Extremely Busy at Barrington Pottery

This is just a quick post while I stop for a cup of Tea.

I have orders coming out of my ears at the moment,

This weekend I just confirmed orders for 250 coffee cups

for the Royal Wedding.

So they have to be completed in the next 4 weeks.

Not for the Royals I must add.

so I got in the workshop at 7.30 this morning

to get started on them, and My Tonne of clay turned up

so I ended up handling 80 bags of clay to the far end of the workshop.

I'm obviously getting fitter

because I did it in half the time of the last delivery and I wasn't

out of breath when I finished.

I did have a picture of some coffee cups on here but it seems

 to have disappeared, while I've been writing this blog.

Anyway I have 7 other pots that need firing today

and as I loaded up the kiln all the power went off.

I decided to go for an early lunch break

and when I came back it was all on again.
I'm also trying to re design what I call my quality leaflet,
and at the end of this week I've also got to put my last
claim form in for my Larc grant.
in amongst all this I have six people booked in
for taster sessions and two evening classes.

anyway back to the wheel.

Snakes & Ladders.

I was very happy with these three large casseroles.

I had slipped and decorated them.

and then made the fatal mistake!

I put them in the biscuit firing to early.

They were not fully dry and the bases had wax emulsion resit on

so the moisture was trapped inside the pots.

when I opened the kiln and took the lids off

all three had cracked.

I should have known better. Patience Mr Jessop Patience.

I consoled my self by thinking at least I hadn't wasted any Glaze on them.

We learn from our mistakes, that's how we move on up the

ladder of knowledge.

But it not nice when you hit the snake and slide

all the way back down again.

Heritage Crafts Association Spring Conference a Huge Success.

It was a Beautiful spring day on Saturday for the

1st Spring Conference of the Heritage Crafts Association

held at the V&A in London.

Look how blue the sky was.

This is the Reception area.

just stunning.

This was the best organised and well run conference

both Me and Marion had ever been to.

As for what pot did I choose to take

I took pot 1 the cream jug.

and the instant gallery was a big hit, with some stunning work on show.

The speakers were great

and we came away with lots of fresh Ideas and thoughts.

Like " I've got to up my game".

at lunch we were able to sit outside in the sunshine.

This is about as smart as I get these days.

Have you noticed the chap on the poster ?

Thank You to all of the organisers and speakers

we enjoyed it on all sorts of levels.

and the journey home went very fast as we discussed

all sorts things.

It was nice to feel that we are doing a lot of things right

but it was also nice to hear of ideas that we should be looking to do as well.

Decisions, Decisions.

OK I need your help!

This Saturday I am attending the

Heritage Crafts Association Spring Conference

at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

 part of the day's events is an

Instant Gallery of Craft.

and I have been asked to take along a piece of work

to put on display.

I have 5 options but I can't decide

when you know that some top crafts people will be casting a critical

eye over your work

It makes it so difficult to choose a pot

that I feel is up to the scrutiny. 

so these are my options

I can see things wrong with all of them in my mind.

But I am assured by other crafts people that this is a good thing.

You need to want to improve your work with every pot you make.

That way, you keep the work fresh and can move forward

as experience and knowledge builds.

So if you could tell me which one I should pick

it would make the decision so much easier.

Thanks for your help.

Make Time for another cup of Tea.

You may remember back in February I posted a blog

entitled make time for a cup of tea.

Since then I had been contacted by a lady who asked if I could use my blog

to promote her charity to raise funds for ovarian Cancer.

Having recently taken my kit off for the Help the Hero's charity calender

I felt I could not pass up this opportunity

to pass the word about this.

so please look at the link below and if you know someone that

would love to take part in Making Time for Tea

pass it on.

http://www.eveappeal.org.uk/make-time-for-tea.aspx

when I was a contract manager selling ceramic tiles

I used to drink from these paper cups every day of the week.

I'm pleased to say I now use a more civilised cup.

I heard a phrase on radio 4 the other day

when someone called sales reps,

 "Dashboard Diners"

This is Bernard Leach Making Time for Tea.

So lets go make time for tea !

The 2011 Cenus has arrived

The 2011 Government Census form has arrived.

I have been looking through the questions,

and they all seem a bit dull.

If it had asked the following questions, I might have been able

to give some interesting answers.

1. Occupation ?- Potter

2. have you in the past 24 hours worked in the Buff ?- Yes

3. did you get two photogrophers mixed up? - Yes

4.did Marion save your blushes.? - Yes

5. have you spent the last 12 hours saying " Oh My God" ?- Yes

6. Do you have any Idea why you did it. ?- Yes

Last year the Duke of York Pub did an auction to raise money

for the Help the Hero's charity

In one evening they raised over £8,400. this included two

of my tankards raising £75.

For 2011 they have decided to do a calender girls style calender for 2012

and I agreed to pose for it sat naked at the wheel.

This is the help for hero's logo

If for some strange reason you want to see these pics.

 I will give details of  how to buy the calender later in the year.

I'm not a war munger in any way shape or form.

But if I can help raise money for injured soldiers then I am happy to do that.

 

These are just some random pics.

This car pulled up outside the workshop earlier this week.

and these are pots made this week.

These are three big casseroles made with 6lbs of clay.

Not that i'm trying to gloss over the first part of this blog

But !!!.

or should that be Butt!

 

Pots in the Making

I thought I would show you some pictures of pots in the making

and then the finished pots.

This is a close up detail of a pancheon handle. 

and the lip of the same pot. 

freshly slipped Pancheon

this one was slightly to wet to slip and luckily the kiln was

cooling down at the time and I was able to save it from collapsing

by sitting it on the kiln to dry quicker.

This is my stamp and the workshop stamp. 

and this is the finished pot. 

This jug came out of the kiln yesterday as well. 

and this one 

A group shot.

The Casserole

and I do like these dark moody window shots.