january / studio.

January was exciting, then grey, then slightly miserable, then wonderful. 

Thankfully the studio stays constant and lovely.

plate up.

Dear kiln gods,

Please take care of these dinner plates. I'm quite proud of myself for making them and I so loved painting them - there is so much SPACE for me to paint on! I feel like a child with a whole piece of paper to draw on.

Thank you muchly.

measure.

I LOVE this bird's eye view of the kiln. This was Christmas Eve morning. A perfect firing, yay!

I've made a few measuring spoons this year, with the intention of making sets but somehow never got to it. Luckily a friend ordered a full set for her daughter's Christmas present - awesome motivation and I LOVE them. 

[spoon love]

big.

I've skipped off the island this weekend to visit my Mum in Suffolk. We're doing a bit of road tripping and found this awesome kiln! It belonged to Henry Watson in the olden days (ie. I'm not sure when.).

wednesday.

Ah full days in the studio, glorious! On wednesday morning I threw a heap of ramekins to distract me from the cooling kiln...!

That's 22 ramekins plus 3 little test pourers in under 4 hours. That amount of throwing used to take a whole day for me to complete and that would be pushing it. I have no idea how I've improved my speed without practicing for 9 months...?!

I'm slightly obsessed with this view ^

Eileen.

This is my first kiln. I've been using electric kilns for 10 years, but I've never owned one before. It's a whole new awesome and terrifyingly responsible experience.

Between you and me, my Mum helped me out with a loan to buy my equipment before I got my government grant, so it seems only fitting that I have christened my kiln 'Eileen', after Mum!

[kiln gods]

I unloaded the first test glaze firing on Sunday and it was so perfect I nearly CRIED with happiness.
Thanks Mum.

[Let's go to Mud Colony, shall we?]

ta dah!

My wheel and kiln were delivered yesterday. Spud (studio landlord) called me after the courier drop and I immediately LEAPT into the car and whizzed up to unpack them. 

For some reason I was surprised to see them both in boxes? How else did I think they would arrive?!

What I thought would be a two hour job was more like four. Partly my own fault; I was so overexcited that I just couldn't focus on reading the instructions! I even forgot to eat lunch and I NEVER miss a meal. 

At first I thought the wheel was broken, but it is actually just SILENT! I mean, yes, it's called a Whisper T, but I didn't really believe that it would be this quiet...

The kiln needs to be wired in yet (single phase electricity), but hopefully that will be done within a week and I can begin test firings!

The unpacking process was so exciting yet nerve wrecking, I was exhausted and I didn't even do any of the heavy lifting!!

I'm itching to get MYSELF in there. Soon, soon...

Big thank yous to Spud, Alan and Leslie for their man help. 

[the wheel! (and fancy stool)]

[I was so tempted to jump inside the kiln box.]

[ "is it level?" ]

[250kg of clay. Yes, really.]

[TA DAH!]

[ooooh so shiny.]

[cuteness.]

fini

*wipes brow*

The final firing for Ebb Tide was ALL GOOD! Big big love to Michaela for letting me use her kiln!

  

[look at them all!]

[YAY!]

10 days 'til installation!

Mud Colony is about to close for the week - have you been over there yet?!

sniff, cough, ebb.

Despite a cold and horrid immigration bureaucracy, I had a splendid night at Miami Marketta on Friday:

 And Ebb Tide flows on...

[half way there!]

[the final firing!]

subvert.

Next week I'm flying to Adelaide for Subversive Clay, the 2012 Australian Ceramics Triennale. My teacher and now mentor Michaela attended the Sydney Triennale in 2009; I had just started studying with her and the stories from the conference set my imagination on fire. I promised myself I would be a delegate at the next triennale. So here I am 3 years later, eagerly anticipating the presentations, exhibitions and demonstrations, whilst preparing tiny dishes and spoons for the Suitcase Sale!

[freshly thrown]

[firing the previous week's batch]

[patience, young potter.]

[breakfast in the studio]

[freshly painted]

[should have made more...!]

hello there minnie

I'd like to introduce you to a special lady in my life. Minnie is the new test kiln at the Gold Coast Potters' Association and subsequently my new best friend. She's been freshly built by Tetlow and we all have quite the crush on her.

The last 6 months have been frustrating in regards to firing my work. Minnie is my beacon of hope that I can complete work in a shorter time frame and with a lower loss rate.

Dear Minnie, you are so, so welcome.

Thursday means it's time for Mud Colony!

potters' frog

Early morning glazing

With a small green friend
Heaps of pots in the kiln, huzzah! [I can't claim all of these...]
This is James, the kiln god. Nice bloke.

Hoping the kiln gods are looking over my pots tonight!

Glazing + firing;

baby kiln

Ooh first kiln firing of the year!

[how I would love to own a baby kiln like this...]

my creative space

The kiln was around 1000C this morning, so for once we got to see 'orange heat' through the peep hole;
We usually fire the kiln in the morning, so it reaches its top temps overnight, but this firing started late yesterday arvo, so it is still super hot this morning. All my pots could be glowing the same colour...how mental is that?!

I'm progressing with my lorikeet casting today. We use strips of old tyres as giant elastic bands to hold the two sections tightly together,
Pour the slip (liquid clay) in though the 'slip channels',

Leave it for about an hour, then remove the bands and pull the mold apart,
And this is what a fresh cast looks like! That funny line is called the 'seam'
They look quite ugly when they're fresh out of the mold, especially the the slip channel (or the 'spare') on their heads...!

After cutting off the spare, reshaping their heads and fettling the seams away, they look pretty darn cute!
I've got 2 sizes of birdies, I want to make 7 or 8 larger ones to perch along a branch or a piece of driftwood and hang from a window or the ceiling maybe and I'm thinking I could make a pendant from the smaller size...hmm...
I'll show you some painting birds next week, or maybe even tomorrow if you're lucky! Many thanks to the lovely Kirsty of Kootoyoo for hosting My Creative Space, I haven't been keeping up recently, so I'm happy to be back in the game this week!