moving.

After much procrastination, I've decided that I'm relocating this blog to my website. I've had many happy years with Blogspot, but the time feels right to merge my two online spaces - it might encourage me to actually update my website...!

The archives will stay here and be available for eternity, I suspect.

Please redirect your RSS feeds to: www.kathrynmitchellceramics.com/blog

Thank you for following and supporting me for so long. This blog was the first online identity for my work and it has been precious.

home run.

Two days 'til Shapes + Plates opens! Nerve-wracking doesn't cover it. About 3 weeks ago I realised that 10 plates were TOO WIDE for my kiln and had to drive (at 25mph for fear of breaking them) to a friend with a larger kiln. Unfortunately 2 of the plates didn't take kindly to split shelves:

But the other survived and I could crack on (that pun was genuinely accidental) with glazing...

And there are some beauties that I'm very proud of...

All the plates are now finished and have hanging discs attached to them - I install tomorrow, ahhhh!

slowly.

Little by little, I'm getting there...

two weeks!

Just two week 'til my new exhibition opens! YOU are invited!

courier.

Many thanks to Savannah Savage at Isle of Man Newspapers for giving me this great feature in this week's Courier!

[click to enlarge and read!]

shelve it.

I am a serious geek about shelving and display. A lovely gentleman named Leslie made these new units for me - they'll be perfect for markets and they sit beautifully in the studio window too. 

stay calm.

Three weeks 'til my exhibition at Noa Bakehouse opens. I'm a month behind where I would like to be. Having been a 'gallery girl' for years, I encouraged artists to finish all artwork at least three weeks before an opening night, to allow time to photograph, catalogue, transport and install the work.

I know that I can finish the plates in time for the opening, but it will be a by-the-skin-of-my-teeth job, and the admin part of me is sad that I'll be panicking for the last few days before then.

Thankfully, for now the painting stage of the process calms me.

jac.

There's a big photo of my work in the current issue of the Journal of Australian Ceramics! Many thanks to Anna and Vicki for giving me such a great position. It's lovely to still have support from the Australian clay community. 

noa.

The next three weeks are going to be mad. I have an exhibition opening on Thursday 18th September (oh, 24 days away?) at Noa Bakehouse. It's the best venue on the island for all the best things in life; food, music and art. 

The Isle of Man Arts Council have very kindly funded my materials for this project.

[there will be many PLATES!]

[3 new kiln shelves, thank you very much!]

[more glaze...]

[my darling friend Graham Hall cut new and bigger throwing batts for me]

[Graham's studio - full on huh!]

[1.5kg balls of clay. HUGE for me.]

[lovely new throwing batts]

[I'm just using them for the glaze, promise...]

[the plates takeover.]

summer studio life.

We've been lucky this summer - we had sunshine and warmth! This wee island is renowned for raining all summer long. 

It's been a joy to work in the studio this season. With south-facing windows, it's always warm. The yard itself is a sun-trap. Swallows have been swooping over our little world. 

Sadly, summer is already slipping away, even before the end of August. 

[Maree's ever-wonderful styling skills in the Pinewood showroom]

[new stock for Manx National Heritage]

[time to invest in a new sable paintbrush - I used them for the double banding on my pots, so they have a hard life.] 

jug.

This little gem is now available in my etsy store!

The jug holds just under 1 pint of liquid and is 10 cm high x 7.5 cm wide, plus a 4 cm handle.

The watermill is inspired by my childhood home, Silverdale. Cregg Mill was owned by my grandfather back in the 1930's!

the good and the bad.

Good: throwing tallish things.

Bad: breaking stuff. Sigh.

laxey.

I'm happy to announce a new stockist: The Salmon Lake Centre in Laxey!

My dear friend Jen has recently taken over the management of the centre, I know my pots will be well cared for!

august.

one week.

[a new shelf!]

[new kiln shelves, though one broke!]

[painting will always be my favourite step of the making process]

[I found a SWALLOW EGG SHELL!]

[spoons for a special festival]

[why do all the good plates crack?]

chruinnaght

I spent Saturday afternoon at a tiny but gorgeous market, as part of the Yn Chruinnaght Inter-Celtic Festival. It was a lovely gathering of some of the NICEST makers and producers on the island, with live music and a great crowd. 

Big thanks to Ruth Keggin (long time readers will know her name!) and the committee for their hard work. 

swallows.

Swallows come to nest in our yard every summer. It is such a joy to stand at the studio door to watch them swooping over the yard and into the sheds back to their babies. 

measure me.

These measuring spoons are downright fiddly to make and paint, but my goodness are they lovely to line up when they're finished!

treasure.

I've always had a fascination with precious objects in glass cabinets. When I was little, I would use empty Ferrero Rocher plastic boxes to keep my treasures safe, like stones, feathers and SHINY things.

Thankfully I have kept a lot of these childhood treasures safely at my Dad's house. It's so delightful to pick through them, some 15 years later.

I treated the studio to this glass cabinet from my day job and I'm so in love with it...

three.

In June I finished one of my part-time jobs (I'm down to just ONE now, how very normal!) and it's allowed me a whole extra day in the studio...last week was the first time that I'd had three full days in a row to knuckle down and it was GLORIOUS. 

cafe.

In the 1950s, my grandparents owned and ran a wee cafe in Silverdale Glen. My Dad still has some memorabilia floating about the house and I happily stumbled across THIS gem last month.