a lil bit o ben...

yesterday's market turned out to be not so miserable weather wise as forecast bursts of wind came through the market occasionally but everybody held tight, the rain held of until 3.30pm nearly packup time.. so it was just chilly but a good day..

Raj brought his guitar and i tried to get him to play some chilli peppers but i got a lil ben harper instead ...still cool and fun entertainment for the middle of a slow afternoon..

Rose couldn't resist having a try with the acoustic slide and had go at entertaining our peeps..the freshly made sheeps wool beanies were a hit also on such a chilly day..

Thanks to honey lady our new gazebo cover worked out well..cheers and a shino teapot and bickie barrel are on their way to a new home in western australia.. and to wrap up here's one of my new promo flyers with a 'journey' tile on it...well that's it another exhausting wkd....I did enjoy a lil bit of ben..most cool!

ball season...

A rather large night last night at the convention centre was the helpmann academy's 'Maestros and Apprentices Ball' it's the annual fundraiser that raises money for grants and mentoring of local artists in all sorts of fields. The night is full of performances and loads of art.. I was very impressed with the bidding system for the silent auction which is where Ali and myself had work along with Erin and Sunshine, Sam and Wayne and Klaus all ceramics...

funny thing ali and i were doing our second round of looks at the works we found my tiles on a back wall and i said oh 'pity about the lighting' then they flicked the spots on after a performance had finished on stage! oh thats better but a bit bright!! ha funny night! I said to ali 'that guy looks just like scott hicks'.. the film director she said 'that is scott hicks he's on the board'...HA! apparently the premier was there i didnt see him and lots of familiar faces just not sure where i know them from..anyhoo back to the system you could text through bids or use the computers provided and all the items flicked through rather fast on an LCD screen back stage and up on the big screens too along with artists work..one of my wall tiles went for $300, along with a teaset, we put artists prices on the work the helpmann academy add their markup and thats the reserve anything over that is all bonus to the academy..

There was also a commissioned work auction in which some lovely glass work went for $11,000..and a massive metal sculpture for $6000.. So it was a fun night not much schmoozing done but a great idea of what happens at this function, congrats to all the artists and performers their was a choral group on when we arrived, lots of 'angels' around the room, dancers, a centre acrobatic act and jazz group.....some really cool stuff well worth the $200 ticket that folks paid for a sit down dinner and big evening..

well happy wkd all i have lots of studio catchup to do and a packed wkd it's market tomorrow forecast rain and wind and today is sunny and gorgeous 'what fun'!!

smack responsive...

So here's the very delicate MFQ 3 pulls and you're out clay body...very squiggy kinda 'smack responsive' like porcelain but not.. After cracking the bag today i thought it may be a tad firm but it shouldn't have been as i had it well wrapped and damped down...so to explain my smack responsive, you know how some clays the more you work them the softer it becomes, well that's MFQ short for mid fire quartz. I really wanted to get in into the soda fire and see how it responds even if i am torturing my throwing style and my hands.. I'll clean them up tomorrow and then onto the tall mugs.. i think that will be plenty for the test fire and soon, the wood is cut and stacked and i'll be mixing it up with wood and gas firing.. happy wkd all

more cuppage...

With some lovely sunshine today it was warm enough to get out into the studio and do some more gnarly handles..
After reading Joy Tanners blog today about using different clay bodies in the soda firing i'm thinking i'll try the light grey stoneware body i use for the shino in there too..
I've been enjoying a tall tea mug from Doug that i used in his workshop and will do some inspired by its tallness!!
And just to mix it up i'll do some porcelain bowls and try some MFQ also a very fussy clay! 3 pulls and your out basically but i want to see the surface soda fired so it's a must..

So now onto some housekeeping you can see how chockers the studio space is at the mo, everytime i have a tidy up i seem to inherit new things and fill up the space again..so bring on the long weekend for some major changes! And a big thanks to kevin for the new shelves and the lovely stove to keep me warm..

So on to the Venco wheel, this one came with an assurity that it worked but it didn't.. i've changed the cable so at least it turns on now but the problem is that the drive wheel doesn't touch the cone properly.. the motor is held in place by a pulley system and a spring helps hold the motor in place so it just needs adjusting i suppose.. Anybody got any thoughts on how i might rectify this??

got the pp...

So i'm putting some images together for a disc to send out to galleries and on my desktop there are so many files with 'pp' in their name...I find myself taking heaps of images and the culling is a task in itself. So hopefully I've captured a good likeness of my current work..
I think a light box will be a great tool for the future but i do see images out there that inspire me...work in context or setting that enhances the piece rather than a 'studio setting'... take keith over at mudstuffing sketchbook for example the images are always stunning and enticing because of the additions..

Anyhoo we've booked in our 'commissioning firing' begins for the kilns next month, we have a certain amount of time to get the bugs out and work out our firing control before the kilns get passed and we get the paperwork through the official channels.. 19th June is now our set date so get cracking fellow clubees, lots of small works needed to fill our kiln.. Some rather humourous kiln names were suggested tonight the funniest of course the nastiest! So named or not its getting close and will be another milestone for us we've been waiting a very long time to get this one going. I think a rather large barbie and a celebration will be happening..

up on the roof...

Wow, has it been a week...? been rather busy and not much time for blogging this past week, so here's todays effort! A little roof climbing and enjoying the view.....well getting the flues up more like. Kevin the usual trooper that he is had everything organized and between he and Ross the flues were up quick smart!

The mini kiln now nick named K9 has its new canopy courtesy of kevin too... he's your man when it comes to welding! Sandy and Jess got a barbie together and quite a saturday lunch was up today... I also had a lovely time 'up on the roof'.. I've always enjoyed getting on the roof, there's something about the view that's rather cool... I thought we might be able to see the new football oval and club from up there but not.. the trees are a good screen for everything really... So today's throwing efforts are some more mugs for the test soda firing with the chunky handles i think and thats about it, off early for the mothers day classic run in the morning and lovely weather for the day too, 'happy mothers day' all...

gnarly and facetted...

some of the larger cups i threw last week were a little overscaled for my normal handles, so after some oversize extrusions, some added sprigs and quite some facetting here they are...rather gnarly looking bonelike handles...

In case you're wondering i'm making some collections for a test cone 6 soda firing in my experimental kiln.. I'm planning for a couple of weeks time so a bit of throwing to happen between now and then..

and the SA Ceramics Award applications close this friday
so i hope to get another cone 6 firing through to have some more tiles to add for my application...

I had a great time hanging out at the club today with anna and jess, the common space between us and next door is getting a sorely needed makeover before our new neighbours move in, we are about to be joined by a local scout group so hopefully they turn out to be handy we could use some more lil kiln builders!

So i'm mid studio reshuffle with new shelves going up and a big move around today so the place is chaos at the mo, as soon as I'm setup i'll give you a tour.. I'm always short on shelf space and work tends to fill every surface when i'm glazing or decorating so a few new racks will come in handy and yes kevin has plenty to go around rose and ali and prob some spares leftover too.. lots happening as per usual wkds are never quiet, happy week all and 'seize the clay'..hehehhe..

altered and squished...

howdy all, just a short note tonight... some new bowls 1/2 lb and 1lb some altered and squished which i think i prefer and some quick marks for glaze catching..

rose, ali and myself had a lovely lunch at ali's this week.. after being sent in circles by the sat-nav I finally found ali's place, slightly dizzy but A ok...
we feasted on the deck watching the galahs do likewise and sighting the rain falling and a momentary rainbow, rather nice...
cheers all have a great wkd..