Monday

I got home from Buxton in the early hours of the morning, so today's been a bit of a lazy one, in fact I went back to bed for a couple of hours because I was so tired.

This afternoon I returned the hire van, then went to the workshop this evening to start the huge task of getting my chaotic workshop back into some kind of order, so that I can start making pots again this week - it's been a long time since I've made any.



Ceramics in the Round was fairly quiet at the weekend. I couldn't find my camera during the show, but here's a picture of what I took with me on the track outside the workshop that I took before I left.

I was lucky that my pots sold well because I know it wasn't a great show for everybody. These shows are unpredictable and you never really know how well things are going to go, it depends so much on whether the right people come through the door. Sometimes it can be great, but others, really disheartening. I've had my fair share of disappointments in the past and no doubt will again in the future, so I feel fortunate that it was my turn to have struck lucky this time and empathise with some of my friends who had a frustrating experience this weekend.

A big thank you to anybody reading this who bought pots, I hope you're happy with them and that they've settled in to their new homes. If you're new to this blog and you have time on your hands, check back through old posts and I expect you'll find your pots when they were freshly thrown, wet clay.


The venue for Ceramics in the Round, was a remarkable 18th century building called the Devonshire Dome, which had very peculiar acoustics.

Hannah, Sabine and I stayed with friends in their beautiful cottage in the depths of rural Derbyshire, thank you very much for having us Dave and Sue.



I came home with this beautiful jug that Hannah slipped into my packing crates when I was packing down at the end of the show. It's a beauty, I love it, thank you so much H. It's reminiscent of a the jug in the V&A that turned me on to slipware when I was a student. The composition is superb and the execution of the sliptrailing, faultless as ever.



I also came home with this fabulous platter made by an old friend of mine, Dylan Bowen. I think his work is brilliant - wonderful use of materials. He has a really interesting website where David Whiting summarises his work much better than I can, so check him out here.

Well it's the middle of the night again so I really must end this rambling and disjointed blog and get to bed. Working late tomorrow with Jessica and Marky Mark, but I'll try and get on here when I get home as I know I've some questions to answer. Who knows, I may even have some shiny wet pots to show you if I can dig my wheel out from under all the junk. Cheers for now.