a day of bits

I haven't really got down to doing anything today. All bits and bobs.

Felted a pair of knitted mitts.
Washed up (again!)
vaccuumed (ditto)
Made two meals.
Watered the greenhouse.
Managed to get an Etsy mini square on the blog (thankyou Meesh!!)
Posted four pot pictures on Flickr
Posted one cream jug on Etsy
Packed a box of pots to hopefully sell tomorrow

Spent too much time on the computer

Mind you, looked like that, the bits added up to a reasonable total.

Plus the weather has been dry and sunny, and I have a new washing line!!!!

and this is where I'll be tomorrow, helping riders to sign on for their events...
http://www.bristowevents.co.uk/masters.html

car insurance

Seems to be going up drastically with all the extra taxes and stuff, more than inflation.

The Oily One just had one quote...but if he paid by direct debit it would cost 40% more!!!

Seems like they want their "arm and a leg" and they want it NOW!!!

car!!!! yet again

Yesterday turned out quite well.
Eventually I made it to the garden for some light weeding...and with planting the cucumbers in the greenhouse, tidying a bit and talking to allotmenteers on the way home..it turned out to be an hour longer than planned!

Thankfully I have the promise of a second job referee, so the application for a part time gallery job was delivered, on the way to delivering more pots to the Court Cupboard Gallery near Abergavenny.

As we started from there, something happened to the ignition...the key turned too far, and I seemed to have blown fuses...but once it was in the right position, the starter motor turned off and we were on the way to see friends who breed ponies above Merthyr Tydfil.
The weather turned wet again, but tea, cake and chat was good.

Then we went to leave....looks like the barrel of the ignition switch is coming apart, which has killed the electrical bit. Luckily The Oily One was with me, and our friend has experience of this with his old Landrover. A Large Screwdriver was produced, the car started...and no stopping the engine until we got home.

So the day that started slowly and turned out better didn't carry on so well.

Then in the minute after midnight I received a text with good news from a friend..another good start at least!

hibernating

I've got to realise that I'm run down, so I'm resting, taking naps when needed.

Trying to unwind the tension . Looking forward to massage this weekend and she'll be able to pinpoint anything I need to attend to especially.

So much that needs to be done and little things annoy. I mentioned yesterday evening that we had no milk....we still have no milk and I cannot afford to get any. The person I mentioned this to, could.....looks like I'll have to use money from the business again, if I want breakfast!!

just slow

I'm not sure if I've picked up a bug from the Twins (again!) but my get up and go has gorn!!

Fruit picked, but no energy for anything else. I have a suspicion that we have blight and some sort of virus on the potatoes, thanks to the warm and wet weather.

I think that hibernation is called for, but there is so much to do.

slow work

I've done today's washing, and the rest of the day has been spent getting my cv right to apply for a part-time gallery assistant job.

Now I find that my best referees are persona non grata with that organisation. So I am stumped. At least having got this far relatively quickly I have until the fourth of July to get it handed in....

I've finished my third mug of coffee, so I'd better not have any more....I even forgot to have chocolate birthday cake with the last one....

and now it is time to make supper and water the greenhouse!! The sun is trying to emerge again, but apart from a couple of hours really hot this morning it has been overcast and has rained again too....the washing has stayed on the line!!

walk, Lymm

A place of contrasts...from private roads, to stone carvings on the buttress of old cottages
Then Victorian villas, still as an individual home with gardens and stables
to brick built stone fronted terraces
Weavers cottages with the loft above for working in
and more Georgian workers' cottages opposite
shop and warehouse and stables


more old terraces, with a 1980s house built where once a 1950s garage was..and that was built on a garden...


bungalow suburbia

and a cutting through the red sandstone ("Old", Permian I think, with the darker colour and purply beds in places )
and the original village , bunting out for the village festival, road going down to the mill pond in the centre

walk, Lymm Dam

Not the best of photos, but I didn't want to scare the Great Northern Divers.

The bells were being rung at the church by the dam...sounded good over the water.

another day out!

I went with a friend to see another...and met these two as well!
This is in the hills West of Llanidloes, looking North...
Unfortunately only one other friend joined us in a day of tea, cake, knitting , discussing pricing and putting the world to rights!! Others were delayed by too much work, and "sheep in goats' clothing"...escaping from their field!!

It was a lovely day out, of sunshine and showers and a total of five hours plus driving albeit through lovely scenery. I revisited a road I hadn't ventured on for nearly forty years!!!

All this AND I sold a pot!!

Though one does come down to earth with a bump, when you end up going shopping then making supper and doing two day's worth of washing up the following morning.....

cat

Keeping her nose warm....

glaze firing

The bits of yellow ochre have got past the throwing stage...must get these down to the supplier, luckily only just over 12 miles away...they will have to deal with the clay company. I'm sure it isn't me now, I cleaned the table scrupulously before kneading this clay..and I haven't used yellow ochre since about a year, and then it was a powder not granules... . First peek!!
Then unpack, shelf by shelf
I'm getting a problem of small bits dropping from the kiln roof...there must be something I can paint on it to stabilize it. I don't think battwash would do, possibly something similar.
The new iron red...possibly needs
reduction firing, still interesting....
Segasaurus!!
This firing really needed to go higher, but gas was getting low. I managed a longer soak instead. I'm getting better at firing, but I'm still not sure how to push that last bit.


Look at those red mugs in front....

This is a glaze that should be applied generously...but now it is doing this, quite nice but unpredictable!! I'm trying to find a replacement red, but I think I'll have to make do with a new batch of this for now

Warped bowl.

I think the footring could be the root of this, plus I'm working at the top of the firing range, plus it could have done with a heavier rim. It is a bit nondescript.
I put the blue pots on the bottom shelf as this colour likes it hot! Could have been more thickly applied, but still fine.
Shaving mug. New shape!
Also a new batch of glaze...which was supposed to be black... I think another 2.5% of oxide, and yellow ochre not yellow iron oxide.

My favourite yellow ochre comes from a copper mine in North Wales....I must go back and get more, as I'm fiddling on trying other colourants, and they just don't give me that luscious black!!

words

just posted a comment on someone else's blog

"Sometimes a door seems locked until we're ready to use it"


Sometimes words come, then you think, Hmmm.

pricing

http://artisansgalleryteam.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-deep-discounts-dont-benefit-your.html

one month

I'm doing the glaze firing that we'd discussed, right now. Still feels odd, as if it is no time since Col went, yet it is a whole month. It feels good, tweaking the firing as he'd suggested, and seeing things go better!

The rain is back again for the rest of the week, and I'm hoping that the low pressure wont slow the firing too much. The kiln seems to use less gas when its high atmospheric pressure and just be easier to fire.

I paid in my cheque for sales at Court Cupboard. As I'd decided to go to Cwmbran instead of Newport for a change,to pay bills, I went to see Llantarnam Grange gallery. I received another fresh cheque!!...back into the bank straight away!!! Some of my work was being put out on a new display too, so hope that means more sales.

I'm looking for another shop/gallery that isn't too far to restock, but that wont overlap with where I am already. I looked at some in Ross on Wye on Saturday and I've heard of one in Hereford. You have to think where are there people who will buy, or where will people who will buy visit.... ideally I'd have a shop at home, but I don't think I'd have many sales here.
Apart from anything else the parking is difficult, and the nearest railway station is a mile distant!!

Time to go out in the rain again to check the kiln in the workshop!!

one month

I'm doing the glaze firing that we'd discussed, right now. Still feels odd, as if it is no time since Col went, yet it is a whole month. It feels good, tweaking the firing as he'd suggested, and seeing things go better!

The rain is back again for the rest of the week, and I'm hoping that the low pressure wont slow the firing too much. The kiln seems to use less gas when its high atmospheric pressure and just be easier to fire.

I paid in my cheque for sales at Court Cupboard. As I'd decided to go to Cwmbran instead of Newport for a change,to pay bills, I went to see Llantarnam Grange gallery. I received another fresh cheque!!...back into the bank straight away!!! Some of my work was being put out on a new display too, so hope that means more sales.

I'm looking for another shop/gallery that isn't too far to restock, but that wont overlap with where I am already. I looked at some in Ross on Wye on Saturday and I've heard of one in Hereford. You have to think where are there people who will buy, or where will people who will buy visit.... ideally I'd have a shop at home, but I don't think I'd have many sales here.
Apart from anything else the parking is difficult, and the nearest railway station is a mile distant!!

Time to go out in the rain again to check the kiln in the workshop!!

one month today

I'm doing the glaze firing that we'd discussed, right now. Still feels odd, as if it is no time since Col went, yet it is a whole month.

Georgian Day

This is the way from the car park on the edge of Ross on Wye.....

Excuse the slight blurriness- I was being chivvied a little! The Oily One doesn't like hanging around!!

We started the Day out by having Cake from the Farmers' Market in Usk, and then called by the Craft Renaissance Craft workshops/gallery/shop at Kemeys Commander on our way to the Court Cupboard near Abergavenny- where I was just in time to collect a freshly written cheque for pots sold!!
Stock check done, we headed for the Georgian Day in Ross on Wye.

Out through the tunnel- built to let water under the road, as these are watermeadows...to the Georgian Fair....
With musicians in appropriate dress playing the right music...
and the blacksmith was busy, as were ropemakers, basketmakers, food smokers, itinerants, bakers and all other sorts...
and the Military too...
with their camp kitchen and followers....


We walked the short distance into town, to the market hall
with market

and up the stairs where genteel Georgian Ladies were having tea and teaching letter writing and watercolours and demonstrating spinning and knitting a reticule.
On the way back we saw this

commemorating a previous resident of the town who did much to beautify the town and promote the tourist trade!

Many Thanks to the Oily One for doing the driving, being company, paying for the shopping and cooking supper!!