I'm coming to the States

Hi everybody. I've not blogged for a few days now, life's been rather hectic, with a tax return deadline and pantomime rehearsals and performances dominating my life. I haven't got a huge amount of pots made during the last week, hopefully this week will be more productive, although here I am at home, messing about on the computer when I should be at work, so not a great start.

I made a few of these 7lb tapered jugs the other day, here's one after it was freshly slipped.

This is a large jar, drying and awaiting bisc firing.

On Saturday I had a delivery of wood to the workshop. Marky Mark and I cut and stacked it in the woodshed in readiness for firings later in the year. I'm very fortunate, as I can get a regular supply of this softwood, which is delivered to me from a sawmill situated about five miles from the workshop. It's all the off-cuts and scrap that they can't use, but a lot of it's been very useful to me, not just for kiln fuel, also for building the various sheds that we've tacked on to the workshop in recent times. I've another load coming at the weekend, I plan to completely fill the new woodshed, floor to roof, so I'll have lovely dry wood for many firings to come.


Well, what do you think of the new look? Will I be allowed into the States looking like this do you think?

I've been involved in a production of Tom the Piper's Son and as you can see, I have the part of the delightful Dame Aubergine Sprightly.

It's been great fun doing this pantomime, although it's a lot of commitment - we've been rehearsing for months, two or more evenings a week. The show opened on Friday night, which was a somewhat chaotic performance(the first night always is), followed by a much slicker rendition on Saturday. I have a rehearsal on Wednesday evening this week, then performances on Friday and Saturday. I'll miss it when it's finished, I'll need to find something else to do with my evenings for a while.

One of the reasons I got involved with the drama group, was that I felt I needed to boost my confidence of talking in front of people. My life at the workshop is predominantly solitary, so I'm more accustomed to talking to myself. It used to terrify me whenever I got asked to do talks and demos at ceramics events, although in recent years, I've done a lot more of it and it has become much easier. My belief is however, that if I can stand on a stage in front of a full house, packed out with folks from the village and beyond and act the role of this fierce yet charming old hag, perform Sonny and Cher's duet 'I've got you babe', with my friend Sarah, pictured here above, who is acting the male role and my reluctant love interest, then surely the prospect of doing some pottery workshops in front of people must be less scary when I come over to the States with Hannah in April. My word, that was a long sentence. To be honest I am a lot less nervous about the forthcoming workshops now, so it has helped. Mind you, I might pack my frock and a backing tape when I go, just in case it all goes horribly wrong!

Here are the dates and venues of our US slipware tour:

Cape Cod courtesy of Hollis Engley, the weekend of 9th and 10th April,

Liberty Town in Fredricksburg courtesy of Dan Finnegan, the 16th and 17th April

Shelby, North Carolina, courtesy of Ron Philbeck, the 23rd April

It all seems a bit unreal at the moment. It will be great to meet some of my virtual friends, in the real world and to make some new ones too.

Well that's all for now, housework to do, then back to work tomorrow

Bye bye all