Berlin Project

First of all Please accept my apologies for not blogging for a week

It's been a crazily busy week at Barrington Pottery,

with some exciting new stuff happening.

The new web site is proving a hit.

We have gained an order from Berlin

for some small sauce pots, 70 in total along

with 30 Ramekin dishes.

These pots are tiny I'm using about 6oz of clay for each one.

I'm having to use just my fingers to throw them. 

These must be the smallest pots I've ever made, but I really

got into the swing of it and made 100 in the end. 

While I was trialing them I cut one in half to check the thickness.

I've also made all my pots for another order. 

I seem to have Pancheons all over the place 

This was a space saving device while they wait to be turned. 

and this one on order has an Oak Leaf decoration. 

I've also been trying to do more experiments this year

This tile has four coloured slips on black slip. 

This was the biscuit fired tile 

I dipped the tile in two glazes

the one on the left is my usual glaze for black slip

and the one on the right will not be used again.

But at least I know.

A Blog

Some of these Pictures have been on Facebook over the past few days

Here on a shelf in our sitting room are two new pots

The Branhams jug I picked up on Saturday

 in Lyme Regis for £5.00

 These two Harvest jugs are a break from the orders I'm working on

I find it a comforting thing to make other things as well as orders

at the same time.

 I made some new mugs last week and I thought they were

too thin, so I cut one in half to check,

Looked OK to me! 

A Slipped Harvest Jug prior to decorating. 

In January & February I've decided to take

Saturday's & Sundays off.

To spend a bit more time with Marion.

This was Sundays walk. 

Looking down on the workshop

which we then spent 4 hours working in on Sunday

Oh Well

at least we were together.

Miserable Monday

Today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year

and so it felt when we both woke up this morning.

To add to the feeling of woe

The Pajero broke down again yesterday.

We are hoping to keep it going just one more year, but it will

be 20 years old in the summer.

So On Miserable Monday caddy and I walked to work.

Very cold and very frosty

But the sun was coming up. 

and it looked great. 

The sun was rising behind the workshop 

The sky was very clear 

a very cold workshop

it was only 3oc.

It took a long time to get it up to a workable temperature

I put the raku kiln on without the lid which helped.

The workshop was cold because I had gone to see Doug Fitch

on Friday and came back with this Fantastic dish

Thanks Doug for a great time as usual. 

I love the orange coloured slip which is made from Doug's local clay.

so at the end of today

I opened a bag of Local clay from Donyatt

that a customer had given me. 

and I'm going to do some trials

to see what colour this one comes out as.

Fantastic new customers

On My last blog post I mentioned a web site sale that turned out to

 be more than I expected.

I had an order for a large green Pancheon from

the lady who owns the THYME at Southrop Manor Cookery school.

http://www.thymeatsouthrop.co.uk/food-school

Here is the link to the web site.

We delivered the Pancheon ourselves last Saturday

and we met Caryn Hibbert the owner

she gave us a guided tour of the cookery school

and the rest of the development.

It's Stunning

No expense has been spared to create the perfect cookery school.

On Thursday Caryn and Head Chef Daryll

Came to the workshop to talk about me making them

some Pancheons for use in the school

and for sale in their shop.

We have come up with some design ideas that will make these

unique to Southrop.

More pics as the products develop.

Back in the workshop it's almost wassail time January 17th

so I've been busy making my wassail cups.

Handles Pulled and drying

Here you can see the handles on and the clay bits for the sprigs

and also my PJ stamp, Barrington stamp and the two

sprig stamps.

and here are the finished wassail cups.

Here is a pic of the workshop.

as you can see I'm making some more pie dishes

to replace stock.

Because I had an order for 20 pie dishes from a pub in London

on Wednesday that I had in stock.

So if your in the

Castle in the Village in Walthamstow

Tonight order a Pie and you'll get it served up

in one of my pie dishes.

Great start to 2012 just keeps getting better.

I said in my last Blog that I felt 2012

was going to be a good year for us, I could feel it in my water.

And so it is proving, and it's only the 10th January.

Internet sales at the start of the year have been very encouraging

with one particular sale promising to be far better than expected.

But more on that later in the week

after the customer has visited the workshop on Thursday.

Having applied for a stand at Earth & Fire 2012 at Rufford Abbey

last year, back in December I was informed 

that I had been placed on the reserve list for 2012.

This June is my 50th Birthday

and we have decided to have a party originally it was going to be

on the 24th June, but that is the date of the Rufford show

so we decided to have it on the 16th June

just in case I got a stall, we booked the pub

and we have booked the David Bowie tribute act that is just brilliant,

we did all that yesterday.

&

Today I had a phone call from the show organisers to say that someone had,

had to pull out of the show and would I like a stand. 

Would I like a stand ?

are my arms covered in clay ?

the answer is always going to be Yes!

http://www3.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/culture/arts/earth-and-fire/

So we'll see you in Rufford.

let me know if your able to pop along.

I'm going to start putting pots aside for the show

so I can make sure we make a good impression.

Redecorated showroom for 2012

A Happy New Year

 to all who follow this blog.

I was supposed to taking a two week break

from Christmas eve, but after a week

I was itching to get back.

We started news years day by coming into the showroom

and getting on with the business of redecorating.

If you've followed this blog for some time you will remember that

two years ago I built these two Dresser units from Scaffold planks

They have been great, but I think they look a bit grubby now.

So I added some new backs to them and Marion

Painted them with a white wash. 

Much better I'm sure you will agree. 

I've also painted the walls a slightly warmer colour

This wall is Farrow & Ball Farrows Cream watered down

painted on then scrubbed with a scouring pad. 

You may have noticed we have taken out the top shelf in both units

and then added some lights. 

 This is the finished effect.

 and here with some pots on.

 So it's a new start to the year with a new look

My hope is that it has raised the level of the showroom

and here is the overall effect.

A new showroom now all I have to do is make some pots

to fill it.

But That will start next week.