Today was spent in alchemy!
Mixing glaze tests, and doing a small tile test of three tubs of the same glaze, that are slightly different....so this should confirm what they are!!
For some unknown reason I have six various tubs, all about a gallon/5kg size....and all with the lids missing! Just when I need a couple...
The Carpenter has started sorting his finances.
The Oily One has taken the washing machine motor apart, slightly....the incentive of having to do washing by hand!! The very small part has been ordered, and its arrival greatly anticipated!
It was definitely wet and unfriendly weather this morning. As the low pressure lifted, it has dried and cooled again, but at least the higher pressure should give a better firing.
Monday, 7 February 2011
hard times
They say things get worse before they get better.
The car nearly reached 300,000 miles, now it will be cheaper to get a new engine than to replace the head gasket and have the head skimmed.
The washing machine is not working- probably the bushes (again, a known fault) but I can't afford £85 for the callout fee.
The Carpenter still isn't getting enough work to pay the mortgage, and any benefits are slow in coming. The System makes no allowance if being dyslexic makes dealing with it difficult.
Any work on the house, however necessary, has just had to be suspended, we have got as far as possible on our own.
However..
I am selling some pots, I have been accepted into the Black Mountains Craft Circle, one exhibition submission made and Etsy shop launched.
Next exhibition submissoion is due in at the end of this week.
Getting there....so near...!!
The car nearly reached 300,000 miles, now it will be cheaper to get a new engine than to replace the head gasket and have the head skimmed.
The washing machine is not working- probably the bushes (again, a known fault) but I can't afford £85 for the callout fee.
The Carpenter still isn't getting enough work to pay the mortgage, and any benefits are slow in coming. The System makes no allowance if being dyslexic makes dealing with it difficult.
Any work on the house, however necessary, has just had to be suspended, we have got as far as possible on our own.
However..
I am selling some pots, I have been accepted into the Black Mountains Craft Circle, one exhibition submission made and Etsy shop launched.
Next exhibition submissoion is due in at the end of this week.
Getting there....so near...!!
Sunday, 6 February 2011
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!
Friday, 4 February 2011
baking and pots
I started the latest batch of bread yesterday-a half white flour, half granary sourdough- after lunch.
This morning it was nearly ready to go in the oven, so I had breakfast in a nice warm kitchen!
Bread was followed by gooseberry and apple crumbles , the gooseberrys (frozen) from my allotment and the apples, stored in my larder, from the orchard of the house where my Man was born. Then pumpkin to be roasted ready for supper tonight, and granola as the oven cooled.
The light was fairly good today, despite the rain. The high winds were rattling the garage doors on the workshop as I waxed pot bottoms. I'm using a wax emulsion for this- just open the bottle and go! No fumes!! I'd still prefer candlewax if I was decorating by wax resist, to get the flow of the brushwork.
I've waxed six boardsful of pots from two bisque firings, mugs and jugs and smaller bowls. Then a small fruit bowl, a couple of butter dishes and a pair of small platters.
There is still a mushroom trayful left, but the light has faded. Waxing pots under a striplight isn't my choice as it makes them look flat and mistakes are made. Real light is much better!
Now the curtains are drawn, the heating is on and it is blowing a gale out there. I can hear the passing cars splashing through the puddles.
Time to make a quick supper and do some paperwork. I wish for someone else to do the "admin" so that I could concentrate on the potting!
This morning it was nearly ready to go in the oven, so I had breakfast in a nice warm kitchen!
Bread was followed by gooseberry and apple crumbles , the gooseberrys (frozen) from my allotment and the apples, stored in my larder, from the orchard of the house where my Man was born. Then pumpkin to be roasted ready for supper tonight, and granola as the oven cooled.
The light was fairly good today, despite the rain. The high winds were rattling the garage doors on the workshop as I waxed pot bottoms. I'm using a wax emulsion for this- just open the bottle and go! No fumes!! I'd still prefer candlewax if I was decorating by wax resist, to get the flow of the brushwork.
I've waxed six boardsful of pots from two bisque firings, mugs and jugs and smaller bowls. Then a small fruit bowl, a couple of butter dishes and a pair of small platters.
There is still a mushroom trayful left, but the light has faded. Waxing pots under a striplight isn't my choice as it makes them look flat and mistakes are made. Real light is much better!
Now the curtains are drawn, the heating is on and it is blowing a gale out there. I can hear the passing cars splashing through the puddles.
Time to make a quick supper and do some paperwork. I wish for someone else to do the "admin" so that I could concentrate on the potting!
kiln firing
The biscuit firing went well, although a hot water bottle was needed on top of the gas regulator on the gas bottle to let the gas through! I hadn't thought it that cold. At 5.30 am it was a lovely starry morning!
I managed to fire the kiln slow enough to start with, but I need to get the door sealed better.
Until the flue starts to draw the fumes are coming out around the top of the door, so I spend as little time in there as possible and all the windows and the door are open! Doing that will possibly help all the firings too.
The firing took seven hours, as I took it easy to start with, then just carried on steady. Without pushing the kiln or turning the gas up atall until the end- got impatient for those last forty degrees!
Then found that the 06 cone had hardly moved and it was 1030 on the pyro at the top!!
Mountain Man came down for lunch, a nice surprise! It is surprising how much you can appreciate a meal of fresh brown sourdough bread and cheddar cheese with a cup of tea!
He must have got back up to home just in time before more fine wet rain, as the breeze increased to wind!
I managed to fire the kiln slow enough to start with, but I need to get the door sealed better.
Until the flue starts to draw the fumes are coming out around the top of the door, so I spend as little time in there as possible and all the windows and the door are open! Doing that will possibly help all the firings too.
The firing took seven hours, as I took it easy to start with, then just carried on steady. Without pushing the kiln or turning the gas up atall until the end- got impatient for those last forty degrees!
Then found that the 06 cone had hardly moved and it was 1030 on the pyro at the top!!
Mountain Man came down for lunch, a nice surprise! It is surprising how much you can appreciate a meal of fresh brown sourdough bread and cheddar cheese with a cup of tea!
He must have got back up to home just in time before more fine wet rain, as the breeze increased to wind!
More pony wrangling
On Wednesday I was just putting the last pot in the kiln, when I got a phone call...ponies out again!
The same three again, in the same place.
Mountain Man had blocked their way down the path, leaving plenty of room for walkers, as it is a footpath, using a tree.
The tree had been pulled to one side, not an easy job....and the telltale signs were in the mud of the path......motorbike tracks.
Two trees this time!
Mind you, the ponies wouldn't be able to get to this place if the fences the other side of Twmbarlwm were maintained regularly. They probably would also be looked after more if fences were not regularly vandalised.
Madam, and her daughters of 2010 and 2009 will be moved back to the Man's mountain as soon as possible. Weather permitting of course.
The groundhog would have seen his shadow this morning, but by the afternoon he wouldn't haver seen a thing in the fine rain clouds!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
drying pots
pots on the top oven, good brown sourdough in the bottom oven!
I revived the starter that I had dried and got to making bread again.Looks and smells fine...definitely not Dwarf Bread this time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
