Extruded vases and a Long Lost tool

Two of the things I have been working on over the last weeks have been a extruded vases and long dishes.The most successful of these will be going to an exhibition at Leeds Craft and Design Gallery next week, entitled "Figure That'.

Once I have made the die the initial extrusions are comparatively straightforward to make. But by the time I have added the bases, incised each design, (no two are the same so each design has to fit the individual flow of the piece), days seem to go by. These ones are ready to be put into the glaze kiln, they have been bisc fired, coloured glazes applied to the designs with a slip trailer, then the glazed sections masked out with wax emulsion so that I can dip or spray the rest of the area with contrasting glaze.

I got this lot in the glaze kiln late Saturday night, so I am hoping for some good results come Tuesday.

I couldn't resist admitting to this ridiculous cat and ridiculous owner, neither of whom at this point helped either of us achieve anything at speed.

One thing I haven't been working on this year is a competition piece for Potfest in the Park, the fantastic show of British and International ceramics held at Hutton in the Forest Penrith next weekend. The year I decided not to apply, the competition theme is temptingly illustrative. It is 'Biblical' - I would have been spoilt for choice of ideas!

But this year I am not going to be there. Last Autumn I decided to have a year out, and the way things turned out this year, it was a very fortuitous decision. It's kind of strange, and I am feeling a little sad to be missing it, and all my friends, though I know I made the right decision.  Have fun all of you, I will think of you setting up your stands. (I shall instead be listening to music at 'Womad' World Music Festival, a treat indeed).

Last week I was looking for a lost tool, and in my frustration I ended up tipping out 4 boxes of odds and ends, things like interesting objects to impress into clay, or half made tools, a lot dating from way back to when I used to run pottery evening classes.

I never found what I was looking for in the guddle, (because it was in fact right under my nose all along), but I DID find my LONG LOST serrated kidney. Oh joy - a treasure from art school days, lost for maybe ten or more years. They 'don't make them like that any more' you see, it is finger cuttingly sharp, and magic to use.