scarey crows

I have made a scarecrow to try to keep the blackbirds off my current bushes. He is wearing Pauls old dress shirt which had been in the cupboard so long that it was mouldy -'nice', and bares an uncanny resemblance to the origional owner before a morning coffee has arrived. Fingers crossed he can do the job and we can have pies!!

The sun has come out again after our weekend of horrible weather,and so have the mirror sunglasses. Very cheery. I need cheering up as I have just returned from a not very successful show at 'Patchings' Art Centre in Nottingham.

It is a really nice venue and all in Marquees - so a bit vulnerable on a rainy weekend. There is a mixture of Art material trade stands and Painting tents with a mixed Craft marqee. Unfortunately for me customers had come mostly to purchase cut price painting materials ( which is what I did when I had the chance) I sold a few things but not enough to cover all the costs. Probably not the right venue for my stuff. But looking forward to Rufford next weekend.

My kiln is mended. - Thankyou 'Colin the Kiln Man'.

It seems to be working well. This is a jug I refired ( had been under fired in the disasterous kiln) So I have managed to salvage a couple of things.

unfortunately it has left me a little behind with orders and no last minute making for Rufford. I will have to work my socks off now for a while to catch up

I have a lot of these to make- this is obviously the year of the ladybird. I am really enjoying working to order at the moment. I was worried when I first set up that I would not get the practice in throwing that I needed to improve, but working to orders is really giving me a lot of throwing time and my pots are improving a lot. Unfortunately the down side is less time to develope ideas, of course. Ill have to work on that one , but in the meantime I m still a happy potter.

long time no blog

Its been a long time since I last did a blog. When ever you are busy and have lots to show - you have less time to talk about it. The sun has been shiny and and the flowers have all come out. My front garden looks beautiful.I have planted andd weeded and watered my little socks off.

The lawn has grown buttercups. I dont mow this lawn until July and let all of the flowers self seed. It looks great in May but a bit tatty by the end of the summer. It is great for bugs and frogs.

My giant alliums are in flower. Thalia planted these last winter and forgot that they were there. She was really suprised by the size of them

I have also made a lot of pots but I have been struggling with a temperamental kiln. The glaze was not right and I kept getting a problem with crawling, much to my annoyance . Ive added more lead to the mix - assuming that I must have measured incorrectly.

Today the kiln did horrible things to a large order. I think an element or two has gone. The top of the kiln is underfired - horrible yellow chewy glaze and crawled / beaded all over.

On the bottom shelves the pots are toasted. black ladybirds and fried frogs. The glaze is blistered and bubbly. It probably means I have been needlesly messing about with my glaze.

My usual colours are all toasted.

At least I know that it is a 'Kiln' problem now and I can call out the repair man. Im afraid I am not technical or brave enough to tackle kiln electrics on my own.

Some were worse than others. This one was in the middle of the kiln and a bit runny, but may be ok as a second.

And this pea jug was fine - on the middle shelf again.So I retrieved a couple of things but the rest was really a right off.

So in a sulky mood I went down to the allotments and did digging - guarenteed to cheer me up a bit on the worst days. I found this chap amongst the potatoes. He is a newt hanging out in the cool mud. Newts are easy to photograph as they are too stupid to run away.

At the beginning of the week I took my girls and Baby Harley to the Sea Life Centre in Birmingham. Harley can now do fish impressions. So life 's still pretty good despite the irritation. Ill just have to get back to the grindstone for a while.

New Exibition and new pots at last

Finally I managed to get back into the studio to make some more pots. I was beginning to get withdrawal tremours. I have spent a whole week playing with clay and merrily painting slip. What Bliss. I made some small frog bowls without the frog spawn and lots more things with ladybirds on as well the bee and daddylong legs things that I have made before. It is always best to do some new things.

I put together a box of things to take to Created Gallery in Chesterfield for the opening of Spring Sunday on 4th. May. I have an exhibition of work going up and I am very excited about showing it off here for the first time. The gallery is open for cakes and viewing on Sunday at 1pm
Created Gallery is run by Deirdre Gage who I met last year at Wirksworth Art Festival and is a fellow woodcrafter(now retired). For those who dont know -'woodcraft' is a p.c. version of Scouts/Brownies for people who want to bring there children up in a spirit of peace and co-operation - or as my son says we knit our underware from leaves and wear hats made of porridge - thanks James.

Thalia is giving Harley tuition to do his grade 1 piano - it may take some time as he cant reach the keys without a booster seat and falls off the chair half way through his pieces. But practice makes perfect.
I must have been hungover when I took these pictures or my eyesight is finally going.

New pots

These are some of my more recent pots. I am trying to keep on top of the photography and recording anything a bit different to update my website later (when I am a little more rich)

It is shocking how quickly things move on.I cant keep up with myself.

Had another rather distracting day today, babysitting again.I cant complain because I spent a great day doting but now ill have to work all weekend which will annoy Talli.Cant seem to get out of the garden at the moment. all this dry weather means I must water my seeds-and while Im there I dig, weed, manur - its a compulsion.Found a fantastic toad in the compost heap. Im taking my sketchbook down tomorrow to see if hes still there.

BCTF fun and family but no pots

Well its been a very funny few weeks. I havn't made a thing and Im beginning to get twitchy now through clay withdrawal.

I went to the BCTF in harrogate (a trade show where you set up stall and try to chat up gallery owners and shops). I stayed with some old family friends, Alison and John, which was really lovely. BCTF was a bit odd. Being trapped in a shed trying to sell work to galleries because I dont want to have to always sell my own work was a little ironic. The weather was lovely but sadly I missed it. The show was pretty good though. I was pleased with the response to my pots, got plenty of orders and some exhibitions which I am really looking forward to.This is the picture I took just after set up.

We went to Rufford just before Harrogate to check out the Northern Potters selected exhibition where I also have a few pots on show. Thalli took the chance to make a new friend. We called him little Jonny apple seed. He reminds me of my little brother - but not in dimensions.

We decided to save cash this week and the easiest way, it seems, is to sell your children off to service to the local gentry. So we have sent Talli to a large stately home in the Dales to work as a chamber maid. If nothing else it will save us a fortune in cake and free up the internet for ourselves.Some may notice the similarity between her Jesus costume and Victorian maid outfit, facilitated by the cunning use of lace. This also made a medieval princess and Mary in the nativity play. A very useful garment all round.

For the rest of the week I have been babysitting my grandson - int he sweet- while his mum does her driving lessons. Finally she passed!!!! congratulations Vic, but Ill miss the babysitting.

Today I picked up these two beauties in a hospice shop in Draycott. They are beautiful. Im so pleased with them I tried to find out where they come from with no luck - no marks- so if any one has any idea please let me know. MUST start making again tommorrow.

painting veg

I have finished most of my stuff for BCTF this week. 'Early' which is pretty damned good.My display shelves are all sorted and I have chosen my pots - more or less. I just need to print off a few more price lists and stuff. I cant believe how much paper work and details that I still had to get sorted out- so the whole experience has probably done me a lot of good. Hopefully I will sound like a 'propper' potter now. The really good thing is that I havnt had time to get back into the clay this week so I have done some significant digging( which always cheers me up) and had another go at some painting. I painted veg - obviously.Maybe I might try to do some prints to sell.

My Anniversary

Today was my 12th wedding anniversary. I forgot (as usual) but luckily Paul reminds me every year by helpfully buying roses in the exact number of years we have been married. Occasionally I have been given these roses and then taken all day to remember why.It took me years to work out that the number was increasing in sequence.Paul is always ready with helpful and patient prompts to my awful memory (or incredible ignorance) but every prompt reminds me most that 'Mary is from Mars and Paul is from Venus'. He helpfully reminded me of this fact after reading this book. I have not read it myself which says a lot really.

Paul has practiced this long suffering, adoring expresion just to make me feel guilty but it wont work (Martians dont experience guilt)

Finally I got away from the computer and did some gardening and decorated my pots. These small jugs were getting ladybird treatment. The world has errupted in sleepy eyed ladybirds this week so I thought I would add some to the pots and see how they look.
I have dug over a couple of beds and planted some garlic. Digging makes me happy.

These are the hellibores in my gaden, just comming to life. They are so quick once they get started. They are beautiful -especially the purple one.