Try and try again

There was so much finishing off for Spring Fling it is good to be making again. I threw loads of mugs last Wednesday, and with Allie back from Malawi to help with slipping and handles we should get them all ready for me to slip trail soon.

I had some extruded sections waiting under polythene from several weeks ago, and I have got started on some new large scale ideas.


I have an idea for a table which involves a wavy upright central column. I made a die which used the full capacity of the Big blue. It extruded beautifully but then how/when to cut it off. I dried it for a while with the heat gun and left it with a wedge underneath to air dry for the rest of the afternoon. No hurry to cut it off, I could do that at bedtime if need be. Ten minutes after Allie left I heard a loud WHOOMPH as it collasped and hit the wooden floor. Och weel, Try again. The next time Allie and I tried to lie it sideways, (after an initial power dry), but no chance. The middle was still too soggy. It was on the fouth attempt that I got out the big guns - the gas burner. This time I really got the thing steaming. I could see it trying to rip at the top and kept ramming clay ‘sticking plasters’ on to the tear until eventually I won. I still left it for an hour or so hanging from the big blue, but what a beauty. Tomorrow maybe I will get it joined to the base. I held it there just to try and it looked like it had potential.

I also want to make another seat with more of a bottom shape.

I've got the section tipped off, but I shall have to wrap it up tight until the mugs are decorated. I do get a great sense of satisfaction from the slipped thrown ware but it is the big stuff that really gets me excited at the moment, so I am having to be very patient. I need more hours in the day and more days in the week at the moment. But then it is also summer, and I don't want to miss the good weather, I need to cut the grass, find time to get out on my bike, sail a boat and play music. Sometimes it just isn't possible to fit it all in!


I decided to spend the last of my official funding on getting some swanky photographs of some of my latest pieces. It was rather a scary thing to transport the eagle seat up to Edinburgh ( as it is has already been homed), and in particular I kept thinking about Hannah, and cars shunting into my boot. I’ve probably never used the rear mirror so much.

It was a most interesting day, looking at these amazing images on Shannon's computer screen, which were actually my pots! It was also very exhausting and quite draining, making so many decisions, and actually quite strange to have so much time to really look at and contemplate my own work. Maybe it's like seeing yourself on stage - 'Am I really that ugly, mixed with, oh my profile isn't that bad actually......' Whatever I’m excited about seeing the final images.