Two Glaze firings in one week.

I'm trying my hardest to catch up with the general

 lack of stock in the showroom.

I mixed up a new batch of glaze which I

deliberately made up a bit thicker.

This salt pig has the new batch of glaze.

and this is the backside.

This is the old English white.

and a nice bloom on the side.

one of the garlic pots

also with a nice bloom.

this new serving dish

has a rich lush glaze.

and a couple of these Live Simply bowls

and pie dishes in a number of colours.

and to show I mean business

these jugs are now ready for biscuit firing.

I'm pleased to say The showroom has a reasonable level

of stock

but that's partly due to the fact

that Bank Holiday weekend sales were very poor.

every cloud has a silver lining.

Gaddafi on my mind as I slip away.

Some times you open the kiln door

all excited, because you have tried

something new, and the firing has gone well

but the results weren't what you were expecting

and it makes you feel flat and dejected.

I had these plates and pie dishes

that I had wanted to come out in the new, old English white glaze.

and they came out what I call

all wishy washy.

It's just not what I wanted, and I know people say

know one will know and they look OK.

But I know

and I don't like them

and that's what matters to me.

They came out a few days ago and I've been trying to get my head around it

then I found this picture I had taken after they had been slipped.

I can see how thin the slip is

and I should have known better.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

and then I go home and watch the news and see the Libya rebels

and that puts it all into perspective.

" if the biggest thing I am worrying about is how thick the slip

should have been on my plates"

Then I have nothing to worry about.

I came back in the workshop the following day

and these salt pigs look like an army of salt pigs.

I checked out all my jugs

and Gaddafi isn't  hiding in here.

This biscuit firing has now been glazed

and is cooling down now.

so some more fresh pots will be out on Friday.

so lets hope for some better results.

The Sky's the Limit

We have had a week of amazing sunsets

not too much sun

but at night and first thing in the morning

we have had some stunners.

also this week I found the perfect way

to decorate my large bowls.

This is now a trade secret, but I'll let you in on it.

Coffee, Chocolate Buttons & Andy Williams on the stereo.

"Only Mr Williams on the stereo"

not the chocolate or coffee

that would just be plain silliness.

I've been making Garlic and Jam pots this week.

I managed to knock this one off the shelf

But Amazingly I caught it in mid air

and the lid stayed on.

In view of the success of my bowl with the dropped R

I have decided to keep this as an Organic Garlic pot.

We also had a visit from a fellow blogger

from America who is over here on a pottery holiday

It was great to meet Nancy Gallagher.

I whipped off my Smock

to reveal My Ron Philbeck T Shirt.

Yesterday I took 5 hours to load and glaze a kiln load,

it took me ages to work out how to fit the pots in.

In the end, I loaded it before glazing

and took pictures so that I wouldn't forget the layout

by the time I had glazed the pots.

Saturday night was sunny and warm

so after a hard days work we decided to head down to the coast.

Where we were treated to another

beautiful sun set.

And it was a real treat!

what a nice way to end a day.

Revised Pottery Workshop Counter

I found this week chalk board at the Taunton Flower show

the other week.

I decided to make some changes to my sales counter

to try and clear my desk of clutter.

So I put this up with three shelves behind it.

we had also picked up this counter bell at an antique shop

a few weeks ago.

I'm finding that when I get engrossed in making pots

people find it hard to gain my attention, when I am

" In the Zone" so to speak.

So I put this on the counter.

Today I have been busy making Garlic pots

and the lids for them.

when somebody rang the bell

and made me jump out of my skin.

I hadn't even noticed they had walked in.

So I revised the note.

so that I don't jump out of my skin on a regular basis.

Old English White.

For some time now I have been wanting to produce

an Old English White.

It's a colour that I have always liked

since as far back as I can remember.

So You can Imagine How Excited I was when I opened the kiln yesterday.

and found that my latest glaze  hits the spot.

It has a richness and depth of colour that just makes you smile.

It almost looks like wet slip.

above is the cream and below the new white.

This is a jug as a test to see how it looks.

The Colour is called Old English White

This is a classic Austin Healey

in Old English White.

Classic simple design in classic simple colour.

Crazy For You - apt description for London Trip.

Our Friend and Neighbour Ian McGarry is on the board of directors

of the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park.

And he was able to arrange for us to attend the press night. 

So we took the chance to pop into

Edwards & Todd to see how the pots are selling.

They are in the window display

and more are inside.

They have been selling well and a fresh order could be coming my way soon.

which is great news.

I took the opportunity to pop around the corner

to the Contemporary Ceramics Gallery

where I took this picture of Clive Bowen pots on display.

Later in the day we were near the Gherkin in the City

This is the view from the bedroom window in Putney

can you see the tube train.

So here we are at the Open Air Theatre

in Regents park.

While else where in London this was the scene

The show was Fantastic and we were at the after show party

here is our 90 year old friend Nancy with Sean Palmer

the star of the show.

Here we are leaving the party

Oblivious to the chaos around us.

Until we tried to catch a tube and bus home.

We didn't see this bus but the tubes were running a limited service

and the buses were all being re routed.

but we managed to get back to Putney.

This mindless looting makes you ashamed

to be British.

But the response by so many people to clean up

and help out in the aftermath.

Makes you proud.

I take my hat off to all that are showing that

 people are not prepared to let them get away with it.

Barrington Pottery Attend Taunton Flower show.

This post is a bit longer than usual

so why not go and make a cup of tea

and come back and relax.

This Year we were fortunate enough to be asked to

give pottery demonstrations at the

 Taunton Flower show.

It's been running since 1866 and we were very pleased to be asked.

we were in the rural crafts section.

We had issues, that according to Marion were all my fault.

Can you spot our Gazebo ?

No neither could we!

I had ordered one on Tuesday for delivery on Thursday

with the show starting on Friday morning.

Luckily for us it was dry all day Friday.

we were right by the main arena

which as you can see was full.

One of the displays was the Jamie Squibb

freestyle display team.

These guys were Awesome!

not a word I use much but in this case it's the only word to describe them.

It was a great show,

They even had the camels from the side of the M5

on display in the children'ss area.

This lady was fun with her Chariots of fire display.

OH LOOK !

Whats This.

It eventually turned up at the pub in Barrington

at about 4.30 on Friday afternoon.

which just about saved my skin

as it started raining on the Saturday morning about 9am as we

arrived at the stand with the Gazebo.

It felt strange demonstrating making pots

and looking up and seeing 30 -40 people watching you

and even stranger when they gave a round of applause.

Big Tip

Don't try pulling handles when teenage girls are around.

and this last shot is just for Ron

It wouldn't be a Somerset show without Cider!.

anyway we had our best show ever

and on Monday the 8th August 2011

it will be 3 years since we were both made redundant

on the same day.

Crikey what a Three Years.....