waiting

for pots to dry.....

I've just finished the last ones for this firing, boxes with honey inspired decoration!
All the drying pots are in the living room, not ideal but hopefully they wont freeze in there!

I came back from Abergavenny by Blaenafon this morning, and there was still a dusting of frost on the fields and any water that had run over the road had frozen.

Tomorrow we will do the last pressing of apples for juice this year. We freeze it in plastic milk bottles. The weather is forecast dry which is a relief as we do this outdoors.
Then on Sunday I'm on duty at the Court Cupboard, what hardship...spending all day with a warm woodburning stove and good coffee!!
Daughter and Family should be calling by there for lunch, it should be a good day whatever the weather! Sales are steady there, which is a blessing. Lets hope that keeps up, or even improves!!

picking

After the allotment committee meeting yesterday I picked the remainder of the gooseberries...I think!! Two large bushes have been overtaken by a huge sage bush...and these are a Japanese named variety with huge thorns!!...waxed jacket and gauntlets recommended!!

After lunch I decided, bravely, that the weather was going to stay dry after this morning's shower.
I put the washing back on the line!!

More clay kneading and replacing in the bag. I didn't find any more bits in that, or in the next bag, but I've noticed one in the outside of one of the larger bowls. That will need digging out and patching.

By 4.30 I realised that The Carpenter had only been out of the house to get bread from the local shop....so needed some real daylight to help him sleep at night.
A good excuse to go up on Mynydd Maen to check ponies and pick Whinberries!

We saw two mares and foals and one had last year's foal with her too, a lovely darker grey.
These are one of the pairs that came from the Bogey Ponies stud on Ffos y Fran near Merthyr Tydfil, so they are still keeping to themselves and not mixing with the main groups. They are looking after themselves well.

We went to the first slope that Col took me too on our first visit to the mountain three years ago. It is still a good place to pick, although it took us an hour to gather a litre box of fruit!!

My birthday present in 2009 was a large bag of Whinberries...it must have taken him a whole afternoon to pick them....true love!!

kiln packing

Despite the pyro reading and the cone evidence, the pots looked ok
One bisque load!
I glazed a mixture from the last two bisque firings, and all took the glaze well enough- only the results of the glaze firing will show properly
All packed, except that I haven't got any glaze tests in
Then work suspended- Daughter arrived and The Carpenter brought Number One Grumpy Bear to see what was going on!

The weather is still wet and windy, and forecast to stay so for Sunday and Monday..better firing weather on Tuesday I hope!

worth waiting for?

Finished finials!! Lets hope they survive drying and firing.
Icy fountains by Craft in the Bay in Cardiff. I delivered my exhibition application today in person!
Two weeks until the next deadline which is for the Visual Arts Exhibition at the National Eisteddfod which is in Wrecsam this year.

Then went to Herb and Ellie's Deli- the best coffee in the Bay! and managed to catch a friend who works there-haven't seen each other for six years!! We both moved at about the same time and lost addresses. So her shift coinciding with my visiting Cardiff was a lottery!
Inspiring mouldings
National Museum of Wales HQ, Cathays Park in Cardiff. I think I must have walked between seven and eight miles today! Two of those were between home and the train station, there and back.
The air was bitterly cold this morning, turned warmer but damp after lunch in Cardiff, but as dusk fell became even colder than this morning.
Teigar, posing. The Carpenter, hiding from the camera as usual.

day off?

No making today, all the clay is too soft. The new bag and the throwing slops have been drying all day on ware boards, the new clay in little "hump backed bridge" shapes, the slop in sloppy heaps.
The new clay has now been wedged (mixed by kneading) and is nearly all back in its bag.
The slops are, well, a bit less sloppy! With this weather they were not drying atall in the workshop.

I have sorted a little paperwork, into different mushroom trays- to be sorted and not mixed up!

I have done three loads of washing, and with today's breeze it has nearly all dried, even though it was still cold.

I looked at the bookshelves-and they looked back. Hello, friends!

Most of the afternoon has been taken up with trying to rationalise my price list. Are my pots the right price? I have looked at pots on Etsy and other potters' websites, trying to avoid the highly priced (but very nice!) ones. It is all very well working out "this pot costs me x to make"...what you need to know as well is what is the price that a pot will sell for, even if it cost more to make?

Some pots you make because you love making that shape. An indulgence, perhaps. On the other hand we have to pay the household bills.

cars!

I'd love to be able to live without one!

Friday saw me heading off to Radstock to collect materials for a friend from Bath Potters Supplies.
I also collected their last bag of the clay I use. I can see why it was the last bag....it is rather soft!! My local supplier can't get any yet, none in the factory!
Continuity comes at a cost. £9 for one bag. I will be paying £6 per bag when I get the next batch of 20 bags locally.

Yesterday I delivered my friend's clay, only just over thirtyfive miles altogether, but it was enough for the car. The longstanding air in the radiator has been diagnosed, and now must be sorted...after the parts arrive (hopefully) on Wednesday.

I spent a few hours helping Mountain Man and other allotmenteers. They were building a new door for the Allotment Gardens' Garage. I held this, passed that and swept out as best as I could!! Now we can have our compost and fertilizer deliveries without having to carry each bag down a sloping concrete slabbed path to the Allotment Shed-not very safe in damp weather.
We will still have to stack them ourselves, but carrying a bag less than ten feet on the level is no chore!!
Not having a working car, I couldn't give Mountain Man a lift home...so back to the house for a late lunch alone.

Good News for today..I've managed to sort my paypal account!

I'm still feeling subdued. I feel so nearly "there", but not quite. Always having to scrimp on things, always worrying if we can afford anything, dreading another round of paperwork to claim a few pounds.

The weather is not helping either. At least we don't have the low temperatures of the USA or other places, but it is colder than usual, so no help! The assumption is that everything carries on as usual, but it shouldn't. There should be a time when you can sit back a little-not exactly hibernate, but do Winter things.

frosty day

I woke to the sight of the workshop roof (and everthing else I could see from the kitchen window) well be-rimed! Then I realised that the clean overalls were neatly folded and sitting in said cold workshop....
I chose to tidy and sort in the slightly warmer house!

Lunch is ready, Green Cheese Soup!! (Broccoli soup....I suppose you could make it with a Blue Cheese, but that might be a bit strong!) Washing done and on the line now that the sun has arrived at our side of the valley. Sunday's mountain of washing has been aired and kept.

I have almost run out of clay! I've arranged a good deal with our local potters'supplies firm-they buy a ton of what I use. I buy 250kg from them at a time as that is affordable and less than I'd pay direct for 250kg. They can sell it by the bag from their showroom.

One problem....the clay company has run out! I've located a bag sixty miles away!! Friday's trip will be to fetch that, and supplies for another potter....and a day out too!

Pots made from now until the supplies arrive wil be small pots.

Back to tidying now. It may be bright sunshine out there, but it is still cold.