Reluctant commission

At the beginning of the year I was asked if I would make a large traditional full belllied jug for a special birthday. I was so busy with stools and finishing off my funded project etc that I politely declined, or tried to. But somehow the commisioner was willing to wait and accept a jug gift token. Well that time has come when I had better get down to it, but I havn't thrown anything big for ages and jugs aren't really where I am 'at' right now. If it hadn't been for the fact they wanted my boats as a decoration I would have sent the commission on to someone who is RIGHT in the jug zone. As it was I had to ring Hannah to ask how much clay she would use.

But you know what, I am pretty pleased with myself.

Extruded wiggles are more where I still am - this one is going to be another upright double skinned fellow.
Some glazed pots from this Monday's kiln. The penguin mugs are for an order - I am not sure why their white bibs are rather fawn, it looks like I used the wrong slip trailer. Still, I quite like them like that.

Burnt Toast?

These test tiles came out pretty well and I feel quite encouraged. This was taking the clay to the 1160c bisc temperature, and though it was a bit trickier to get the glaze on, it wasn't impossible. But then these are flat - the stools have upright bits. Adding calcium chloride to the glaze does thicken it, but then if it is too thick it hides the texture and bubbles. I really like the way the glaze on these tests brings out the scoring on the wings of the birds - it reminds me of etching. This is what I want to achieve on the stools.

Two successful bisc firings. It was quite a shock to open the kiln and find the BLACK clay had turned er.....BLACK! 'Burnt the toast', was the first thought. They are growing on me and the black does give them a presence that you can't ignore. Not that you CAN ignore them - you can't get through the front door! I still have a few tests to go; I need a bit more confidence in my ability to get the finish right. The colour may look great on the test tiles, but will it work on a larger scale I wonder...?

Its been a busy few weeks. Apart from the above firings, I've done a lot of making of smaller pieces, and there is a big glaze kiln to unpack tomorrow, as well as some more large (wiggly) dishes to work on. Other boring jobs like 'stock taking' and re-ordering has also had to be done, as well as getting my report for the Scottish Arts Council finished off.

Di Bruce of Mainhill Gallery is taking some of my larger pieces down to the Affordable Art Fair in London next month. The showroom was left with rather a lot of gaps when they left and it was a good incentive to have a pre- half term Spring clean and re-arrange. Rather a lot of pot lurking spiders found themselves out of a home.
www.mainhill.bordernet.co.uk

How will we manage without our wonderful Craft Development Officer who is moving to Glasgow next week. Thank you Helen for all your help, advice and encouragement, and without whom I would never have been writing this blog!

First stool in the kiln

This good old tea trolley is one of the workshops best assets. It has been re-enforced but it did creak somewhat alarmingly under the weight of the stool.
The tip from Jim Robison was to not onl y use a layer of sand, but also a sheet of brown paper to assist with sliding the clay with out damaging the surface of the clay. I lined up the levels pretty well with a spirit level.


We got it into the kiln with only the merest chip on the under edge when the stool rolled over the merest change of level - a millimetre at most. (Next time 'nearly' level isn't good enough, Christine). I fired it last night, taking it up to a high 1160c bisc for the maturity of the black clay. I was so excited having got it into the kiln in one piece and was concentrating on programming a slow rate of initial climb, that it wasn't until bedtime that I remembered that I was mean t to be going to 1160! Panic, and back into the workshop late at night to alter the settings half way through the firing. Did I remember to put vent holes in ALL the hollow sections...?

Seven Ages of Slip Trailer

Today I decorated a batch of extruded dishes. I 've used three designs in various forms- shrimps, doves and cabbages and fox and foxgloves. I'll finish the scraffito detail tomorrow as well as the trailed lines whi ch I am finding easier to execute in a fine and fast manner when the body is a bit drier.
The seven ages of slip trailer, in other words all the types I have tried, From left to right, a) huge and clumpy, b) tendon straining hard, c) the bicycle inner tube - good but messy to fill, d) the glass nozzel, didn't work at all, e) definitely getting better, f) the first German one, recommended by Mathieu van der Giessen - nice fine lines and pretty soft too g) the WINNER ,with oh such a fine range of nozzels, is the German 'Malhorn set fur engobe'.
What a job, I cleaned out ALL my slip trailers. I keep them filled and in the damp cupboard to stop them clogging up, but I had abandoned several colours last year and never got round to emptying them. Nothing like a clean slate.
SNOW today!

Spare leg toast racks

I had some left over legs from the stools - decided they would make good toast racks, not that many people use toast racks these days.
Things I've been doing this week include cutting a new die. This one is for pugmill's the letter box shaped expansion box - the widest dish yet, should be interesting. I got some NEW drills this week - it was so much easier and quicker than beavering away for ages with blunt ones -didn't realsise it would make SUCH a difference!
Jobs, messy jobs.

Burns and biscs

More images from the Burns celebration in Dumfries on Sunday. It seemed such a pity to burn that superb willow horse, though it did make a wildly dramatic spectacle. I loved these fish, and they looked even better as it got dark, especially dancing about to the music.

I did a batch of throwing yesterday - mugs for the local Yacht Club order. They felt rather small after the monster stuff. Meanwhile I've been doing some tests with the black clay, taking the bisc to 1160c. I tried applying some glaze to these high bisc fired pieces and it seemed to go on fine - I thought it would just run off. Hmmm, it's good that the glaze is being absorbed, but the whole point is that I want the clay to be pretty vitrified, so that I feel happier about the large pieces going outsdoors. I might even try a 1200c bisc and see what happens. The Valentines black should go up to stoneware, but I've mixed it 50/50 with Red earthenware.....Ok, I should have had this all worked out BEFORE I made the huge stools, but I can never learn to hold back when the enthusiasm sets in.

All Music this weekend

A big Robert Burns celebration for his 250 year anniversary took place this afternoon in Dumfries.There was music and paper lanterns with three huge processions along the river arriving in time for the fire sculpture and lone piper. As I was both singing Burns songs with the 'Feral Choir', as well as playing drums with the 'Samba Sisters', I had a great day. Here is a photo of 'The Tam o'Shanter' willow fire sculpture, with the 'deil' hanging onto it's tail. Trevor Leat made this - too good to burn, but it did look spectacular as it went off.
Sheep lanterns,
....and a moose or two. Sorry, I never got any shots after dusk when it all came together but it gives a feel of the event.

More scary stools

I've been working on the top of this doughnut stool today. Great deliberations have been going on as to whether to fire it as one piece, or socket the top on afterwards. I went for one piece after three changes of mind, twice in the middle of the night! We had to lift the top on and off three scary times,(once to mark the position, once to compress the buffer sausages of soft clay and the third time for good. I 'm going to leave the outside support columns in situ for the firing whatever.


I can't believe how long these big pieces take to make. I thought that I would have finished these two by mid week. This four legged one feels fairly secure. Cutting through the central column has helped it to look less heavy. It's funny, but the bigger the scale the less in terms of decoration it seems to need. This doesn't go well with a compulsive graphic decorator like me so I am having to sit on my hands to stop them twitching. I've laid out the simplest lines of long legged birds up the stalks and two huge beaks on the seat.

Monster stool construction completed!

This week I got the construction of the on-going stool finished! (Much delayed by elbow fractures and Christmas). It was pretty terrifying to lift the top seat in place, but this time it was MUCH firmer. Once in place I could think about the surface design which took another morning of drawings and deliberations. It is now safely back in its three sections to dry out slowly and hopefully without incident. What a project - still this is what the Arts Council funding was all about. I am meant to have 'finished ' the year's 'creative development' by the end of January. I can see it over-running as I have another two 'African' inspired stools underway plus a lot of glaze tests to see what will look best on this black clay. After that a session of throwing safer (in terms of scale) slipware might be quite relaxating, but I have been on such a roll with problem solving round every corner....it's been great. Will I be saying this after trying to get this monster in the kiln I wonder?

Happy Creations 2009

This lovely plate of Prue Cooper"s I bought from the Whitehouse Gallery in Kirkcudbright and gave to Rodger for Christmas. It a fantastic picture of Rodger. Not only is it HIS chicken topiary, it is simply HIM. How did Prue Cooper know? www.pruecooper.com


I got back into the workshop on Friday and had a HUGE New Year tidy up. How could things have got into quite such a muddle and tip when no one had been in it that much? I think the pre Christmas one handed bench wiping and sweeping etc must have taken its toll, ( all better now thankfully). Only after a morning of blitz could I remember where my head I was before the Christmas New Year break.... I uncovered all the plastic wrappers and discovered...the top to the stool! Actually it is the second top - the first one had met a rather unhappy fate as I had been so keen to see the piece together we had lifted the top on while still just a little too soft. As we were all standing discussing, admiring, critisising, discussing, it a rather dramatic self destruct...shloomp on the floor.

Also ongoing, I found the solid wave.....I'm still working on where this one is going. It was really a spare double skin which I decided to press over some corrugations, but I like the idea of an upright wiggle.

Happy Creations 2009!