3 Weeks Left

Another week doneI ended up with 140 bud vases thrown in the end, there is very little space left at the moment.  Despite having a big "TO LET" sign outside the studio people still seem a little shocked that we have a closing down sale.  The sale itself will run from the studio until October 15th when all the furniture is due to leave.

The more time goes on the more mixed feelings I have about losing my first proper studio, but I can't afford it and it has caused me far too much stress.

I have been waiting for some new supplies and they finally turned up on Friday, so I can now do a commission that has been waiting in my book.  I have started it but ran out of the coloured slip I needed to finish.  I have the other half of my mural to do too so that's how the week will start.

When I came back from Holidays there was this giant addition to my store front

Getting very full on my main storage

Secondary Storage area full too.

I want to get my big wheel cleaned off soon so then I can throw on it again before I leave.  This is the wheel I bought off of Ebay when I was a first year Ceramics Student 5 years ago, it has character when it throws, but can't hold steady when I am making bigger pots, which is why it ended up getting used for storage in April.

A good pottery holiday

So this week I have been in the South West of England, across the three counties of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset.  There was lots of travelling because there isn't much in the way of civilisation between all the potteries, but that is nice in some ways, very much unspoilt rolling hills and winding lanes.


Wednesday

Mike Dodd's show room, this is just the smallest of the three walls covered in pots.  Mike Dodd was the first potter we visited, as we wanted to visit on a day he said he was open.

One of his big pots that I would have brought home with me if I actually had any money.

Mike Dodd's Kiln was the first I saw all week and it is just a bit bigger than the gas kiln I used to fire in at University and he complained it wasn't big enough.  I really got kiln envy this week, with my little Eco 45.

On Wednesday we also visited Lisa Hammond at Kigbeare Pottery which was about 3 miles from where we were staying in Okehampton, and when I mentioned I was a potter I got the grand tour by her latest apprentice Bethan Jones.  The pottery is better equipped than my university and I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay there and throw.

Thursday

We started Thursday by driving all the way down to Land's End in Cornwall, we got there and the fog was so thick that we couldn't see a thing, the tourist centre wasn't open as we arrived before 10am.  not wanting to wait we headed back towards St. Ives the fog was quite thick until we came around the coast and the bay opened up before us, it was amazing in St Ives and was so much nicer than the town here in Cleveleys which is also a seaside tourist town.

After spending the morning in St Ives we took the bus to the Leach Pottery (in hindsight if I knew it was that close I wouldn't have bothered with the bus).  We took the tour of the pottery and watched the video, the guide on the tour quickly picked up I was a potter and started talking about bits she didn't know.

After the tour and looking in the old kilns, I went out to the car park to find the Apprentices packing the soda kiln ready for a firing the next day as stock was running low and they had a scheduled opening on Saturday which they invited us to but we knew we would be at John Leach's Pottery that day.

I put my camera back in the car and waited for Jack Doherty to come back to the Pottery and he gave me a personal guided tour of his studio in Bernard's old studio upstairs which was full of just fired pots and then through to the production pottery and showed me the hidden wheels.  It is an amazing space and wish I had taken my camera on the tour.

I honestly didn't want to leave St Ives and would of happily spent the rest of the week there, especially if I could have worked in the pottery, it seemed a peaceful friendly place to work.

Friday

We started Friday looking for Svend Bayer's Pottery outside Sheepwash, we got to a crossroad's where we couldn't work out which was it was and as the was a van behind us we ended up going and seeing Clive Bowen's Shebbear Pottery first (No pictures from there) though panicking about a show that is 4 weeks earlier than he anticipated he took time out to show us round his pottery and showed us his big bottle kilns, I can't even imagine having enough work to fill it ever.

After lunch we visited Svend Bayer at his Pottery it is very quiet there and he is next to the woods, you wouldn't spot it if it weren't for the chimney and the wood pile.

This is one of his Anagama kilns, this is the bigger one, the smaller one he recently took down citing that the brick were failing and was rebuilding from the ground up.  There is chopped wood every where.

Some of Svend's big pots. they just seem so flawless, they are very different to the work of Nic Collins who makes pots to have imperfections.  I asked Svend if they were hard to put in the kiln, I got a single yes.  After having a good look around I picked out a mug, paid and left him to his peace.

We knew we had found Hollyford Pottery when we saw a lone chimney as we came up the lane, potter's chimneys are hard to miss.

This is Doug Fitch's Hollyford Pottery, it seems very tranquil in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farm land. He showed me round his pottery which is the smallest of the week, but no less impressive.  He even took me down to the stream and I brought home a ball of clay with me, it is so close to such a brilliant natural resource and it is a nice colour too not like the clay I found the near my house which goes putrid green when slaked down.

Doug hard at work decorating his jug, it is still fascinating watching other potters at work and I think I always will no matter how good I get at making pottery. I had to be dragged away from  Doug's studio as I was having a good chat with him while my fellow travellers sat in the car.

Saturday

We went to the Kiln opening at John Leach's Muchelney Pottery and John Leach did some amazing demo's.  He even gave me a one to one demo on pulling handles off of a pot the pot in question was a spoon rest which he said was the strangest piece of work he has ever put a handle on.  He is so warm and friendly, and teaches like a caring grandfather when it comes to giving criticism.

This is the middle of three chambers in John Leach's Kiln, with the front part already emptied read for everyone turning up.  By the time we left the table of seconds was empty and quite a number of the signed pieces had been bought too.  Everything seemed to be selling well and it is definately a well marketed event.  Nick Rees told me about the kilns and about the various work that they do.

The last potter on our trip was Paul the Potter, just 15 minutes away from Muchelney Pottery at Barrington Court, once again I forgot my camera.  I loved talking to Paul and looking around the pottery and  at the buildings he was in, we don't have those sorts of barns up here in Lancashire not with proper tiles etc. He has some amazing plans for the future and another potter I will definately visit again.

Thanks to Doug Fitch, Paul Jessop, Mike Dodd, Lisa Hammond, Svend Bayer, Clive Bowen, Jack Doherty, John Leach, Nick Rees and all the apprentices (and a few other potteries I can't remember the names of) Thank you for letting me in and looking around, I just wish I had taken a few more photographs, but I always feel awkward taking photos of people especially when my young brother is a photographer and was with me.

After this week though, I want to be part of something big, something that is more than one man, I want to look for an apprenticeship again.  I would love to work in the Leach Pottery but without being able to drive it is a long way from here in Lancashire.

I have lots to do this week, hopefully going to pick up some supplies from Pilling this week, to rush make some things for Christmas.

The end is in sight

The end may be in sight be there is still so much to do. Today I have been working on my presentation, doing the presentation doesn't both me, just preparing it makes me nervous.

This Half of the Mural is almost finished, a few details to add and then I will do the second half after my Holiday.

This tray went into the kiln this morning as well as two other trays, so just one more biscuit firing to do but still lots and lots of glazing that needs doing, I think 3 firings should cover everything.

Power Lunch

So much going on with he pottery trying to get everything fired and glazed, that I had to come home to finish filling a kiln load of children's work, it needed glazing too so that has been done.  Tonight I will be glazing the ones for the morning, and pretty much everything I have left near the kiln will be done, then it is down to doing 3 days still left at the shop, going to be very tight 8 days of constant firing, I can see sleepless nights coming, but I want to get it done before my trip.

13 tiles have come out so far, got 21 in this next firing. as well as a lot of other pots that all belong to children.

I am also doing a presentation based on last week's workshops, just wish I had taken more pictures whilst I was there.  I am also working on the Mural, and want to get the first half of the Mural done before my trip to Cornwall, Devon etc.

To relax I have made 12 pint pots, I pulled the handles this morning and I am going to attach them when I get back to my studio.  I want to get them done before I go away too.

I have a list of things I need to make:
-4inch tiles (for children to decorate)
-tiny mugs (for children to decorate)
-bud vases (for children to decorate)
-small bowls (for children to decorate)
-Pint pots
-Mugs
-other half of the Mural

See not much to do.

540degrees C and Cooling

Kiln is going to be used a lot these next two weeks, kiln is cooling now, but will have to come back at lunch time to empty and fill the next load as it is still over 500C.  I am drying things as fast as I can but the kiln can't fit everything and I am trying to keep everything in date order.

The Mural getting towards half finished, but we are low on slip so we might have to pick up some more to finish the second half.

I have to also remake all my biscuit pieces that I used, vases, bowls, cups and tiles.  I also need to make more pint pots, but the Mural is priority right now.

As am writing this my little boy is pretending to drink from my Doug Fitch mug, and when my nephew comes over he always wants to drink from my Hannah McAndrew mug, it is a really nice mug, but feel like a giant if I drink from it myself.

Summer Workshops

So this week is the week of our summer workshops at the Marine Hall at Fleetwood.  The best thing about our room there is the two massive windows that look out onto the lower prom and the sea.  Tuesday the waves were crashing and very destructive and people were attempting to surf, Wednesday they were calm and gentle and we saw some kayaks go out as well as yachts out in the slightly deeper water.

                                                                    Photograph by Benjamin Travis
Part of the old Fleetwood Dock, not much happening there any more the company that ran boats from here to Ireland stopped, good for the locals because there weren't as many big trucks coming through the town, but takes away from the feeling it was always busy there.

Some of the children's work packed into trays ready to be moved back to the studio.

This is the Mural we are working on too, this was after the morning session.  We still have a lot to do on it as you can see.

The other thing we have been doing is a plaster tile with the children, but I don't have any pictures as they took them away with them at the end of the session, despite having not touched plaster for over two years, I have been mixing it and pouring into moulds the children make.

Out to Work

                                           Photo by Benjamin Travis
This week the pottery studio at the Mill will be closed as we are working in Fleetwood at the Marine Hall teaching workshops Tuesday to Friday.  We are doing Coil pots, Treasure Box, Plaster Casts and a Mural that we are making there on site.

The Marine Hall Garden's are being re-landscaped at the moment, don't let that put you off, we will still be working there.

From the Council Website:
"Pottery Classes for Children

Tuesday 16th August 2011 - Friday 19th August 2011
Red Fox Pottery are providing a range of pottery projects for children aged five and upwards. Find an object on the beach and use your plaster casts to make a treasure box. Or decorate a tile - one for you and one to make a tile panel for the Marine Hall. If pots are your thing, try making an easy coil pot. All items will be taken to Red Fox Pottery to be fired and can be collected from either Marine Hall or the pottery in Thornton Cleveleys. Sessions held at the Marine Hall, Fleetwood. Two sessions 10am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm. Cost: £5 per child per session. Suitable for 5 - 14 year olds.
Further Information: 01253 887693"