Slippedy do da

A blog post at last!!.Pictures mostly.

I've been putting in ridiculously long hours lately, until 11pm some nights this week. I'm trying to get on top of orders and also I'm making pots for a solo exhibiton with Oakwood Ceramics, at The Thoresby Gallery in Notts, which opens on November 11th. I need about seventy five, top quality pieces for the show, so the pressure's really on. I have about fifteen pieces already. Here are some of the things I've been making.

This is one of the big jugs from my previous post, freshly slipped and decorated today.
An 8lb jug with applied decoration - these take ages.
Some more applied decoration. The jug in the foreground is about 12" tall.


More crazy leaf inspired, stuck on stuff.
This jug is too tall for the bisc kiln, so will be raw glazed, which is something I haven't done for a long time. I hope it works, I want to make some really big floor-standing pots which, because of their scale, will demand raw glazing. I used to once-fire all my pots when I first started, then for one reason and another, started to bisc fire everything.
3lb jugs, fat and tapered
1lb jars. I still need to make these in 3lb, 5lb and 10lb, plus some big ones too.
A big bottle. I slipped this today with a single cinquefoil leaf-resist on the front, and a small one beneath the handle.

Firing day is next Sunday, after which I hope to be a very happy and relieved man. It's stressful, working flat out, to produce all this stuff, then to stick it in the kiln and allow the naked flames to do their work. I really need this to be a great firing.

A lot of the pots that I'm making now will go in the subsequent firing, scheduled for a few weeks time - there are busy days and nights ahead.

It took a while to get back in to the groove. Sometimes I never want to make another pot, and sometimes it's the best thing in the World, sometimes my confidence is on the floor, sometimes I'm full of energy and inspiration - I'm glad to be feeling good about it right now.

I'm going to try and upload a short video later, to show you what's been going on, the big jug being decorated and some of the beautiful roses in the workshop garden.

That's it for now, happy weekend all

Tuesday

A few words and some pictures, I'm tired and dirty and need a bath then bed.
I threw a couple of these tall harvest jugs today. They'll have scroll handles tomorrow. I want to make six of these.
And I made some 5lb jugs - an unusual size for me, I usually make 3lb and 8lb jugs, but I seem to make too much stuff the same size, so I thought these would make a change.
The crazy jug from earlier in the week is no more. Slipped when too soft - silly me :(

The following are pictures from yesterday. It was a Bank Holiday here, so Marky Mark had the day off work and chose to spend it at the workshop, which was great. And the sun shone!
We tidied up the corridor between the workshop and my friend Matt's workshop. This area is going to be used for clay prep and will house drying troughs and a large vertical pug mill. It's a pity that we're getting to the wrong time of year to dry clay, but it'll be good to have it set up at last. The blunger is going to be installed tomorrow evening - it weighs a tonne, so I've enlisted the help of a local farmer with his tractor.
The cider apples are being taken from the orchard, this trailer had a wonderful appley aroma as I followed it along the lane on the way home. Cider, mmmmmmmmm
Sprigged mugs
Marky Mark at the wheel
I've been working on a number of tile orders in recent times, these are a few of the finished tiles. I have a big pile ready for glaze firing. I still need to make a few more which I'll fit in around pot making in the next few days. The workshop has been full of them, they take up a lot of shelf space and it got to the stage were it was impossible to work. I'm really enjoying making tall stuff again, I thought I'd forgotten how to do it!

Well that's all, bath and bed and bye for now

Nancy and Tim

Hi folks

Last week we had a visit from some friends from across the pond, Nancy Gallagher and her husband Tim. I met Nancy at the workshop Hannah and I gave in Virginia, back in the Spring, so when I heard that they were coming over to visit British potters, we invited them to come and stay. It was great to spend time with them, we had a lot of good fun. They're high in the sky on their way home as I type this blog.

I'm afraid the pictures are a bit blurry, my camera is on its way out - too much clay dust. Here they are in my local pub, The Half Moon Inn......

....which boasts a fine skittle alley, typically found in Devon country pubs - it's a bit like ten pin bowling - but it's free and must be played with a belly full of cider.

We toured round various potters, I didn't get pictures of all of them. Here's Hil at Svend Bayer's pottery - she liked this big pot - we have one at home, but at the moment it lives in our garage as it's too huge to fit in our tiny house.

Svend's a great master, his forms are wonderful irrespective of scale, the hugest of jars like these, or the smallest of jugs, they're always bang on. What a great way to display big pots.

This is Nancy making a selection at Clive Bowen's pottery. I used to spend a lot of time at Clive's place, he's been a great influence on what I do.

And here with Harry Juniper, a slipware potter from Bideford, who specializes in making commemorative harvest jugs.

Also while in Bideford, we went to the Burton Art Gallery, which is full of many beautiful, old traditional West Country pots. This is a wonderful museum and has to be one of my favorite places.

Digging clay from the stream at Hollyford. Some of this lump of muddy Devon has gone back with Nancy to the States.

I'm back to work now, trying to get back into the swing. It always takes me a while to get going again, so I started with mugs....

and this crazy 9lb jug. The next firing is going to be contain a number of very large pieces, so I'm going to have to warm up my skills quickly this week and build up to making them.

That's all for now, back soon

England

Dutch pots

I bought this little old pot in Delft, photographed here in our holiday cabin - it's really sweet. The following pictures are of pots that were on display in cabinets in a multi-storey car park in Delft, cool eh?

Home

Hello all

We're home again after a great holiday in the Netherlands and a 1200 mile drive. What a beautiful place Holland is. A couple of highlights, watching Spoonbills and Herons on the canals and a trip to the Van Gough Museum in Amsterdam, which was amaaaaazing. Saw some fab pots too - I'll stick some pictures on later.

A sign on the wall in Amsterdam - is that Paul Young or Paul Jessop?
This was our home while we were away. The wheelbarrow contains logs for the campfire. We went with our friends Phil and Heather and their kids. Their two are the same age as ours and have grown up together, so are like extended family. Not that they're really kids any more.
Back in the workshop, the tiles I made before I went away have dried ready for firing.
I've got two big orders for these type of tile and they're nearly all made now, so lots of glazing and firing to do to finish them. I need to make a few more spares this week.

This tall jug was made before we went away, kept soft under polythene, then decorated yesterday.

These three pictures were taken at Kigbeare Manor, just before we left, at the private view of the Potters Tea Party Exhibition. Here are some of my teapots and 'drinking cups' that are in the show. You can see better pictures of the pots by all the makers in the gallery section of the Kigbeare web site, here.
This is the beautiful manor house
Lunch in the sunshine. That's Clive Bowen far left and Nic talking to Hil on the right. It was a lovely day, thank you Maddy and Lisa and thank you to the people who bought my pots too.

Lots of things happening at the workshop at the moment, more about that soon. Many pots to make for my solo show at Thoresby Hall too, so I'll be back with lots of pictures.

Have a good Monday all.