All Done

Thursday Morning saw the last of the Royal Wedding Mugs

go out of the door.

all done and all on time.

These last batch were for Hambridge school.

This Batch were for Pitney Village

and these ones went to Isle Brewers Village.

It was a great sense of achievement to fulfill all of the orders on time

and they all loved the presentation

which was all down to Marion.

We still have orders for a further 75 which will be started this week

and I'm going to make some extras that will be on sale in the showroom.

I took The Friday off and watched the wedding

and then retired to the pub for a few well earned Beers.

Royal Wedding Mugs Update.

Don't Panic

with only 5 days to go before the big day

The mugs are now past this stage.

and past this stage.

In fact the first batch are all out of the kiln.

I was able to fit 125 mugs in this firing.

They were a mixture of three different orders.

These are the first batch for the Village of Pitney

being packaged up by Marion

This is the final deal

each mug wrapped in tissue and placed in a bag

along with a certificate and my new leaflet.

This is part of the first order of 100 pots

ready to go.

and Dave who ordered them came and collected them on Friday.

This is part of the second batch for Isle Brewers Village

just waiting for the next firing to complete the order.

also in the firing are 50 for Hambridge school

and these should be completed by Wednesday evening.

But I've come in to the workshop this morning only to find the kiln had

stopped with the pots looking like they had reached about 300 oc

So I've had to put it straight back on

and keep my fingers crossed.

New Barrington Pottery Leaflet

I have now produced a new leaflet that people will be given when they buy a pot

it's a revised version of my original one

that we first produced in October 2008.

It folds into itself and this is the front cover

which is the same as the previous one.

I have revised the wording on the back cover

and added the local authority logos as they have helped me with the costs

of printing the new leaflet.

These next four pages which make up the inside of the leaflet

are all new.

I'm very happy with it.

The whole idea is to make it different from any other leaflets .

and I'm proud to say I think we have done just that again.

And Finally

I have finally had a picture of some of my pots

published in Ceramic Review Magazine.

I've sent a copy to my Mum.

she'll think I've made it.

Royal Wedding Exclusive!

First Pictures of the Royal Wedding Coffee mugs.

These are going to be either given to school children in the area

or sold to raise school funds.

In total I have 3 orders that add up to 250 mugs.

The Royal Wedding is Two weeks today.

I've been putting in some long Hours and Marion

has been helping me in the evenings.

We are working on Two designs

One that has the slip sanded away leaving slip

in the wording to heigh light it.

and the second with wax resisit for the slip

and wax resist again for the glaze.

They are starting to come out of the kiln now so they should all

be done by this time next week

Certainly by the 27th at the latest.

Working Late is No Hardship in the Workshop Tonight.

I'm working late most nights at the moment

to try and get these 250 coffee cups out the door

by the end of next week.

I have 60 in the Bisc kiln cooling down at the moment,

working all day Wednesday , so 7 days a week yet again.

But stood here tonight listening to Football on Radio 5 Live

while I put on 20 handles is no hardship.

At this time of night the sun comes streaming into the

workshop windows and gives a calm warm feeling.

I couldn't wish for a better place to be able to come to work.

I'm doing the job I love and I'm very busy

What more could I wish for.

Oh!  

apart from a Chelsea win their 1 - 0 down at the moment.

It's a Mugs Game.

I'm getting into making the 250 coffee cups.

it seems like a heck of a lot of pots.

But I have remembered that back in 1981

 I made 500 mugs for a scout jamboree.

But I was only 19 then.

I'm weighing the clay 3/4 lbs for each one

but apart from that I'm doing them all by eye.

This batch have been turned and handled.

and these ones have had the stamped heart added.

and these ones have had wax resist painted onto the heart

and slipped in white slip.

They seem to be taking ages to dry

so I'm firing the kiln with other pots later today

to try and help the drying process.

Making sure the heart stays on is proving a problem

but I think we have cracked it.

Extremely Busy at Barrington Pottery

This is just a quick post while I stop for a cup of Tea.

I have orders coming out of my ears at the moment,

This weekend I just confirmed orders for 250 coffee cups

for the Royal Wedding.

So they have to be completed in the next 4 weeks.

Not for the Royals I must add.

so I got in the workshop at 7.30 this morning

to get started on them, and My Tonne of clay turned up

so I ended up handling 80 bags of clay to the far end of the workshop.

I'm obviously getting fitter

because I did it in half the time of the last delivery and I wasn't

out of breath when I finished.

I did have a picture of some coffee cups on here but it seems

 to have disappeared, while I've been writing this blog.

Anyway I have 7 other pots that need firing today

and as I loaded up the kiln all the power went off.

I decided to go for an early lunch break

and when I came back it was all on again.
I'm also trying to re design what I call my quality leaflet,
and at the end of this week I've also got to put my last
claim form in for my Larc grant.
in amongst all this I have six people booked in
for taster sessions and two evening classes.

anyway back to the wheel.

Snakes & Ladders.

I was very happy with these three large casseroles.

I had slipped and decorated them.

and then made the fatal mistake!

I put them in the biscuit firing to early.

They were not fully dry and the bases had wax emulsion resit on

so the moisture was trapped inside the pots.

when I opened the kiln and took the lids off

all three had cracked.

I should have known better. Patience Mr Jessop Patience.

I consoled my self by thinking at least I hadn't wasted any Glaze on them.

We learn from our mistakes, that's how we move on up the

ladder of knowledge.

But it not nice when you hit the snake and slide

all the way back down again.

Heritage Crafts Association Spring Conference a Huge Success.

It was a Beautiful spring day on Saturday for the

1st Spring Conference of the Heritage Crafts Association

held at the V&A in London.

Look how blue the sky was.

This is the Reception area.

just stunning.

This was the best organised and well run conference

both Me and Marion had ever been to.

As for what pot did I choose to take

I took pot 1 the cream jug.

and the instant gallery was a big hit, with some stunning work on show.

The speakers were great

and we came away with lots of fresh Ideas and thoughts.

Like " I've got to up my game".

at lunch we were able to sit outside in the sunshine.

This is about as smart as I get these days.

Have you noticed the chap on the poster ?

Thank You to all of the organisers and speakers

we enjoyed it on all sorts of levels.

and the journey home went very fast as we discussed

all sorts things.

It was nice to feel that we are doing a lot of things right

but it was also nice to hear of ideas that we should be looking to do as well.

Decisions, Decisions.

OK I need your help!

This Saturday I am attending the

Heritage Crafts Association Spring Conference

at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

 part of the day's events is an

Instant Gallery of Craft.

and I have been asked to take along a piece of work

to put on display.

I have 5 options but I can't decide

when you know that some top crafts people will be casting a critical

eye over your work

It makes it so difficult to choose a pot

that I feel is up to the scrutiny. 

so these are my options

I can see things wrong with all of them in my mind.

But I am assured by other crafts people that this is a good thing.

You need to want to improve your work with every pot you make.

That way, you keep the work fresh and can move forward

as experience and knowledge builds.

So if you could tell me which one I should pick

it would make the decision so much easier.

Thanks for your help.

Make Time for another cup of Tea.

You may remember back in February I posted a blog

entitled make time for a cup of tea.

Since then I had been contacted by a lady who asked if I could use my blog

to promote her charity to raise funds for ovarian Cancer.

Having recently taken my kit off for the Help the Hero's charity calender

I felt I could not pass up this opportunity

to pass the word about this.

so please look at the link below and if you know someone that

would love to take part in Making Time for Tea

pass it on.

http://www.eveappeal.org.uk/make-time-for-tea.aspx

when I was a contract manager selling ceramic tiles

I used to drink from these paper cups every day of the week.

I'm pleased to say I now use a more civilised cup.

I heard a phrase on radio 4 the other day

when someone called sales reps,

 "Dashboard Diners"

This is Bernard Leach Making Time for Tea.

So lets go make time for tea !