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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

job done!

Mugs handled, salt pots be-knobbed!

The latter have been wrapped up again, to ensure that the knobs don't crack off as they dry.
You can see them soon!

The weather has been chill all day, the workshop frozen inside, so I handled in the kitchen and modelled the knobs whilst wrapped up warm on the sofa!

It was a beautiful sight across the valley as the morning sun shone on the larch trees, turning them orange, beneath an icy blue sky.

day off

Friday night...no car working and The Carpenter off to help Daughter and family mend the damage past tenant has done to a house. Phone to apologize that I can't get to my usual Friday meeting at the velodrome with the club...and get a call from the Carpenter...they are ALL coming back to stay, as there is no heating!!

Madly tidy the house-there were drying pots and reclaim clay on boards in the kitchen and living room!! There was no way they could return to the workshop as it was below freezing out there! Plastic stacking mushroom trays to the rescue!!
Make a quick supper for five..noodles, mixed veg and mixed beans. I don't usually cook on Friday nights off! Then sort beds and bedding.

I had a good night's sleep on the sofa...The Twins shared The Carpenter's room with him and woke him at 4am, wanting to play! I reckon he was glad to be back off to their house for a bit of peace and painting with his brother in law!!

So instead of a day mainly finishing pots I had a day mainly with Daughter and Twins. Very nice!
With an Allotment Gardens committee meeting and lunch with Mountain Man thrown in for good measure.

The Oily One just spent the day....being oily! (changing the beam on a Peugeot 306 for someone)

Back together for supper before Daughter and family headed home-a two and a half hour drive.

Mugs well wrapped to handle in the morning.

A day well spent