Funny road sign and year end.

Sunday was such a nice day we decided to go out for the day

as this is my last free Sunday until November.

The Court opens on Thursday.

 We went to Cheddar before all the tourists fill the place

and this is where We saw this sign.

This is my kind of Humor.

 We sat in the balcony at Costa Coffee where we took these

two pictures.

We were discussing what we should do if this guy 

on the rock was to fall.

It was a great day out with Marion & we talked about the pottery

for the year ahead, as this is the last week of this financial year.

and we've done Ok.

I just wanted to say a Big Thank You to Marion

who has been such a great help over the past year

whilst still keeping up a full time job.

I Love You

but I guess you kinda know that.

I've just read this back and remembered a funny story in the pub

on Sunday night.

We were talking with our friends Andrew & Ian

about some woman who had died a few years ago

and Andrew was saying how great she was and that her bloke 

was a Total Tosser.

I turned round to Andrew & Ian and said

" Isn't amazing how total tossers get such great women"

They both just looked at Marion

and then looked at me.

We all fell about laughing.

Point Taken.

Made Not Manufactured

I had a visit on Thursday from a Photographer called 

 Steve Kenward

He's working in conjunction with the Heritage Crafts Association

on an Exhibition of pictures of crafts people at work.

Made not Manufactured

 Here are a few sample shots.

he took over 400 shots on the day.

 so this is just to give a flavour of what to expect.

 This is a jug I have put to one side for the show at Rufford in June.

I obviousley need to get my hair cut.

and as ever Cadbury wasn't going to miss out on the excitement.

Taking Time to Chill out a bit.

These are some random shots downloaded from my Phone

It shows that I have made some pots.

I liked this jug cut in half, I had damaged the lip so cut it to check

how even it was.

It looks like an Easter egg. 

 a close up of some of the time consuming work that's been going on.

 I've had some issues with pots cracking and slip flaking off rims of pots

when they come out of the glaze firing.

I'm thinking the workshop having Ice on the inside has affected the pots

can anyone confirm this?

I know dammed well the pots were not to dry when I slipped them.

 I have taken time out this weekend to give myself a break

including a trip to the coast at Budleigh Salterton

That blew a few cobwebs away I can tell you.

 This was the local museum.

 I wanted to show you this,

 this is a small water steam on my walk to the workshop

that has a bit of old iron fencing laid in it and it's leeching 

out Iron.

I'm tempted to try and collect a bit and see if I could use it.

That do you think 

Good Idea or just daft ?

 Thanks for the comments on the last post.

Having a bit of a break means I'm full of drive for Monday.

Look out for more pots next week.

The Lack of pots in this post is scary

This week it feels as if I have ground to a halt.

The start to the year has been fast and furious, but this week

feels like I've run out of fuel.

a bit like the Pajero, that broke three weeks ago

and I haven't even looked at it yet.

 This little chap seems to have been more productive than me this week

This weeks total I am ashamed to say has been

6 lipped bowls and three Devon jugs.

 a few nice things,

this is the chapel opposite our cottage

and in a rare moment of sunshine I caught this image of the 

morning sun in the window.

And I found myself standing 20ft from a deer on the way home tonight

I've seen him a few times in the past week but this was really close

why do we talk to animals?

 I did finally get around to ordering a new set of elements

for one of my kilns.

It's that time of year when all subscriptions come up for renewal

and money just seems to pour out of the door.

I have been working hard and any money I've had in 

has just gone straight out the door again.

It sort of gets you down a bit

and I'm sure it's all that ,

that has ground me to a halt this week. 

I have a glaze firing on at the moment so at least that's something.

I've just read this back to myself

My God I sound flat.

But that's what blogging is all about isn't it

the up's and the downs.

Diamond Jubilee Pots

We had the second of our jubilee pots out of the kiln today.

 This one has a different style lettering

and a slightly lighter crest.

 This was the first Dish we made, but I wasn't that keen on my

lettering on the rim.

 and Marion told me it was a nightmare to do the sgrafitto

because it was deeper.

and the crest was much darker.

so hopefully these are now available to pre order

from our web site.

They take hours to do so hence the price of

£225.00

http://barringtonpottery.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=100

As Harry Redknapp would say " It's a game of two halves".

This large Pancheon had slumped overnight,

so to try and find out where I'm going wrong

I decided to cut it in half.

 18lbs of clay

 Much to my surprise it looked pretty good

 but where you can see my finger prints

there is a slight crease in the clay, and that's where it slumped.

I turned 40 ramekins and then slipped them

I pour the slip in the pot, then pour it back in the jug then wipe off

the excess slip off the rim. 

This is a time consuming job, so I thought I would pour the slip

into the next ramekin to save time.

This works OK if you can stay focused and don't get distracted. 

So naturally I reverted back to pouring it into the jug. 

This is the floor where I shake off the excess. 

and here they are drying on the kiln as it cools down from

a glaze firing.

It's a nightmare trying to dry pots in the workshop

at the moment, I've had two Pancheons crack in the base this week alone.

I can't wait until the spring comes.

A Very Cold Day at the Pottery Workshop

It's been very, very cold here the past few days

But this morning as I got to the workshop my heart skipped a beat.

All the Windows of the workshop were frozen up.

What was it going to be like inside?

Inside all the windows were covered with Ice

and I had left my anti frost heater on. 

Luckily for me it must have worked because all the pots were OK.

So I opened the kiln that had cooled down to 56 oc. 

This was the kiln un loaded onto the showroom table.

with the small sauce pots I had managed to get 121 pots in the kiln.

Here is the order for Berlin completed

which has now been packed up and posted off.

To heat the workshop I had the raku kiln on

which came in handy in more ways than one. 

 I was able to cook a pizza in it at lunch time!

Now that's what I call a result. 

also in the firing was my first Diamond Jubilee Jug

with Sgraffito decoration.

and this slipware Harvest Jug.

It may seem as if I have had a flawless week in the workshop

But this was my third attempt at making a 20lb Pancheon. 

I'll Try again next week.

I will be Open on Sunday the 5th February

from 11am - 4pm

as there is an

Antique fair on at Barrington Court on Sunday.