my arch nemisis...

Ahhhh the vilhlan of the week, well he's one of them..

I'm not entirely sure of their numbers as they appear singularly in certain places around the garden ...you hear a swish and another and look very carefully coz they know when your looking and freeze frame, blend with their backgrounds unless they hiding amongst the succulents and then nothing blends with pink flowers really..

 We... being this guy and I had a mexican standoff the other day, I know totally irrational but he started this.. midday he decided my doorway into the studio was the best place to listen to the new tunes i'd imported into my playlist...I mean totally across the doorway! so he's about 25cm tip to toe and wasn't budging one bit and i'm standing there waiting patiently for him to move so I can go into the studio and turn off the kiln...I would have been happy walking away and wait for him to move but there's the kiln to turn off, it is manual not tricky ramp controller for me.. but nope we had our stand off and no body was gonna win this one.... have I mentioned my reptile phobia??? I always seem to be home alone when the brown snakes come calling.... ahhhh the only appropriate action is to jump on a chair and make noises like arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggg!!!
Dang fiends!! so me and the fella sized each other up and I climbed across and over the clay recycling station to get passed the critter, sent a few bits tumbling off the shelves on my way and made it to the other side heart racing and all... So kiln turned off and he then decides to scamper outside very slowly that is.... which is when I snapped these I'm amazed they aren't blurry...

anyhoo some freshly thrown knobbly pots, a stash of dishes and quite a few tumblers.... I have plans for most of them, lil birdie range replacements, my usually coloured range of cups and teapots and a few experimental plates and dishes for printing on and all sorts of glaze layering...

love these speakers!! music has never sounded so good plus I found some ol tracks on the now ancient dome imac -  the womens choir from 'Paradise Road' and some great ol jazz tunes and well now they are joined by some ol favs of mine, some prince, suzanne vega, paul wellar, van morrison and just a whole bunch of cds that i dont play anymore, its gonna be one solid itunes playlist!

So yesterday Market Day at Stirling was lovely the weather was amazing, started out cool but mid 20's and a gorgeous day out with friends. Loads of vistors and return customers, always great!

 and to finish the day off quietly at Roses a nice couple of drinks on the verandah over looking the hills with only a few shots ringing in the distance scaring the bids off the local apple crops...
I needed a shush end to the wkd after the 'doof doof' celebrations from my neighbours all of saturday, well it was 'australia day' and celebrations are in order but by the end of it was totally done in!

So today I cracked the bisque kiln and trying out 2 new clays in this batch clayworks cone 6 white and TMK which gave me an awful rash up both arms after a crazy friday of making in the studio but i'll give it another go and see if some barrier cream might help after all it is lovely and creamy, it's a porcelainous stoneware body, very white and quite nice to throw with but let's see if we can get along and cant wait to see the glaze responses for both of them..

Loads of teapots and their cups in this lot and some tiles which gives me quite a lot to get going on this week.. and this is our poor back of the shop stall, looked a bit ragged so I'm on the hunt for an old table, found some legs and just need a top :))

And just to finish off these pieces are now loaded for another bisque another good start to the week... and on my fixit it list the pool filter has decided to keep leaking after my patch up job, just like the pool guy said the water will look for the weakest point to escape...  so i'll give that another go tomorrow and hopefully it will last a bit longer before a new one is required..

the naked teapot...

 Just a lil teapot vid from today with help from Kate Nash and Gotye they're all snuggly under plastic for a couple of days to dry out nice and slow.. I have a plan not a great one but a plan to get into some traditional shapes alongside my funky forms and cups to go with the like... there that should keep me busy for quite a while.

slipping into 2013...

so my weeby site is dipping its toes into 2013 and when this heat subsides a tad I'll be dipping my hands in a bucket of reddy brown water and making more slipware. I think your kitchen will celebrate well with all these lovely fresh earthenware pots. And who knows the new forms that will come out of this years studio..

the new breed...

This skreaching hot weather and the holidays of course have allowed some more photoshoot time...So a few favs from the last couple of firings made it to the table..today my website is up to date

And the very much needed updating of websites too, if only I could consistently figure out the thumbnails in wordpress, anyone else using elegant themes? It uses TimThumb to resize the image and I have the custom fields info but there is something else I just cant sort out, I'm sure it has to do with the url for the image, let me know if you can assist :))..

My Weebly Page will be next for the earthenware images, I'm really starting to get a feel for glazing these pieces now. When I look back a couple of years ago they were disasterous pieces I was making and getting a glaze to look great has been quite a journey. But happy now and have some lines of discovery still with these pieces and getting beyond making the bowl into other forms is the next challenge..

studio makeunder...

I have floor!!!

 wow I didn't think this would take 3 days, I have cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again.. I have totally reworked how the space happens..except for my throwing station I like that spot. Still tossing up a notion of sealing the floor as I sure a tonne of the dust is the concrete.

finished wares now are all up the top end, as are the market boxes and tables.
my old damp cbd that I'd stopped using but the mice hadn't! will now be bisque ware storage plus left over shino pots waiting to be fired.

oooh vermin...nothing like a few carcases and nothin like a bit of bleach!!

the shelves stayed!

 I've swung the bench around hoping to have better access to everything and for the odd workshop at least I can use both sides.

tool rack...

 I must say my new best friend is the cordless drill/screwdriver with pop out tools parts, just love it although my elbow has had enough today.. So i wouldn't make much of a trady!

main throwing station...

oh so organised...

labelled even...

oops still a mess...

wheels and prop crate..

 One of my bug bears is the prop dept. they end up all over the floor commit hari kari off any shelf they sit on, so castors on an old crate has fixed that!

the beast!

glazes sorted by cones

 All of my glazes are now together and i'll be able to see what to toss down the track and the main users are on the bottom shelf for ease of access..

shelvage remained..

Love these, i think we made this last year, the old ware boards up a ladder trick..

pies de resistance 

 and my old trolley got pulled apart and turned into a ware board rack, I dont use them a lot these days but sometimes when the clay is to soft they come in handy and especially for the larger works too.

half of my old shelf unit..

and finally refitting of my old shelvage unit it was going up high next to the other one but then I realised I couldn't reach anything!! After discovering it came in 2 parts, half has ended up here for some light things and the other half might end up outside near the pugging station..

Really who would have thought 3 days but it really took some time figuring it all out and I really haven't tossed that much but I'm sure it will come later.. or when there's room in the bin :P