Going by bus!

 Another visit to Ayr on a wet and windy day...not a day for a bike ride and depressing to stay indoors.

Pirate banked money from selling tyres and a wheel, we got a few hardware bits and bobs for a neighbour, then lunch in the bookshop café....

Down to the gallery again, and with luck caught the artist I met initially and the man who runs the building. 

Back on the bus, then phone contact made with the other joint organiser of the exhibition...can I bring work in on Saturday?

This afternoon's headache is how to price my work, after not pricing any pots for ten years?!

Consideration must also be given to the rise in material prices, and the price of gas.....when you can get it...

kiln unpacking andCraft in the Bay

Well I did know one pot had gone, but why that one is so far a mystery. I need to examine the shards as it could be a "foreign body" or that Yellow Ochre again...as on this box lid. Of course the clay manufacturers found nothing!! They were sent a small mug, and a small sample...they don't realise that I want to work with them not against them. There obviously is a problem, we just need to sort it together.

Kiln unpacked. It doesn't look a lot like this. The damaged bowl is at the far end of the shelf, and a lidded box with a handle got chipped by flying debris!
Waxing feet tomorrow and sieving glazes!
The bowls for the next bisque firing have been set in the warm kiln to dry, and to keep them out of the way.

Then off to Cardiff this evening, to nibble nibbles, sip elderflower cordial and fizzy water (lush!) Listened to a speech , looked round the exhibition and the shop. I think I might be underpricing my work a little, but not too much on the whole.
Here is my display, taken from outside the gallery!
This is the view as I left, you can see the exhibition even when it is closed. The brick building is the old Pier Head. The large one on the left is the Millennium Centre, and I think you can just see part of the Assembly building between the two.
It was good to see a friend from North Wales who also has work in the exhibition. I must organise a visit - I'll need a week or two to see everyone!!

pricing

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

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.