A Slippy Week's Work

Phew, it's been an awfully long and tiring sort of week this week, everything has been kind of hard work, it's been cold and wet and windy and a bit quiet and lonely. I've had lots to do though so here is some of it for you to hopefully enjoy.

This big fattie is a present for the son of a dear friend of mine. Hopefully Emma is far too busy looking after Oliver and his big sister Emily to be reading this blog and so hopefully she'll not see this jug before I take it to her later this week (fingers crossed it comes out the kiln ok). Oliver was 9lb 2oz when he was born so this is a 9lb 2oz jug.

It's got his name and date of birth and birth weight and his mum and dad's names and his big sister too. Please please please let me have got all the correct information in the correct order.

I spent, hmmmm, quite a while decorating it with the sgraffito.

Here we have black slip, white slip, Hollyford slip.

Here we have dissected owl.

Here we have gremlin owl.

Here we have me making some slab dishes, now that was fun, I need to make some more, maybe that's what I'll do this week, I enjoyed them.

The one in the picture above unslipped became this one in the picture above slipped.

I made a half dozen slab dishes and a couple of thrown ones. All being well they are to sit with some of Amanda Simmons' glass in an exhibition in Penrith at The Red Barn Gallery coming up shortly.

I really like this shape, there'll be some more of these. These ones have wee knobby feet underneath them. This dish is about 10" long.
I'm popping down the road to Devon this week, it's nice as I am just at the end of a big batch of crazy making and so it'll be fun to go fire a kiln instead. Then in two weeks time I'm off to America again, now that has come round very very quickly. Yikes!

Ceramics a Fragile History - for those outwith the UK.

Thank you BBC

USA Slipware Tour Volume V (I think)

This afternoon as I stared out at the rain that was falling from the gray sky, the rain that was so close to being sleet I shut my eyes just for a couple of moments and accidental spent a good while day dreaming. Suddenly I was lying on a beach next to a lake on Cape Cod, the sky was blue and the sun was shining and was warm on my back. I was enjoying a few moments of calm quietness for collecting thoughts amid the intense and wonderful trip that was the American Tour in April. Doug and me had only been on Cape Cod a couple of days and we were I think it is safe to say fairly stunned and shell shocked to actually be there and were somewhat terrified by the fact that we were to give a workshop in just another day or so's time and still feeling rather rough from the time difference issue. We had gone for a walk down to a lake that Hollis had told us about and were just sitting in the sun being calm. I remember it being a lovely afternoon and I remember feeling the warmth in the sun and today I was neither having a lovely afternoon nor feeling any warmth.
My little day dream ended rather abruptly when Alan knocked on the door and brought my post in.
Anyway what it did do was remind me that I hadn't yet shared the pots that made their ways home with me. These pictures I took not long after I got back and now the pots are all ensconced around the house doing their jobs and being used and enjoyed. Hopefully I'll get all your names correct and attached tot he right pots, my apologies if I get muddled.
So above we have tea bowls by: John Ferraris (NC), David Stuempfle (Seagrove NC) and Hollis Engley (Cape Cod MA).

A very well used mug by Hollis, beaker from Bulldog Pottery (Seagrove NC) and another from Brad Lail (Seagrove NC).
Slab dish by Guy Wolff (Washington CT).

Mr Dan Finnegan (Fredericksburg VA)

Jug by Kevin Crowe (Amherst VA).

Goat by Naomi Dalgleish (Bakersville NC), penguins by Anna Couper (Australia) and wee fat birdie at the front by Becky Story (NC).

Two by Mr Michael Kline (Bakersville NC).

Wee jar from the apprentice at From The Ground Up Pottery (Seagrove NC), lovely dish by the lovely guys at Whynot Pottery, Meredith and Mark (Seagrove NC) and Ang Walford (Australia).

Paper plate by Michael Kline.

Oh heavens! Dish by Michael Hunt, (Bakersville NC)

Sweetie tiny spoon rest, slipped its way into my luggage just before I came home, Ron Philbeck (Charlotte NC).
I think that is the lot of them. They are all special and each of them reminds me of the different places we visited and the great times we had and all the laughs, sometimes so much laughing that there were tears and belly aches as a result. What a crazy wonderful incredible amazing mind blowing trip of a life time. To you all thank you once again. There are so many more stories that could be told (trip round the lake in a posh boat, hammocks and grapes, baseball / rounders) and some will probably appear at random points in the blog but others will probably be best told 'in the flesh' so to speak and yet others that just don't translate to people that weren't there at the time (hatchet man, frisbee, moonshine) but that to those of us that were there are just the funniest, warmest times.
Ahhhhhh it seems so very long ago but yet memories can take me there at the drop of a hat.x

Blossoms, Fruit and Orchards

Go and see it if you get the chance, there is some really lovely work there from a great variety of artists and makers. The two pieces I chose of mine to go have both been sold already and so there are now two new pieces of mine in there.

Printing Printing Printing

I had a lucky day last week when I was able to spend the day in the print room at Gracefield learning new stuff. I do enjoy learning new stuff but I am prone to getting a little waylaid by these things and maybe losing track of where I should be. Printing, I did some of on my foundation at uni and then didn't do any more until I spent that day with Lisa Hooper last year. I do have a certain something that draws me to prints whenever I am in galleries, there's something about it that strongly appeals to me.

I got the chance to do some non toxic etching. I've only ever done it with acid baths and copper plate before but this is on zinc plate, the ground is made with acrylic floor polish and black ink and the solution to etch in is copper sulphate which apparently doesn't give off the nasty fumes that the traditional methods do.

This is Tina who was teaching the processes.
The print of the owl at the top of the page is done in dry point, I've never done that before at all. Again traditionally it is done on metal plate. This though was done into acetate though with a sharp pin. Of course the 'plate' won't last anywhere near as long as a metal plate would but I likes the result, and it's surprising that it would work at all really.
This fat boy was the etched plate. He's a bit bog eyed isn't he. Shame. So that was my exciting day last week. I think the printing techniques do have a link with the sgraffito and trailing that I do everyday. It was interesting seeing the pieces made by the others with me who are all artists by which I mean they do paintings and drawings and not pots. Their style of drawing is so very different from mine. They draw as I feel that 'proper' drawings should be done. My drawings, to me, tend to feel very childish. I always worry about my drawing skills or lack there of. Most of the time they do what I want them to do even if I don't ever feel they are something to show off and of course trailing slip demands a particular way of working anyway which seems to work for me.

Anyway maybe when I have some of that illustrious 'free time' I should go and spend a bit of time in the print room again, it's pretty well equipped and it's not really that far away. In the mean time I am making pots for an exhibition in Carlisle and one in Penrith and some Christmas stock too. Today has been good, I got a whole list of orders thrown and a decent dent made in the first exhibition list. Feels good.
On a Biscuit update in case you were wondering, she has turned into a right wee monkey, not literally you understand. One night a week or so ago I woke up not understanding what was going on and why I was being jabbed in the hip from underneath the bed. I discovered the cat sitting under the bed amusing herself by prodding the mattress between the wooden slats.
Now she has mastered the art of the cat flap. I have spent the last two weeks trying to give a cat flap usage lesson each morning, you can imagine, me kneeling on the floor head butting the cat flap and the cat sitting next to me with a very puzzled and slightly amused look on her face before about turning and heading to sit in the window sill. She got the out bit fairly easily but the in bit took a lot longer. Last week she brought us her first offerings of a tiny pair of kidneys. Yum, we had them on pizza.
She now spends most of the night out gallivanting and fraternizing with cows and pheasants and owls and heaven knows what else and then comes in with muddy feet and wanders about all over the house, yes we can tell exactly where she's been, seems there was a party in the bath room last night! Hope she doesn't start trying to bring her new friends in for late night raves.

Fire in the stove day

Today I conceded defeat and lit the stove, it was long fingered gloves on the ride to work day and lighting the stove to get some warmth in the place day. I came home and found this tiny little rose in a bottle on the kitchen table, Paul had found it while 'gardening'. (Name the potters if you can).

Look! New toy! I haven't used it yet though. I bought it from someone who didn't want it any more and just happened to be in Lancaster at a time that I was passing through Lancaster and it all worked out almost perfectly. I'll maybe try it next week, bit scared to dirty it really.
Scary bright picture of some of those new wee jugs. Nice jugs, not so good photography.

The big fat new finger wipey / traily birdies. This jug is on it's way to America now, the pots for the Phili show are all packed and gone way with the shippers.

These wee fatties are away too but I want to make some more of them I like the shape.

I have been trying to throw today but have failed rather miserably. I have three ish exhibitions to put together before I head to America and although I know what I want for them I failed to make any dent on the list today. I was trying to throw fat jugs but they were rubbish, one has survived from the 5 but even that might not get so far as a handle. Hopefully next week will be more successful.

This panel has headed away too, I really hope I've sent the right pots for the show. It's hard enough packing for a show that's 5 hours drive away but for something that you aren't even going to be at for another 5 weeks and is the other side of the world as near as dam it, well that's hard to get your head around.

Jugs and Kiwis

More jugs, these again all being well for me to take to Philadelphia, I now have a lead free honey glaze that has been certified as suitable to send to the USA - big relief, not as juicy as mine but needs must. I have to deliver the pots this wednesday ready to go by sea all the way across that big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in (name that TV show in one). They are based on some oldies but goodies (the jugs that is) and if you pay attention you can see the image that I was looking at in the background. The handle is nothing like the one on the original pot, the pot is one I saw at Blackwell years ago as part of the Synge Craven slipware collection.

And another.
We had a visit this weekend from a New Zealand friend of ours, Russell who we spent a bit of time with in Dunedin when we were out there in 2006 (he lives in Perth in Australia now though). He took us out and about then and now was our turn to do the honours. We wanted to pop out to Wigtown as it was the book festival so while in that area we went up to visit Andy Priestman at his pottery at Glentrool.

Here is Russell in Andy's place inspecting the pots. I do find it always so peaceful there and the pots are fab and the paintings are stunning too. One day I'd love a painting but we don't have a big enough wall to do one justice at the moment so I had to content myself with a stunning wee porcelain bowl with an iron bleed in it. I had my blackberry and apple crumble from it on saturday night.

We took Russell up onto the Queen's Way and showed him the wild goat park (really wild you know, big pointy teeth and wielding clubs!)

and then we went down the Raiders Road to the beautiful Otter's Pool.

So that was that, we had a great time and it was lovely to have him here. He's now winding his way down to Stoke and then on to London to meet his twin sister.