Making Lists

It seems to have become customary for me to start each Blog

with an update picture of the progress in the Barn.

As You can see it's starting to take shape.

 Meanwhile back at the Ranch

 We carry on as normal

These ladies were booked in for a full day lesson

Three sisters and their 91 year old mother.

 On Sunday

Marion put together my Making list from orders that had come in

over the past week.

 So I set about knocking them off two by two

 But not before I had a coffee break.

 Jugs with deeper rims x 2

 Of course Cadbury has seen it all before

and knows that when I'm on the wheel I shan't be needing the slip

so he won't be disturbed.

 Lips on small jugs.

 Half pint Tankards

 Last weekend we got our hands on this fantastic dish

 and Marion Loves the freedom of the decoration

So I've made her a 19" dish to work on.

 I slipped it yesterday and today she has a blank canvass.

Back Soon.

Isaac Button Exhibition 2013

Isaac Button has for as far back as I can remember been one of my 

Pottery Heroes .

I used to have a copy of  the classic film

Isaac Button Country potter.

I used to think to myself, this is the life I want to live.

Making old style country pottery.

And Now Here I am

A Country Potter making pancheons and jugs

in the same style as Isaac did along with many other hard working potters.

So when I was asked to take part in an exhibition of Isaac Button Pots

and was asked to supply 5 - 6 pots.

I was as they say in football land

( you have to say this to yourself in a London Accent)

" Over the Moon John, Over the Moon". 

 The exhibition is called 

"LEGACY"

 And it will start on the 30th June 2013 and be on for a month

and will include work by Potters that Have been influenced by Isaac
and will include, to name only some of them.
Clive Bowen, John Leach, Andrew McGarva, John Hudson,
Mike Dodd, and Richard Batterham, and
Paul Jessop
How Good does that Sound?
Whoop! Whoop!

 

 and I love making them, the wet slip is my favorite part.

 But I do love making simple pots

 Simple but useable

"Simple Honest pottery" is our tag line

Here is the link to Johns Gallery in Long Melford

Suffolk.

with some more details of the exhibition.

I am very excited about this.

Thank You John

http://imaginegallerylife.blogspot.co.uk/

Keeping our heads down.

All the wiring for the kilns is in.

why is it that people selling kilns on Ebay don't

realise the three fundamental things you need to know

before you buy.

1.Internal Dimentions

2. Power rating the kiln needs

3.Good pictures showing condition.

 So I have made these large 15" wide baking dishes

 three in total

 in various designs

 and this slightly smaller one.

 I shan't tell you that on Monday morning I walked into the workshop

and found all four had cracked and are now in the bin.

You don't want to hear that.

 Moving swiftly on these should be out of the kiln later today.

 an update on the barn!

it still looks like this.

Here is a picture for John and his wife Irene

Angels of the South.

Here is a link to John's blog 

http://imaginegallerylife.blogspot.co.uk/

with so much going on it was nice to hit the coast for a few hours.

 It all feels a bit like swimming out of our depth at the moment

but I think we are on top of things,

sometimes you just need walk away from stuff 

to see it from another angle.

 still if all else fails

I could find myself another outlet for my creativity.

I could do a Pancheon cut

it's like a basin cut only Bigger!

Keep Calm and Potter on.

It's been a long time since my last blog,

 but we haven't had a spare moment over the past few weeks.

In my last blog I showed these jugs I had just thrown.

A few days later they were slipped.

 some with white slip and some with green slip.

 Here they are finished.

 I do enjoy making these tall jugs

they are about 13" tall.

This one you can see was dipped in green slip.

 But this one had the green slip poured over it

whilst holding it upside down.

I really do like the detail here where the two lines carry on

 where there is no slip. 

 Here's a top view of one of my fat bellied jugs.

 and here is one in cream.

these are about 10" tall.

 Marion continues to experiment

we did like this little dish.

 We have had the odd day of sunshine which makes everything

just feel better, even some of our aches and pains seem to go away

on a sunny day.

I caught the sunlight streaming through the window at home

and shining right on Cadbury.

 Meanwhile the building work is carrying on all around us,

we are just keeping our heads down and making as many pots as we can

so that we have some stock to carry us through the change over 

of workshop and showroom.

We have some very long days ahead of us in 

April & May.

 Blaze Electrical have been working their socks off over the past two weeks

and it's starting to all take shape.

We have given the showroom and the workshop a lot of thought

and we think we have got some nice ideas, to make it just that

 little bit different, considering we have a

working budget of

 Bugger All!

Cor Blimey! What a week...

It's Friday and Marion and Me are Exhausted.

This time last week we were demonstrating at River Cottage HQ

as part of the Spring Fair.

This was our stall with our New Banner.

 Here are some of our pie dishes being used on another stall.

 Our pots seem to go down a storm at River Cottage

so we ended up having a really busy time, and by the time we got back

on Saturday night we were worn out.

No rest for the wicked though

so Sunday morning Marion started the Play with Clay

activity with kids in the showroom.

Blimey it was a busy day.

Mean while back in the barn

work is progressing well, even if it looks the same as ever.

We had a site meeting and all is well.

and I'm beginning to get excited. 

All week we have had a steady flow of people playing with clay. 

I've also managed to get some pots completed for orders.

I like this Harvest Jug. 

 I'm getting better at the writing bit.

These large dishes are still some of my favourite pots. 

 Lipped Bowls continue to be a good seller

and add a touch of colour to the showroom.

 I am continuing to stick to my plan of making more jugs this year

These two taller ones are 13" tall.

So we should just go home and fall asleep on the sofa

but I'm starting to get thirsty and the pub is 

before the house on the way home.

Um I wonder what we might do.