studioless....

It feels like confession time.... A very long time away from my studio and so much to do but it's way too  cold out there now for me to even entertain it, it's been a revolting winter of viruses I've had one after the other and 2 weeks ago ended up in hospital with pneumonia .. many drugs later and it's back....grrrrr another X-ray yesterday didn't look terribly attractive at all so more antibiotics this week and hopefully this dose kicks it right out of my system, at least that's what I'm hoping for... anyhoo here's a wee photo journal of what I've been up to in the middle of this and feeling ok times..

last month's market and I don't think it rained!! yey... great music again and great peeps!

last month firing in big momma... a few casualties but also some good results!! note to self put c10 glazes on bottom 2 shelves...

and these guys arrived yesterday my new postcards :))

and a couple of pics thanks anna for sending these results from the firing ...the wadding worked well all be it a lot for the tagine I think there was about 30 wads underneath and another 20ish wads supporting the lid...

 very happy with the fuming from the kiln more pics soon...

july pt2

Surprising? yes .. I have made post number 2 for July and only because of a self imposed sick day off yet again.. but so happy to have time out to shoot these pots today and a big thankyou to my bud Derek for the loan of his 50mm lens, what a treat!!

another treat some leopard spotted shino I've only seen this a few times in my kiln...

onto some testing with my dk celedon under peters NZ chun..

chun over nuka

nuka, chun, dk celedon, chun layering

some ash flying around in the kiln settled here

a couple of filler mugs 2 shino and slip deco

 funery urn for a friend

and test #1 of the tagines, the wadding went over the glaze in a couple of places so i'll have to watch that next firing... just a tad of grinding to do now :P  this one holds 1.5 ltrs so the larger based tagine #2 is going to be about the right size...

 and oops rescued a bowl with finger wipes after it slipped out of my hands during glazing

more shino bowls.... I am finding it hard to part with some of these but they must go into SALA I need to sell some pots, can't keep them all for myself now can I????

july pt1

I may be getting slightly ahead of myself........ or for that matter optimistic of the fact that I may get to post again before the month is out!!

but here tis part 1, so many things on the go and just about nothing is drying...I have another large pot drying at the club incredibly slowly and waiting for a single fire with some ash glaze..

Others I started but haven't been able to finish so they ended up in the scrap recycling heap and look like this right about now..

On the commission front I'm working on ceramic jewellery, some mugs and the tagines also drying v slowly..

I consider this post more of a photo essay of process... as there's a lot going wrong and a lot having to be recycled and I prefer to let the images be proof of journaling right now.

oooh and ran out of red clay on saturday but more coming soon so I can get back to filling the gas kiln again, the last pieces were recieved well and the marbling has gone down a hoot! which is always lovely, so back to heaps more throwing and slipping for me... SALA is up next month so by the end of this one I need to select some works for exhibitions and squeeze in a gas firing for some more shinos...woohoo

all in can't wait for part 2, there should be some things finished :))

journal for june...

Studio time is a must right now even in the cold and damp of winter a tiny bar heater keeps me cozy out there! One day soon my stove will be hooked up with its chimney and so nice it will be to spend hours and hours outside...

 Saturday I dared put my hands in the chilly water to begin the Tagine throwing ... my first effort the other day had been all new testing ground and the initial atempt wound up on my plaster bat on the floor, too much stress and not enough clay... so this wkd I thought make some changes chief!! and the day was more successful...

 So as it stands the first couple are 8lbs of clay per base and 8lbs per top made from my recycled body, a combination of clayworks SWE, some terracotta, some LGH and some local dirt too!! added to one large polystyrene container plus 2litres of fine grog and topped up with water to make a fine sturry stir for a couple of weeks and when sloppy scooped out onto the plaster bat...

 The lids have a little Doug Fitch influence the top narrow neck is thrown seperately and added. Atop this a small bowl is added to finish off the neck of the lid.... plus another video inspired addition by Cynthia Bringle! i think she made some goblets with a tiny bowl insert ...a brilliant idea so I thought i'd give that one a try too... The bases are 34cm wide at wet stage rim to rim and I'm still not sure how much they hold ?? will have to wait until the firing to know exactly....anyhoo a couple of firings in the pipeline right now and some pics to go on with from the market yesterday and the Tangines in progress...

finally it has happened...the pics

So finally yesterday I got the time to photograph my latest pieces they were fired in the gas kiln to the top end of earthenware and I possibly overcooked the bottom shelves there were quite a few bubbly pieces down there..

Heres a few of my fav pics, I'm very happy with the Aqua and the Blue but the Honey and the Pink glazes need more intensity...

It's been a tad crazy here either my job is flat out or there's nothing happening so the last month has been all over the place and virtually no studio time with painting my house in the middle of it all that was 2 very packed weeks just finished! but this week back to it I have some 3 Litre Tagines to test run and some more big pots to make for SALA in August... the second of which got a start today and I'm thinking of revisiting my rope form pot building..It's a great technique you just need all the structure inside constructed then wrap it with rope or the like then the whole clay addition takes about a couple of hours and your done!! If i go that way i will document it :))

So here they are some sweet pots the beginnings of an earthenware range for me lots of dots and lines and some quite gnarly marbling of sorts... anyhow happy wkd all!! and see the beginning of this work on my weebly page