Summer 2013 at Barrington Pottery

Yes I said Summer!

We have been dealing with some very nice hot weather

no complaints

Just be gratful.

This is the temperature gauge in the workshop

that I thought was stuck at 8 oc

Obviously not.

 So speeding up drying time in the sun has been a real treat.

 We decided to offer our customers

some chilled water in the showroom, It's the sort of thing

small businesses can do

and bigger one's wouldn't even think about.

 I called ourselves a small business not just potters

Because we are a Business that is growing.

This is the range of pots we are making for

The National Trust Property at Coleridge Cottage.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/coleridge-cottage/

 and while we sort out the finer details for this

the Sun is shining in our showroom

 I've been working in the evenings on sorting out the 

showroom, I've added one of Laura's posters

to keep it safe while she is in Russia.

 And I never get time to play darts any more

so I've put the board up in a place that will stop

me even trying.

 Marion knocked down the wedging bench in the school room
it took me a whole day to build it,
It took Marion 10 mins to knock it down!

so we had some space for some comfy chairs,

I joined the web site Freecycle

where people give away stuff they no longer want

and hey presto

the first day I looked someone was giving away two arm chairs

that were just perfect.
Well I say perfect!,
 they are 30 years old and Knackerd, but with a couple
of old throws they should do the job.

 Marion started the play with clay in the school on Thursday

This Pirate ship was one of the creations.

 and these kids got to watch me throwing on the wheel

in what looks like a rather messy workshop,

I've tided up since then.

Honest!

 These new single sized casserole dishes have come out of the kiln

and will be added to the National Trust online shop

http://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk/paul-jessop-ceramics/c116

next week.

 We also started our new Baby imprints service with further details

being added to our web site when I get a free moment.

And finally we had our gift tags featured in a style magazine

this week. the funny thing was that it said they 

were made by Paul Jessop in his Shed

http://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/style-list/this-weeks-style-list-72#item-26!

We sat in the garden one evening while we were trying to design some new pots

We had a jug of Pimms with us and the sun was shining,

needless to say,

we came up with some cracking Ideas

and I managed to write them down.

so look out for some of our new ideas

designed at Pimms O'clock

Getting down to Business.

This past week felt as if we were able to finally get down to the business

of making pots again.

These shallow Pancheons seem to sell well in all this sunshine

and we have two more out of the kiln

on Saturday morning.

 Harvest jugs with green slip.

 and a nice visit form a blogger Ian Feltham & his wife 

it's always nice to see people that read the blog

and have more of an idea of what I'm up to than I do.

 Marion setting up the school for an all day session

last Saturday.

 and Cadbury watching the biscuits being put on a plate.

 I finally go around to making these pie funnels

for an order placed back in May!

 Sometimes a bag of clay feels just right to make

my Salt pigs.

It has to be very firm to enable me to get the shape I like.

 We also turned around an order from Berlin

for 30 more Ramekins in about 10 days,

Once I had thrown the pots Marion turns and slips them.

 The workshop is a great space but it's still not set up right

if I find time this weekend I'll make some changes.

 The great weather is a great chance to catch up by drying pots

quickly in the sun. 

 We have been firing the kiln in all the heat

 Here is Marion turning the pots made by the class on Saturday.

 and the workshop in the evening during our 

Monday night evening class.

 The sun comes around and caddy takes full advantage.

 Mike Dodd dropped this pot off

as some young chap came to take photos of it for

Somerset Art Weeks

which we are not taking part in this year,

we wanted to make sure we were all set up and because

of the move and the timing of booking up to be in the event

we weren't sure what to do, so we decided not

to put ourselves under extra pressure.

But the pot is still in our showroom if you want to come and have a look.

 I just spotted this practice swipe of white slip

when I used the batt for something else.

 I really do believe that Marion's small dishes

are getting better and better.

They have the simplicity I like but with a contemporary feel.

 It's been so hot we have kept one of barn doors closed all day

just to keep the sun out!

 Flowers in the showroom.

 This was the temperature in the workshop

at 9am this morning.

I think we may just have to visit the local Pub tonight

just to chill out a bit.

We have continued to work hard this week in very warm

temperatures as we try hard to get more stock in the showroom.

What a busy and Interesting week

Following on from last weeks blog

and our visit to the Legacy Exhibition

these are the three extra jugs I sent off to John on Wednesday.

 I made half a dozen of these this week as well.

 Marion set about putting together the wall of inspiration in the school area

 It became apparent it was going to take us longer than we thought

so I joined in as well, we finally finished it at 8pm.

 The next morning I walked in to work with Cadbury

and this is the Barn now complete from the outside.

 This Saturday was Barrington Day, the main fund raising event

 for the church in the village.

 As ever we entered the scarecrow competition, 

but we did it in our own style.

we went topical with

The Rolling Stones At Glastonbury
we had stones music playing as well.

 This was our favorite

I told this guy he had too much spare time on his hands.

 The flowers at the church were fantastic again this year.

 I'll forgive Anne Robinson for not using one of my leaflets

in her display of patron Saint of Potters.

 Throughout the village gardens are open for food and drink.

 Peter &Ian had a great selection of classic & vintage cars on display.

 amazing old bikes as well.

 I did like this one.

 We Had Cream Tea's in this garden

and both concluded that this was the house for us.

 Salar had a French cafe set up in their front garden
and of course someone had to check the quality of the wine.

The sun hasn't stopped shining all week
this was our bathroom sink in the morning.

Then today Marion and I went to a heath down near Bovey Tracey.

Where I set about making very small wasp nests!

Like these ones.

This man is an expert on Potter wasps

they make their nests from clay

and this film crew were making a short film about him and the wasps

for the BBC 1 One Show

They had asked me to have a go at making them and do a very short interview

about how they are made.

It was baking hot but we had some good fun

and all seemed to go well

as for when it will be shown

I'll let you know, they think it might be in about two weeks time.

We never believed that we would be doing 

so many interesting things as potters.

Now back to making pots.