Monday 18 May 2009

Monday morning

Off shortly to see a man about a bottle kiln - can't say much more about that at the moment, so I'm just teasing you, ha ha.



Here are some of the pots I decorated yesterday. I really didn't want to drag myself up to a damp, dark, dirty workshop on a Sunday afternoon, but it had to be done. Once I got there and settled in, it was fine. The woods opposite my little shed are wonderful at the moment, verdent and full of bird song. I'm going to go over there later today to get some clay from the various seams to use for slip tests in the forthcoming firing - I still want to do some experiments with naked clay in the hot spots and it'll be interesting to see how the different slips 'flash' with the flame.

I've decided to sgrafitto the two big Harvest Jugs. They'll take many hours to complete, but will, I hope, be worth the hours of scratching away dry slip. In preparation, I brought home some of the local flora last night and spent a couple of hours drawing. I want to capture the essence of the plants, birds, trees etc. that I see daily around me, but in a naive style rather than a literal interpretation - a tricky thing to get right.



This pot looks really messy at the moment - well it is I suppose, but when it's gold and black and green, it'll look very different.



The combing on this one will become more evident after firing.



This one will be green.



Well I have to head off now onto big, busy main roads, nasty. I'll leave you with a picture of this little fellow/ess, awwwwwwwwww.

Happy Monday all, catch you later.

7 comments:

Peter said...

A Bottle kiln, that is a teaser! I would love a huge one here, or even two or three.. Lovely forms and so much more appropriate for pottery than efficient downdraft square boxes! Lovely work with slip as always. All the Best, P.

Greg Boast said...

from big bad greg you forgot to email me to tell me about the rowese eatting habits went to the film club watched an areo film voiced in spanish but many english words came out very funny ha ha (supersnonic) (concord)promo film for boa in the 50s

Greg

ang design said...

aawwwwww sweeeet...

Gary's third pottery blog said...

what a cute kitten picture!

Ron said...

I had the craziest dream last night about a bottle kiln. It was huge and I was inside helping stack. I had to put on a special suit to get in. All the pots were covered in a salt crust (like you would bake a fish in).

Paul Jessop said...

Note to Ron's wife
" I think he's stopped taking the pills".

Anonymous said...

The new pots are looking good Doug. I@m looking forward to seeing them fired.
I met John Edgeley yesterday.
he came to the pottery to photograph some of the slipware and Cardew stuff in the new exhibition. A very interesting chap and very knowledgeable. I learned a lot from him. he is a big fan of yours.
I bought the new CD/DVD of British Sea Power yesterday, it@s called Man of Aran. they have re-scored the old 1935 film of the same name. I'll let you know what it's like when I've watched it.
The bottle kiln sounds interesting, is it coal fired?