tea party cups...

I'll be throwing my very own teaparty with these cups!!

This is take 2 of the monster cups the sliplines turned out great but i got quite a bit of movement with the clay and the post fired cups are now ovals not round... so here's take 2 with a different clay body and fingers crossed that the handles aren't too heavy.. and a few drawings from the wkd i'm slowly getting the hang of spending more time in the sketchbook again :))



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

the tools of the trade...

 my new toys!!!

I honestly can't remember if i've written about this before...so if i have excuse me!! :))

This tool list appeared in my lap one day and i thought... well there's no prices on it and no brand names so whats the story??
It turned out to be a workshop of wonders as I stepped inside this old iron clad shed i couldn't help but smile i took pictures (above) and heaps of them.. wrote down all the details and got as much history as I could..
It turned out the old gentleman now passed away had been a market gardener and quite the inventor as such a job requires..You should have seen this place, a gantry for carrying out large works to the kiln and a place for everything and everything in its place...
Even the atmospheric fluro light that hummed away was inspiration for this Alladin's cave.. I brought all my notes and images to Kevin 'el Club Superman extraordinare' and said what do you think?
I brought home 2 extruders with more attachments than I know what to do with, a de-airing pugmill all home made....a bunch of glaze materials, some cones and a few tools including a cheese slicer or 3 that i've been hunting down for ages! Left behind an electric kiln and a gas kiln that i'm still trying to find a home for..
It's such a mass of heavy metal pieces but put together with great thoughtfulness I can't help but love this stuff and love that it gets to have another life at my place....and after some repair work all these pieces will go on working for years.....as cumbersome as they are they make me smile :)) now what colour shall i paint the pugmill??

the writing is on the table...

Note taking not in my journal is prob not a good idea really but who's gonna stop me writing on my table eh!!??

This is for a couple of knob n alls, one chopstick high by 1/2 chopstick wide excellent measurements i just forgot to allow for the trimming of the join of the lid to pot....oooops... just under 51bs

zoom in for some MK inspirational pics on the fridge of lidded forms mmmm lovely stuff...

I'm just in from the club space... we had a photo shoot out there at  lunch time to add some visuals to a strategic planning document for our city, mostly of us pretending to work HA! and for some reason the photographer didn't want me drinking tea i told him "it's what we do mostly here!!".... 

some funny pics should appear on Annas blog i hope... a highlight for the day belindas terracotta sculpture of a circle of friends "The Village People" style....sorry no pics they'd have to be bleeped out ;)

 It was stinking hot out there today it's very humid and we have evap air in the space so just a case of cranking up the airflow and getting very schvetty!!! anyhoo work glazed and 2 kilns loaded and firing tomorrow when it should be much cooler...yey 

 A few warm up pots from this week... and trying new things with plates i really like breaking the rim with lifts and squishes... it happened by accident one day when i was cutting through with my wire and i've been trying to get that same style mark ever since... more throwing tonight as the weather cools down and i've been breaking out a porcelainous stoneware body so easy to work with and note to self to get more in my next clay order, it's lovely....so these pieces are all loaded in the kiln and catch you at the club if your so inspired tomorrow...

MILK...

 

Milk has opened in the exhibition space at the urban cow, some really cool illustrations on mdf wood and an experimental look into ceramics slipcast milk bottle milk cartons and beakers...the illustrations are strong and we'd love to see them on the clay too...Anna and I had a quick chat with Fruzsi last night who's one chicky show is on til 27th Feb her illustrations are really cool and the invite image is what grabbed me to go see the show... Fruzsi Kenez Milk at the Urban Cow Studio

We of course did the o·blig·a·to·ry schmooze in the ceramics space just to check out whats new and who's up to what...lovely stuff!!

mini me...

hey they survived x2 42 degree days and a 35deg day under placky with a very hot wet towel saturated several times during the day and more layers of placky.. 

this is a 1 1/2 pounder next to 4 1/2 pounder.  Mini me...

I may need to check the height of these guys I'm using the trusty chopstick as measuring tool lets see what the shrinkage is!!