Life in a Beautiful Light

This is a bit of an unusual post for me.

But I felt it was something I wanted to share.

I'll tell you why I felt I wanted to share this with you,

On Monday morning I was in the workshop very early

glazing pots

and I just felt this is the happiest I've ever been.

A couple of weeks ago Marion's daughter Natasha

gave her mother this album as a part of her Birthday present,

We played it in the car on the way back to Barrington,

Marion was driving and I was just chilling out listening.

when it got to track 9

I sat their thinking

" Crikey the words in this song just sum up they way

Marion makes me feel, we should play this at our wedding".

Then without me saying a word

Marion said to me can we start this song again.

So we played it again and Marion said

" blimey we should play that at our wedding.

Isn't it amazing when you both feel the same thing at the same time.

I've put the link here that also shows the words.

http://youtu.be/1uCe-ydWEuo

We haven't set a date for our wedding yet

But you can be sure this song will be played.

The Inspiration still keeps coming.

Sunday evening was great fun in the pub

the weather was great and we were having fun

 sat outside in the sunshine.

We were laughing and joking about the Olympics

 it really has got the nation excited.

Monday morning and 6am I am up and down the workshop by 7.15am

Glazing on a Monday morning, not my favourite

thing, but I found myself feeling that this is the happiest

I have ever felt in my life.

Imagine what I would of felt like if I wasn't Glazing.

It's been over a week since my last post

which had a great response, so thank you for that.

I have been so focused this past week I haven't taken

many pictures of the work that I've been doing.

But I have been a busy boy.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be in front of the telly

when the Team GB men's Gymnastics team

Won the Bronze medal, beating Russia & the USA

Once again the Olympics shows where hard work

and dedication can get you.

A great village road sign. 

 and the opening ceremony was just great

the Queen was the biggest star.

I noticed you can buy these T shirts now on Amazon.

 and this young lady Hannah Miley

has been renamed

Smiley Miley,

she is going great guns in the pool

and she is so nice to watch when she gives an interview

as soon as she gets out of the pool

because she just encompasses all that is great

about taking part in the Olympics

So for now it's back to Glazing another kiln load 

ready for the Taunton Flower show

on Friday & Saturday, come and see us.

http://www.tauntonflowershow.co.uk/

Inspiration from an unusual source!

Yesterday I found myself gaining inspiration from an unusual

source, for a Potter that is!

Bradley Wiggins pictured below Won the Tour De France

one of the most grueling and hardest

sporting events in the world.

 When I got home from the workshop
I switched on the television and watched the news reports.

They talked about how, Team Sky had a five year plan to win

the Tour de France. But they actually did it in Three.

The team Manager was explaining that on the first attempt 

they came around 24th in the race.

It was at that point that they realised that if they were to succeed

they would have to totally rethink their strategy.

They would work on fitness and making sure all of the team

were fitter than any other team,

this would mean dropping out of certain competitions

throughout the year and concentrating of individual fitness.

They would be more focused on the one goal as a team.

And it was like a light bulb turning on in my head,

this is what we need to do,

we need to be more focused on our core role as a pottery.

I need to get fitter, as I've put some weight on over the past 4

years. I'm not sure why,

I've never worked so hard in my life.

 So I need to get up earlier and get down the workshop and start
making pots, before we have to open to visitors,

 especially now that it is open tourist season,

 We both already work hard, but we have to work smarter as we are still trying

 to find the best way of working together.

We have a long path ahead of us and some times it can get a bit sticky.

 But once we overcome these issues and work out what road we

want to be on, the future can look very bright for us.

 It's nice to know that other people are on the same road as us

and it always helps to be able to share our ups and downs.

 Far better than travelling a long and lonely road.

 But once you have focus, you can notice so much more,
things that other people just walk past without giving a second glance.

Like the sun streaming through the leaves on this tree

on our walk to the workshop this morning.

 

 Today by 11.45 I had made 50 Pie dishes,

a great start to the day, Ok I got a bit way laid later in the day,

but I did load a bisc firing and make another 15 pie dishes

by the end of the day. but If I hadn't been focused
I would never have made the 50 at the start of the day.

 So this new Inspiration is starting to bear fruit
or in this case Hazelnuts.

 and it has enabled me to be able to see the wood for the trees.

and what wood it is.

I know that some of this may sound like corporate speak,

but you must remember that I had 20 years of working in the corporate world

before coming back to Pottery, and we have used this experience
to get to where we are today, but we must stay focused.
So I'm trying to be fitter leaner and Focused, so we can make
the most of working together.
We have some great ideas for taking us forward.
And well done Bradley Wiggins!!

What's going on !

We had some new pots out of the kiln today

so the showroom has a few more pots today.

 Wassail Cups and Lipped bowls are now back in stock.

Another Biscuit firing has gone in today, so we seem to be on a role.

One of the pots from the kiln today was this dish

 made & decorated by Marion. 

 also out today this little press moulded mouse dish.

 And then guess who walked in the door

Dan Finnegan

 we had never met before, only via the Blog,

but I felt as though I knew him well.

We gave him a nice Cup of Tea

and then we went to look at the Anthony Gormley exhibition

on at the moment in Barrington Court.

 30,000 clay figures spread over three rooms.

 Marion has been running small workshops for people to make

a clay figure for the field for Somerset.

also in the workshop we do try and give our visitors a bit of education

about local pottery history. 

This was our kitchen on Tuesday morning

used as a dispatch dept.

So that's what's going on.

Back on Track

We had a kiln opening today

that had some good pots in it, some of which

were orders and some stock items.

It felt nice to put some stock on the shelves.

 This jug was one of our orders.

 Here we have the workforce in their usual roles

Marion is doing most of the turning and slipping.

Caddy has a poorly paw at the moment

and as soon as the sun came out he took advantage

 and sat out in the sun

Oh and so did I.

Blog Verus Facebook !

For some time now I have been wondering if the blog

is still entertaining people and giving an insight

into what goes into setting up a pottery workshop

and then how much hard work goes into making a success

at it.

I realise that this year seems to have got off to a flier

and every now and again I feel as if I've run out of steam,

and it's at this point the blog suffers.

I love doing the blog and it's been a great help over the past four years

and 555 posts.

But just now Facebook is quicker and easier

and if I'm honest gets more comments.

So if you want a quicker more convenient way of keeping up with

whats happening at the workshop

you should follow this link to our

Barrington Pottery Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barrington-Pottery/151995308224877

If you have visited us and made a figure for the Field for Somerset

you can post your picture to our Facebook page

and we would love to see them.

Technology seems to be moving on at such a great pace, and to be honest

neither of us are great with it, we just give it our best shot.

 This is what we love to do with our spare time

go for a walk with Cadbury.

 I've walked past this tree hundreds of times

but today I had my camera.

 Here are some of the Figures for the Field for Somerset

set in place.

Let me know what you think about Blogs v Facebook

on either format.

I'm obvoiusly Tired at the moment because this reads as a bit of a negative

which wasn't my intention,

I just wanted to let people know where to find our facebook page.

and we have Blue sky's this morning

now that's something to smile about.

I Can't Believe it's not Rufford.

I can't believe a week ago we were at Rufford

 we both came away all fired up

but Exhausted.

 It seems like it's taken us an age to get back into the swing of things.

 But today, Sunday all seems to coming together

and it's starting to look like we have made some pots this week.

 Here we have Harvest jugs, Salt Pigs and Tankards

just had the handles put on.

 These jugs are for three different designs.

 Marion has started to find her feet

so much so that she is now asking for her own work station.

more on this as we sort it out.

We worked out this morning, That I had designed the workshop

for one person and now that we are both working we need to

re think the layout and shelving.

 Marions Tags drying out

 and some press moulded dishes with Sgraffito decoration.

 and this hump mould from the Wenford Bridge pottery

 Our friend Anne came to show us her Morris Minor

she was taking out for a spin, it's been in her family since 1964

and it's called

 "Chubby"

 These days she wouldn't get away with that name

it would have to called

" vehicle with a slightly fuller figure"

The inside is just like an old slipware pot

plain, simple, classic and it's done the job it was designed for

for years without fuss..