Bless My Soles

with all the recent wet weather around here I have finally had enough

of getting wet feet, So I have decided to kick my Potting shoes into touch.

I knew they were nearing their end, when at a recent party

Trevor started to feed them peanuts in the holes in the front.

I have been looking for a new pair for a while now but just can't seem to find a pair for my budgeted price of £20.

But clearing out a cupboard at home the other day I found this old pair of trainers

I bought two years ago for £15 in a sale.

They look ridiculously white at the moment but they do put a spring in the step and keep the toes dry, so for now these will do.

New Kiln Load

For some reason whenever I get into the workshop to open the kiln

the temperature is always 44 oc.

This is the controller I have on my Electric Kiln.

I thought That for the first Time I would take pictures of each shelf

when I have just opened the kiln

This is the top shelf.

This is the second Shelf.
and this is the bottom of the Kiln.

This small bowl is a test. I mixed my ash Glaze 50/50 with my light glaze.

This is a close up.

What a fantastic glaze I love it.

I had to stop a customer from buying this pot later in the day.

I sold them another one instead.

This is one of the jugs from the bottom of the kiln.

and this is a close up of the slip decoration.

and this lidded jar also came out.

Gloomy - But Only the Weather

Anybody that spends a large amount of time in England

gets used to the Odd Weather patterns in any one day.

This month seems to have been unusually weird.

According to the Weather forecasters this was supposed to be a scorcher of a Summer
But as these pictures show it's been a bit gloomy.
But that's only the weather everything pottery related is going very well at the moment
certainly the visitor numbers have picked up and so have the sales.

Somerset Art Weeks Literature has Arrived

Yesterday I had my delivery of Art week Literature

This is the Poster

This is the front cover of the Brochure

and this is My Page entry in the Brochure

and this is the local map

This is the first time I have done something like this so it's exciting stuff.

I'm not quite sure what's going on ?

Over the past couple of weeks I must have been asked at least four times to make pots without any Glaze on them !

This means fitting them into the Glaze firing but without a glaze on them.

I've been using them a bit like saggers as you can see

in this picture of the second shelf in the kiln.

This was an order it's about 15" wide and 4" tall

I really quite like the pattern this has created. if I was at college it's the sort of thing that would have sent me off in a tangent playing around with the Idea.

And I have also been asked to make some unglazed cooking pots
These will get better and better the more they are used apparently soaking up the oils and juices seals them over time.
I can understand the logic but to be on the safe side I made an extra one for
us to use at home so we can see what happens.
This small Harvest Jug also came out of the Kiln
and was sold within the Hour, luckily I had just taken this picture.

wet slip

The weather is awful today

but I've had the kiln firing last night so the workshop

is the warmest place in Barrington Court today.

I've been slip decorating some big jugs and Pugging clay all morning.
I just love wet slip.

and this is an arty shot of a wheat field I took the other day whilst out walking Caddy.

More new pots from the Kiln tomorrow.

Root - Card - Jugs ...

As ever things are busy down at the workshop

at One point today I had three people queuing up to buy pots.

The last part of Chestnut Avenue was taken away today

watching these guys work is like watching a ballet

such elegant movements followed by the odd thud!

All of the School Kids dropped into my workshop today for a surprise visit.

They had made me a great big Thank You card.
and some big jugs were thrown today
these are 6lbs and about 12" tall

I have found that if I leave them to stand for 30 minuets and then pull the lip I get a much crisper lip.

and this evening has been a round of meetings and discussion's regarding Somerset Art Weeks.

Oh and it's Marions Birthday on Tuesday.

Busy ,Busy ,Busy.

I've been so busy at the workshop at the moment I'm afraid my blogging has suffered a bit

I did try to catch up with everyone last Wednesday, I would have loved to have caught up with Dan Finnigan and Matt Grimmit last week for a pint in Conderton but Marion didn't get home till 7pm so we just ran out of time.

I've had two groups of 6 local school kids in the workshop aged between 7 -9

I showed them the whole process of pottery making and then let them loose with some clay for 40 minuets.
They all did very well but this was my favorite
he told me it's a car going along a road through a tunnel and over a bridge.
Oh and that's a dead deer!.
I think there must be an interesting story behind that, but I did not want to pry.

Marion has been growing all sorts of veg this year and we finally got the first crop of the season just washed and boiled with some butter these were very nice indeed.
I've also been making some much bigger pots but found I didn't have a Bat big enough to turn this dish, so I had to improvise by cutting up one of my shelf units to make a 24" Bat
stacked on top of three other bats so that it would fit over the top of the tray.

Well it worked!!

I've also had to write some articles for a magazine that want to feature me.
more on that at a later date.
I don't think I've ever been so busy.
I feel like a juggler trying to keep all the balls in the air.

Jugs! and more interesting people

I'm not sure if you have seen these jugs before

but I took these Pictures in the workshop Yesterday.

These are both about 10" tall

I had a guy come in the workshop the other day who lives in America now

but used to live in a village in England and he has a lot of Svend Bayer pots

because he taught Svend's kids to play the guitar and Svend paid him with pots.

Micheal Jackson visits Barrington Day.

Saturday the 4th of July was Barrington Day

a Bi annual event to raise funds for St Marys church in the Village.

Part of the fun is the scarecrow competition

as you can see this was our entry.
I'm not sure if it looks like Demi Moore or Bernard Leach ?

Other more note able scarecrows on show

included this tribute to Michael Jackson complete with a greatest hits

CD playing in the background.

and this is the entrance to St Mary Church

decorated by the ladies of the village and the local florist

cottage flowers.

I think they excelled themselves this year, it was stunning.

Good fun was had by all topped off with a Hog roast and a live band in the local Pub.