Barrington Fete Weekend.and Fete'd pots...

I hadn't mentioned it before but Marion and Me

have been organising the Barrington Village Fete,

along with our good friends Martin & Wendy and Stuart.

We have been working on it since February.

We wanted to create a real old fashioned Village Fete.

We started with a fancy dress competition for the Kids

outside the church.

These pics were early on but there were over 30 Kids in the end.

I like the Flintstones Chap.

But the Mammoth From Ice Age won the day

Look at the shadow on the floor.

We also re instated a very old Tradition

The Easter Bonnet Parade for Men

This is Ian Our very nice next door neighbour. in his fetching Bonnet.

Look people at the Pub!!

In the Evening we resurrected the Wheel Barrow race

all in all it was a fantastic day.

Unfortunately for me I had to help set up the stalls

but then miss the fete as I had to open the workshop

as it was a bank holiday weekend. and then at the end of the day

I had to go and help take it all down again.

I opened the Kiln when I got to the workshop.

This is the nicest one of these I've ever made.

But this large Bread Crock has cracked all around the base.

and it was an order for a wedding anniversary present. Ouch!

and look at this it's the Ash glaze on the green slip.

I think it's fired to High

any comments on this welcome.

There is so much going on at the moment I don't know what to post first.

Palestinian Pottery & a Question ?

Marion's Son Nathan is Filming in Israel at the moment

for Sky News.

and he has sent me these pictures of a

Palestinian Pottery in Jerusalem.

Very decorative work.

These look like a play on Devon slipware jugs

but maybe it's the other way around.

Nice to see a pottery workshop in such a volatile part of the world.

Strange to think how calm it is in Somerset

I can't imagine what it must be like to work in Jerusalem.

These Tiles are just Fantastic.

 The Question he asked when he sent me the pics is this.

A friend is getting married soon and he asked if it would be possible

for guests to sign a plate instead of a guest book ?

My first reaction was No.

But I'm beginning to think it should be possible.

any suggestions would be most welcome.

Last weekend

I Finally got the Pajero back on Thursday Evening.

a close shave as I'm not sure what we would have done about setting up

for Yesterday's Farming.

On Friday morning I set up the Gazebo.

We almost lost it once when the wind caught it, but I managed to grab one leg

as it took off.

We were never very happy with the display and kept changing it around all weekend.

The Pie dishes created a lot of interest.

But this is what the show is all about, Old Stuff!

I was lucky we came away without any new additions to the family

as Marion was really taken with the Five ducks at the bottom left.

The heavy horse display was good we love horses.

But they were replaced with these.

which has in turn been replaced with this Monster

This tractor was offering kids rides, but no steering was required as it is all done by GPS.

Hollis Look at this!

I bought You a Ticket.

"Your wife may be pleased to hear that unfortunately you didn't win."

Catering had gone up a notch this year

I love the name of the band in the background.

Slightly out of place but welcomed never the less.

And one of the nice things about the show are the character's

Unfortunately we had plenty of time to look around, which meant

we were not very busy.

This chap is sat on a table on display !

I think this lady had collected her husband from the Beer Tent

she was marching him off home.

and this chap summed up the Somerset Farmer look.

We only sold 10 pots, which was pretty poor

but we had decided to just go and enjoy the weekend regardless of sales.

and It was nice to spend two whole day's with Marion.

Next on the Agenda

Somerset Art Weeks 18th Sept - 3rd October.

Yesterday's Farming & Caddies blog

As promised here is a copy of the Yesterday's Farming leaflet.

which is this weekend.

If your in the area come and see us and say hello

we would love to see you.

We have no idea where we will be, because pitches are given out on a first come first served basis.

but it's always good fun

look out for the cream marque with the pointed roof.

We have also decided to do a blog for Cadbury, as so many people come back to see him

so here's the link

http://cadburythechocolatelabrador.blogspot.com

Barrington Pottery New Pots.

The new batch of pots  came out of the kiln today

and are designed to appeal to the customers at

"Yesterday's Farming"

This is my simple bag and leaflet with an individual pie dish.

and I have six new casseroles.

These Pie dishes are 5" wide and just over 2" deep

The difference in colours between the front row and the back row 

are due to using the ash glaze on the ones in the front row.

I love the little dribble of glaze on this Garlic pot.

and this one has an inlaid slip decoration.

Things they are a happening!

Barrington Court are moving on with the plans for the future

an Architect has been appointed and yesterday

I had a surveyor in the workshop with one of those fancy bits of equipment.

I've gained an order for a large bread crock with a wooden lid.

and I felt that the showroom needs some bigger pots to make more of an impact.

so I got on and made these.

These two bowls are ordered both 14" wide at the moment

hoping they will be 13" when finished.

I put handles on this morning.

and This is my measuring stick I use when at the wheel

to give you some idea of scale.

I've got a biscuit firing cooling down and will do glazing on Sunday.

so more new pots out of the kiln for Tuesday morning.

I will be closed at the workshop next weekend as I will be attending the

Yesterday's Farming event

at

Dillington House , Nr Ilminster.

I'll scan the leaflet later and put it on here.

New old Ideas ?

Another new kiln load of pots today.

and for once I'm very pleased with them.

Weight, balance, colour and form are starting to hit the spot for me.

which is good news for me but maybe not so good for the customers

in as much as these newer better pots can command a higher price.

To me this black jug has " Michael Cardew" written all over it.

It's not a copy or anything but a feeling you get when you look at it and feel it.

He was one of my heroes after all.

I've made one of these jugs with the inscription

when autumn leaves begin to fall I love you most of all.

I've started making some small individual pie baking dishes.

One with small lugs

but I think they are better plain.

This new bowl is an old idea I started making two years ago

in my gas kiln, but the first 3 firings were very poor

so this is one that is actually good enough to sell.

This is a good feeling,

I was thinking to myself yesterday that Life isn't going to be long enough

for me to make all the pots I want to make.

So I better get on with it.

Then I got on the phone and ordered another Tonne of Clay.