rather twee...

 

Here's some new lil fellas i've been making to go with the tiny teapots...everyone is drying out nicely soon there'll be teapots galore all fired...

 I may make a mold for these guys not being much of a hand builder they are rather fiddly, we'll see how they come out of the kiln size wise, I may have to start again or turn them into short black cups, they are rather twee...

and look what came in the post today... stamp stamp stamp.... should be fun writing some tricky messages on some forms....mmmm brain is working overtime should just have a play really...


cheers all, it's mid week time and the Clay an Blogs show opens Fri night, I'm looking forward to the reports back and lots of pics... :))

say cheese...

Yep I'm still here... and after an extremely slow start to the day I made it in to the Central Market today on the sheeps cheese hunt!! and luckily 'say cheese' has expanded and they now have 2 stalls with cheese from all around the world and taste testing mmm.. So i came home with some lovely camembert type and some tastey 6 month old cheese that i can't pronounce let alone spell...so that should keep me for a week or so...

 the last 2 weeks have been absolutely insane workwise.. I've had very little studio time and even less blog time so catching up will take me a while... oh and the teapot plugs i pinched off Mr Kline the lids had started to flatten out so i blew them up and plugged the spout!!

The mixture of my local clay and my fav blend are so easy to work with the only drawback being that the sand comes to the surface when sponged but a little burnishing should fix that...and some repair work to be done as i nearly cut the base off one of them the only reason for the repair job is i really want to see the 3 different blends all glazed up to determine which body to move forward with..

 So last friday i snatched some studio time and luckily all the teapots have been well covered and are still fine for attaching and i managed to finish a couple today and get the cup order finished too.. these guys all get different handle treatments which was a challenge for my very tired brain i think they 'll be cool when fired up they will be black satin c6 glaze and a bargain deal as i'm doing a dozen of them..

Anyhoo recovery from the city to bay was fairly quick just one day of sore joints...Sis and i and the rest of the team raised some funds for her hospital this year and it was a treat to be spoilt to breaky at the bay too.. cheers sis!! I did about the same time as last year with a major bonus of not needing any respiratory help yey!! It seems this whole diet change thing is working...and well worth it to get these kinda results!! so all i need to fix now is those stupid earplugs that keep falling out...i ask ya how can a peep run with no tunes??!!! cheers all have a super wkd...

the clay and blogs show...

Well it's sneak peek time for The Clay and Blogs Telling a Story exhibition.. and for those of us far away and won't make it to the show itself here ya go..
My tiles that got sent on their way O/S nearly 2 weeks ago now, I hope they arrived safely... I apologise for the icky lighting.. I took these images, so evidently on my list a nice overhead soft light for next year, maybe i should do it now while i'm in shopping spree mode, found a cute lil printer online this week and since the old lazer printer is being a drama queen it seemed appropriate and timely for some of those flyers i'll be printing above..

More teapots are on the go this week in between you know the other job and studio time its been tight this week..  Some groovy lil handbuilt cups came together this week too for christmas season, all the markets and shows are starting to line up including The Art at the Hart 2010 which i'm doing with my buds Ali and Rose this year..

I wish i could have sent larger works for this show but the grant didn't come through this time!! but next time who knows... grant land is a totally different world and hopefully i've learned some of the ropes now :)) 

Click on the images for a closer look.. 

My lil flyer will be going out soon and don't forget to have a look at the online portion of this show click on the red button in my sidebar... Works from around the globe and wow what a collection this would make!!

you know sometimes...

  my sweet old keyboard comes in so handy when the batteries die in the wireless, then i get so accustomed to the touch of the keyboard i really dont want to change back!! but then there's this whole wire thing attached to it.... anyhoo the teapots were calling me for handles today and i did get part of the way there.. after wiping all of the cups clean and tidy now.. and all the handles are checked and still attached...yey 

I like these guys so much character... they look like they could just scoot their way around a dance floor.. a few left for tuesday night to handle and slowly dry for the firing..

I was having a squiz through my folder of images for this year and it's hard to believe so much has happened, a great prolific time in my studio and no wonder i only have 20 bags of my fav clay left!!.... cheers all, have a super wkd

cups away.....

My fav pic with the cup all lined up 33 of them, I went through the base of the first one trimming... which i threw last sunday afternoon..

I was waiting to go out for a run after lunch but it just wouldn't stop raining... so as the moment took me i kept throwing and 34 cups later I was getting the feel for 4 dif shapes...across this week as they have dried I thought about how to handle them, they were always going to be large handles and I did consider a whole loop of clay but it just stood too far out from the form.. the answer take a slice out of the middle.. that break in the clay is a familiar handle and i like it more on some than others...

we'll see after the firing! these will be B7 my white standard glaze c9 and shino of course some of the dark clay will get slipped inside for some variation and maybe a dark slip inside some of the white ones!! who knows who i'll be channeling when the slipping time comes?? :))

While I'm waiting for some large images to upload just thought i'd share my lunchtime soup recipe..

The images are fairly large so a click should show you the real picture!

Curried Pumpkin Soup

1/2 large butternut pumpkin saute in a little oil first
4 potatoes
about 1.5 litres water
2 ts chicken stock powder
D spoon ginger
D spoon of curry powder I use madras
ground black pepper and salt to taste


Cook on down until veg are tender, taste test and season accordingly and remove from heat.. while that's cooling I cook up some flat rice noodles 4 mins should do it in boiling water..remove and wash in cold water..
Wiz down the soup with a hand held blender and add the noodles..

And as you can see everything is under plastic i have about 10 teapots on the go plus all these cups drying the handles off slowly and 2 commissions waiting mmm better get to it!!

I'm also waiting eagerly so hear if my package has arrived at the blog show, The Campbell Gallery NC....hmmm should be there Monday i hope :))

the good, the bad and the ugly...

well that needs a little explanation... more good than bad going on in the studio and in the kiln!!

 

the teapots have taken me longer than usual this time and luckily its been so cold and wet that they are still workable.. the smaller ones are spouted and the lids ready to trim, that's on todays list after I pack up a box to send over to Pauls place at Barrington where apparently wheel barrow races were the thing last wkd..

  

the local clay mix survived the bisque no dramas at all and I've decided to put them straight into a gas firing c9 with extra shelf bits underneath in case of melt down.. 

Ahh the muggage some super large handles as per request form the Urban Cow Studio in town...prob the largest handles I've ever made!! with some printed animalia ooh and some knaves knees..

The jug below is my fav along with another mug that has all runny bits in the glaze...mmm

 

and what would one of my tile firings be without some cracks right through the centre of 2 big tiles.. on looking closely at the clay body it's much finer than the BRT so next test will be to add some grog and see if i can still use this body... I do like the white slip on it but if it doesn't comply out she goes!!

 

and quite possibly the ugliest of all wart mug!!

I'm thinking either the clay is too fresh and maybe i'll try pugging some to see if it improves, it doesn't happen on every piece but it is frustrating..

anyhoo off to get to the studio and post office today, we'll see what the damage is...Ha!