Wassail and wedding pots

We've come to the end of our stay in Devon for a little while. We head to Bedford for the weekend to see my Mum, then on from there, to Scotland to make pots, fire the wood kiln and of course, in four weeks time, to get married! It seems strange to think that next time we're here we'll be husband and wife.

During the past few days I've been working on this wassail pot. The last one I made cracked, which was very frustrating, as it took ages. This is a replacement and will go in the wood firing in Scotland in a couple of weeks.

It's inscribed with an old English wassail poem,

'Health to thee good apple tree
Well to bear, pocket-fulls, hat-fulls,
Peck-fulls, bushel bag-fulls'

It was a nightmare to slip, each of the birds has to be really well fixed on

It's survived the bisc firing and is all packed up in the van, ready to head North in the morning - lots of bubble wrap required on this pot.

This is a jug that Hannah made. I'm decorating it to go with the big jug in my previous post, to hold flowers in the church on our wedding day. We're hoping to make a collaborative pot for each of the window sills.

They take an awfully long time to decorate, there's still a lot to do to this pot before it's finished.

It carries both our signatures, as you would expect, Hannah's is rather neater than mine!

We're still having problems with our glazes. As you can see in this photo, it keeps 'shivering' off the rims and handles. We've tried all sorts, changed the glaze recipe, changed the firing temperature and lots more, but still we're losing lots of pots. It's frustrating and financially crippling. Fortunately the technical man at Scarva is working on it and thinks he can make our glaze 'fit'.

I had to work late in to the night last night to yet again re-make this order of two handled loving cups. It's the third time I've made the order - at least they get better each time, practice makes perfect and all that, but I really hope that these ones come out successfully.

 

Happy Easter everybody, back soon from over the Border.

Wedding Day pots

Here are some pictures of my amazing wife-to-be, decorating a big jug that I made.

We're going to make a few collaborative pots together and they'll be used for the flowers in the church on our wedding day.

There's a little film at the end too.

Wet slip

Well it's been a tough few weeks. We seem to be dogged by bad luck at the moment.

First of all Hannah was poorly, then the glaze started flaking off the rims of pots and Hannah lost several weeks worth of work, then the kiln in Scotland broke down, then the kiln in Devon malfunctioned and we lost a £600 order, meanwhile, the glaze problem continues.

But, all we can do is keep on making and be thankful that we have each other. And I really am very thankful, when things are tough it would be so easy to just give up, but we look after each other and giving up just isn't an option that we would consider.

 I remade the lost order, a batch of loving cup style, one pint tankards. Hannah has subsequently decorated them with sgrafitto text.

This large baluster will have a white slip and fingerwipe decoration tomorrow.

 A freshly slipped 7lb jug

with a simple, single sprig

This is green slip. I really like the green ones, I could be tempted to slip everything green.

This big jug had such a lovely texture that I just dipped the neck, like the old traditional North Devon jugs. I will leave it with a naked clay body, to be flashed and toasted by the flame of the wood kiln.

Time for sleep and with the clocks changing tonight, there's going to be an hour less of it! Goodnight all

Balusters and their buddies

I made some tall baluster jugs this morning. We've had it toasty in the workshop today with the burner cranked up, so they were dry enough to handle tonight.

Here they are with some of their juggy buddies

And here are the handles.

I always think pots look like people, particularly baluster jugs. This lot look a bit like an identity parade!

Blog from Devon

Blimey it's proper hectic here at the moment.

We got back from Cornwall last night after doing a demo to the Cornwall Ceramics and Glass Group, thank you to them for that, we really enjoyed being there.

We're straight back in to it today. It feels like our feet haven't touched the ground since we got back here from Scotland last week.

The workshop's filling up with freshly made pots and the kilns are running flat out bisc firing. As well as trying to make stock for our forthcoming shows, we're trying to catch up with a backlog of orders that have been delayed because of the glaze issue and a poorly potter. The glaze is sorted and I'm very happy to report that the poorly potter is very much better now.
 
We'd been aiming to fire the wood kiln here this month, but we just don't have the time. We have to dash back to Scotland soon, as we have a wedding to plan and time is ticking down to the big day.

Instead of firing here, we'll take the pots back with us and fire in Scotland. Some of the pots we're making now will have to stay here until our next visit, as we're going to run out of bisc firing capacity.

The pictures show the 7lb tapered jugs I made tonight and some of the bisc that's starting to fill up the workshop. Also a moneybox, covered in rooks

Time for a scrub in the tub and bed

Goodnight all

 

Since last I blogged.......

Hello all

Well since last I blogged, lots has been happened, so it's time I got round to writing about it!

We left Scotland over three weeks ago and headed to Derbyshire and The Wardlow Mires Pottery and Food Festival. This event is the only one of its kind in the country, where functional pots and food are exhibited alongside each other. It's now in its third year and is growing and developing. Last year was terribly wather affected, but this year the sun shone and the people came and bought lots of pots.

I didn't take any pictures, apart from this. I was at college with these guys over thirty years ago and we were all reunited for the first time at the Festival. It was great to see them all and no doubt we shall all meet again.

So we've been back in Devon for a while. Hannah's been in London at a show too, so busy, busy as ever.

This weekend just gone, we taught a workshop at Kigbeare, near Okehampton. We've demoed together before, but it's the first time we've ever taught together, so we were nervous at first. Everything fell in to place though, helped by a lovely group of people who wanted to soak up as much knowledge as they could. The accompanying exhibition sold lots of pots, which was fantastic and sent us scurrying back to Hollyford to make replacements.

I made this jug as part of the demo and brought it home to finish it. It's another one of those pots that I've got carried away on and it's taken hours. I'll finish it tomorrow and slip it bright green. I do regret starting these sometimes as they take so long

Hannah struggled to get going today, before she made six of these lovely jugs. It's sometimes difficult working in one another's workshops, as the equipment, surroundings and very often the headspace are completely different. I often really struggle to make pots in Scotland and the only thing that one can do in that situation, is work through the failures and frustrations, until it starts to flow. We're trying to reorganise both of the workshops to make both spaces feel like they belong to both of us, but it all takes time that we don't have at the moment.

Well I'm worn out, so I'm going to sign out now, back soon. Goodnight all. 

Wardlow Mires here we come

We're off tomorrow to the Wardlow Mires Pottery and Food Festival in Derbyshire, come along if you can make it.

 We've been quite frantic in the workshop today, trying to get everything finished. This is a 6lb jar, drying in the sunshine.

Hannah decorating one of her little tripod jugs.

All the pots will be dry enough to pack in the bisc kiln before we leave, so they'll be ready for wood firing when we return to Scotland in a few weeks time.

We'll be in Devon now for a few weeks, doing things down south. I'll keep you posted.

Happy weekend all

Hurrah!

We unpacked the kiln yesterday. There were a couple of duffers, but generally, it was a great firing.

We probably overpacked the front a bit - we always do, in a panic to get everything in that we can. All that happens is that the pots near where the flame enters the chamber, block the path of the flame to the pots at the back and they remain underdfired. But otherwise it really was a very successful firing.

Some of the pots are packed up ready to dispatch to London today for a photo shoot for Homes & Gardens magazine, Here's Hannah getting them ready to send. Here are a few snapshots. I'm afraid my photography skills aren't up to much.

 3lb jug

 One of Hannah's beautiful jugs

 Richness of glaze

 Thistle jug

 8lb applique jug

 Another lovely one of Hannah's

 Birdie plate

 This one's off to the photo shoot in London today

 More rich glaze, mottled from the wood firing

 Tankards destined for the food festival at the weekend

 8lb applique jug

 8lb applique jug

Thistle jug



Here's a short film of the unpack