next challenge...! or is it still 12 x 12??

fill 'er up...

so along with the recut tiles from yesterday comes a few kiln fillers and unlike the usual fare that would be lil pieces to fill up gaps, i'm making wares to actually fill the kiln! out with the journal and vwalla! fishies like floundered did anyone else have that game as a kid? its like a jigsaw puzzle but you throw a dice to take you turn and create your fish, made up of 5 pieces and whoever makes the most fish wins....
I just loved the patterns of coloured dots and stripes on black card background we spent hours playing this one...these guys are all black and white slip and copper slip on my usual creamy coloured clay...

ooh and 'woof ' a market commission piece requested for a larger dog than usual ones are made for... due to a massive toothache or whatever it is?? last night and today i spent the afternoon catching up on sleep thanks to some monsterous painkillers...! so now i'm behind on my throwing schedule to finish filling the kiln, so i guess that will be sunday now before i get to it...tomorrow is face painting the afternoon in civic park at the summer bash, haven't done that for a while but it should be fun creating all kinds of mystery animals and princesses for the midgets...and theres usually some entertainment for the afternoon... ah well nearly on track for next week, get the tiles decoed and i'll be happy....

addendum...

addendum...
addendum |əˈdendəm|
noun ( pl. -da |-də|, -dums)
1 an item of additional material,

finished putting the pieces of tableeer no.2 together and it seems the new batch of clay was rather wet.....mmmm.... shrinkage.......

so i'm thinking i'd rather do a few recuts at this stage and be happy with the work rather than having larger spaces between the tiles, i tried a few rearranging of the pieces today and that's where i'm at... poor back is getting sore again...so here's the plan up bright and early tomorrow and roll out some clay for recuts!








But she looks lovely! I'm happy... and here they are side by side...

tablerrrr no.2

so here's last nights progress on number 2, all the tiles are ready.. it's just gluing to the mesh then on with the big task of cementing... back to the club today after some work and more of the puzzle ahead....a stinker again today ...com'on rain!!

mish mash...

howdy all, its a bit of a mish mash today...the weathers warming up again and ive been kinda lethargic and not achieving as much as i'd like so here we go from the top...

the sky right now we're so hoping for some rain and expecting a break in the heat this week, bring it on i say!!

ahh the new raku kiln, i took the angle grinder to the club last tuees night expecting to get this done but ooops had the stone wheel in it so kevin took it away to his workshop to make the alterations for me and heres how it
came back woohoo!!
sawn in 2 with handles and feet!!.. excellent.... i'll be making a firebox the end where you see a hole and the shelves will sit atop that area and full length of the kiln, i have a wire cage that is to have fibre on and it snaps on to the frame work..
now for the flue i was going to have a hole on the end but kevin's done one in the top so i'm sure that will be fine...I have an old fibre flu that can go on the top if need it's going to be pretty much trial and error with this one, but that's the fun right?

i'll get to relining this next week i think as there's no rush still being summer to get this baby firing, i'll keep you updated on it's progress...

and bamboo face is going on the garden fence now that the fence is repaired... it was still 36C deg out there last night when i was painting the panels and only got one panel started but it will be great!! there was rust everywhere so a decent spruce up was needed, kevin cut all the rusty sections off and refit them yesterday...
woohoo a new space for me to do a tile project! I've had that one planned for a while so it's good to see it happening... yey!!!!

so it's 32C at the airport that's about 36C again outside today expecting to hit 38C again, phew!!

and to wind up this lovely journal entry i just read jims interview on connies blog excellent job and just so cool an idea...nice one jim some of your stunning calligraphic work again, ahh brilliant... cheers all stay warm over there! and stay cool here folks...

a great grand 'stuff' up!!!!!

and that's the first time i've re-written a post title.....i'ts not like me to have expletives on my blog so this is not the time to start.....

anywho a customer came to me with a request could you make me 3 new mugs to go with the one i bought last month????? i thought about it considering our 'policy' is we don't do commissions!!!! so why did i say yes???......hhmmmmm.... still not sure why... so here's the drama i made the mugs and had to glaze fire them twice as i wasn't happy with the glaze thickness, so eventually months later here we go, the new mugs went to their new home...

well last month they came back to me, the customer says can i have a chat...sure i say... and out of the basket come these mugs that are apples and pears next to the original...'oh' i say!! and could you remake them, at this point i'm thinking - i'd rather give you your money back than try and replicate this particular cup who's form i have moved on from.... so what did i say????

sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehehe that'll teach me, so my strategy is make 4 the same and send them on their way, taking back the original cup and the new ones....

so here they are in the raw...freshly faceted handles complete with scrolly bits....