I've Finally reached the Dark side of the moon!

I'm back on the Blog again and Why?
Because The Chinese have landed on the dark side of the moon?
No, because I have time, time to stop and think,
time to look back and reflect, and more importantly time
to plan ahead!
If you want to reach your ultimate goal
You need to plan ahead.
We love planning the year ahead, because we love to know how the year is going to pan out. (well that's the idea! )
We actually bought our 2019 year planner and diary back
in September last year!

Our biggest decisions have been:

A: Not to go on holiday for 10 day's
B: Not to apply for any of the big shows
C: Buy some more wheels for the school room
D: To offer a brand new service ( details to follow )
E: Write a diary throughout the year of our showroom

The reasoning for the above list
The last few holidays we've been on haven't quite gone to plan and we both said we could have explored more local areas and spent more time in our own home, which this year needs some new windows ( handmade of course ) and a new boiler! £££

The big shows are great but I get so uptight on the build up, that my simple pots are not good enough
that for us we have to make the harsh reality of adding up all the costs and deciding that yes we make money and yes we get to meet great customers, but we might just save a few bob.

Our school room continues to thrive with so many people coming for our lessons that have been recommended by friends. a small increase in spaces available will enable us to fulfill the ever increasing booking list.

I'm quietly excited about our new venture for 2019. We have close links with the interiors world as it's an area I spent most of my working life in before we started the pottery and it's putting that knowledge to the test that's going to be exciting!

And lastly I'm going to keep a diary on the showroom because we get such a mix of people through the door from the highly knowledgeable about ceramics to the utterly stupid

 " I can't believe their Human " How do they function type of people!

 and every time I go on a rant about them on my Facebook page the response is comforting.

So there's some mileage in that and at the same time it get's the frustration out!

But most of all I'm looking forward to making some very nice pots

Having more fun and feeling under less pressure!

Come on Visitors

I'm ready for you this Year!

Cue Pink Floyd

Barrington Pottery 10 Years in the making!

This Year Barrington Pottery will become

10 Years old

It's been an incredible journey with some amazing

highlights, but it's not been easy!

I'm going to be selecting links to some of my Early Blogs to give a flavour

of where it all started.

I started with absolutely no money to back me up

and so to survive each month has been a challenge

that some months took me to the brink,

but a determination to succeed has led me to dig deeper

into my inner soul than I had ever thought possible.

I've been reading some of my early blog posts and I have been surprised

as to how open and candid I have been in the past about my thoughts.

It has led me to realise that the openness was something that I liked

and is what made the blog in the early days such an intriguing insight.

My first attempt at becoming a potter back in the early 1980's

failed due to ME,

 I can't blame anyone else, I was too young and inexperienced as simple as that!

It's amazing what a sheer determination to survive can do for you

combined with 24 years of experience in the contract sales market

that I have been able to use along the way this time around.

So here is the first of a series of blog links

that for me mark the milestones of my journey.

Thank You

Here is a link to the blog showing my first showroom in the back garden of our cottage.

https://paulthepotter.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/how-to-build-showroom.html#links

Pottery is the New Yoga?

Earlier in the year one of my daughters sent me a link

to an article in Vogue magazine which stated

"Pottery is the New Yoga"

I can fully understand where this comes from as so many people that attend

our twice weekly taster sessions tell me it takes the mind away from

anything else they have going on!

it's a place to escape from the day to day life stresses.

So where does that leave Me?

To me the day to day stresses are the Pottery!

I have to find some other place to escape and for me it is my computer

it all seems a very backward world sometimes.

At the start of the year I stated that I was going to make large pots

in 2018 and to expect more from me!

Well it's been a bit of a mixed bag if i'm totally honest.

Teapots are new from me and I've enjoyed making them

and the response has been unbelievable.

As a warm up to a day's throwing I've been making small quantities of

my small sauce pots and ramekins

as these are regular sellers in the showroom. 

The jug here I think is one of my best ever!

it's nice when you look at a pot and it hits all the spots for yourself

it's a rare moment. 

 I have started on making bigger pots, Much Bigger

It may not look elegant at this point, but it is great to be challenging myself

to go bigger, It's all about self belief and that's my biggest hurdle.

I've been far more open to trying new things this year with  mixed results

This just didn't quite work for me, but someone asked if they could buy it!

But I know it didn't come out as I wanted!

How many of us have sold pots that we feel that about?

I probably shouldn't ask that! 

The standard stock items haven't gone away and luckily for me 

they continue to sell, but then they have remained at the same price

 for the last 6 years Time to put the price up?

My bigger jugs came out nice and in previous years I've held pots

back to sell at Earth & Fire and then not sold them at the show!

so this year people have asked to buy them and they have gone

to new homes.

Don't worry I'm making some more this week to take to the shows.

 Marion's Sgraffito work on my harvest jugs has been a great addition

 this year and I do enjoy making these little jugs.

 I wanted a plain big serving dish for the table at home.

 and This is what country pottery is all about for me

 This 18" wide dish now sits on our kitchen table at home

 On the bigger theme I've made some bread crocks

and had reclaimed oak lids made for them

but I have had very little interest in them!

Sometimes ideas work and fly off the shelf and sometimes

they sit around forever just waiting for the right person to walk into the showroom.

If pottery is the new Yoga

then this is one of those positions you don't 

do very often!

Thank You for catching up and have a great week!

Paul

This Year I'm going to confront all of my Inner Demons and actually Make Stuff.

At the start of each New Year

I like to take time out to reflect on what's just happened

and what I want to achieve for the Year ahead.

For the past two years I've been telling myself

"I Want to Make Bigger Pots"

I've made a few, but nowhere near as many as I am capable of.

My Biggest obstacle is

 Me, Myself, I.

I suffer from self doubt on an industrial scale, and it's this self doubt

that stops me from making bigger pots all the time.

Well I'd better look out!

because this year I have found an antidote to Me, Myself. I

In the words of this Performance of Titanium by the

Postmodern Jukebox

This Year I'm going to be made of 

Titanium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3iL596QKII

( it works for me OK )

So in 2018 expect more from Me

more than I have ever achieved before,

This New Found inner strength

couldn't have come at a better time! 

Why I hear You ask ?

About Bloody Time I hear Marion Cry!

2018 will be 10 years since

 I started Barrington Pottery

Ten very hard years in which I have learnt so much about human nature.

I've met some amazing people along the way.

I'd like to think I've surprised a few of them,

and some have been kind enough to tell me I've

inspired them which is amazing.

More to come on My Tenth Year later this month.

Here are a few pots that hit the spot for me in 2017

These nest of what I describe as swan jugs had the most likes of any

of my pots on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/paulthepotter/

and having my jug pictured in a group that includes

Nic Collins and Lisa Hammond was a real treat.

 So have yourselves a very pleasant New Year

take it easy and party hard.

I look forward to sharing some great pots with you

in 2018

I'm Certainly up for it!