Jugs

This is the cover of a stunningly photographed calendar, featuring some of the beautiful mums who live in and around my home village, Cheriton Fitzpaine. They courageously bared all in all weathers, including snow, to raise money for local charities.

If you click on the photo, not only will you have the delightful pleasure of seeing these fair maidens in more detail, but you'll notice a number of my jugs that were strategically positioned during the photo shoot.

The calendar was shot by my very talented friend, photographer Dawn Hannemann , who cleverly, artistically and tastefully composed the images in various locatons in the neighbouring countryside. She used carefully positioned props to protect the ladies' modesty. It's a fundraiser aimed at providing money for the various charities in the village that benefit local children. There are further images from the calendar and a report from the newspaper right here. If you'd like to support the cause and purchase one, you can buy it right here.

My word, such excitement boys and girls, now back to the brown mud.

I went to work this morning with Marky Mark. These are the dishes I made last week - they're about 14" in diameter. I threw the footrings on to them yesterday. Today I handled and decorated mugs and worked on moneyboxes. I'm making all the last minute small stuff for the firing. This time next week, we'll be in full flame.
This sprigged mug will be green
this one, black and yellow
and this one black and amber. I've made two dozen mugs so far, each different. It's a great way to try out different decorative approaches, without risking making a mess of a large pot.
Here's a haystack and cockerel moneybox. I've made some other designs that I'll show you on a later post when they're finished. These are inspired by similar boxes made in the country potteries of England until the end of the nineteenth century. As they're supposed to be for saving money, in common with the old ones,they have no bung, so you have to fiddle around their slots with a knife, or smash them to get the money out.
Here's Marky Mark painting one of his pots. The orange slip is made from the stream clay - it's going to be interesting to see how his pots come out, because he uses the same materials as I do, but in a very different way.

That's all for now, off to my mate Clarkey's for home made pizzas - nice