Off to Potfest in the Park

I'm rather pleased with these greetings cards, depicting images from my pots, which I've had made up.


They are really smart with envelopes and have a nice little detail on the back.

They arrived just in time to take to the show tomorrow, so much easier to pack up than pots, which is what I've been doing today.


At one point this afternoon it felt like mission impossible to sort this lot out, but (nearly) everything is boxed up tonight, ready to take down to Potfest in the Park tomorrow.

Two more kilns come out tomorrow morning before I leave, so there might be a few more pieces to pack. Why on earth does time concertina like this?

Oh, and the boat sections survived the kiln, and are looking good, I think. Of course all I can see are the areas which could have been better, but I have barely had time to get to know it in its finished state. I'll get some images taken after Potfest. No time left today.


At least someone was enjoying the non stop kiln firings which seem to have coincided with a spell of proper hot sunny weather.

A ladder by a warm kiln, what bliss. What more could a cat ask for.




Somewhere in one of the many recent kiln firings I managed to finish this tile panel which was ordered ages ago. It is to go behind a range. All these creatures featured were specifically asked for, as was the border of hops. It is hard when the client has asked for something so specific, but it seems to be what was wanted. Hopefully when it is up I can take a proper in situ shot of it.


I never posted a picture of this one which I made earlier in the year as I was hoping to be able to take a photograph of it in place, but I'm not sure that it is up yet. It is difficult to get the feel of the thing standing on a ladder. Surely it will look better round the wood burning stove.


The design problem here was how to fit a heron onto a very tall narrow space. (Cut its tail off). The tiles for both these panels were extruded with ridges in the back, then dried very slowly between boards. I am pretty pleased with how flat they are, but it does mean they take a long time from start to finish.



The teachers plates were finished too, collected and presented. I used the same design as the earlier one as that is what they wanted but this time they are decorated using slips.

Phew, I seem to have at last cleared a backlog of troublesome commissions. Er, well, actually a few more seem to have crept in to the book when I wasn't looking. But for now I'm off to Potfest to enjoy some good company and who knows, I may even sell a few pots.

Wendy House Spray Booth extension

It was Wednesday before I was ready to get some slips onto my finished boat sections. But they were too big to fit in the (dish washer casing) spray booth and I would need to take them outside. The weather teased me, every time I thought I had a slot the blue sky disappeared and a ridiculously heavy shower chased me inside again. But Mr Fixit Rodger came to the rescue.

It can be hard living with a 'never throw anything out' person, but I regularly have to eat my hat, because he appeared with an old Wendy house frame with which he made up a spray booth extension. It not only worked perfectly but with the high ceilings it can be hoisted up and down on pulleys.

Actually, a copy of Jim Robison and Ian Marsh's book on slab built ceramics had arrived that morning. Rodger was looking through it over coffee and spotted a photograph of Jim spraying in a sort of plastic sheet extension which gave him the idea. Good timing indeed. Thanks Jim and Ian.


Yet more equipment from Glasgow School of Art. We collected this beast of a slab roller on Tuesday. What a monster.

Quite excited about the huge studio rearrangement which is going to happen sometime late summer, and the potential of this new bit of kit.