29 August 2012

Filling the Kiln - Day by Day

Tea jars
Candlestick bases
Oval creamer 
Putting a few parts together
4 lb. bases to be capped
While it is fun and manly to get out the torch and make 2-part pots in one sitting, being the gentle soul that I think that I am, I throw them one day and finish them the next, letting them air dry to the perfect condition. Same with the candlesticks. They are actually made in 3-parts.
Scored
Capped
Re-thrown 
A few finished, ready for the fire
The jug on the right is my homage to medieval pottery via Doug Fitch!

24 August 2012

My Mug

1st stage
We have more than 50 talented artists at LibertyTown and one of our rising stars, Jenna Anderson, asked me to sit for her while she took some moody photographs.  She then spent the summer working in her studio and entered this charcoal drawing in the Strictly Fredericksburg show and took a first place award for the Drawing category. I'm not sure if it's a compliment when a lovely young woman says that my face has character, but I'm flattered nonetheless and I think that the results are amazing.
2nd stage
detail

17 August 2012

Moving Forward While Looking Back

(As you may recall, I sometimes suffer from some critter nibbling on my pots...I often blame the mice, but now here's an interesting one...that hole beneath the beak was not there when I left for the summer! You can see the bits on the books below, but I'm guessing that a flying critter bored its way through. It's almost a perfect hole!)
Tracheotomy bird!
I've been home for 2 weeks and I'm just now beginning to feel like I'm finding my groove again. I am feeling some pressure to be productive immediately with The "POTTERY ON THE HILL" show coming up at the end of October. I'd like to fire as close to the end of September as possible and that means making plenty of pots between now and then. It hasn't been as dreadfully hot as July was, but I still feel listless and unmotivated. Today was an excellent day, though, and the week-end weather looks promising.

I have lots of photos from my journey that I haven't posted, so I may include a few more as the days go by. Starting at the end and moving back to front.

The morning after Toff and I did Potfest we took the scenic route back home, first enjoying our breakfast amidst 'Long Meg and her Daughters' (an ancient stone circle that was once credited to the druids, but that has been refuted. Still I love the sign!) and then visiting a flour mill driven by an old water wheel. We then drove along the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales, which might also be called the Pennines, a beautiful and unexpected landscape.
That's Long Meg on the left..the skinny tall one.
 What can I say about a brew with this name. There are those who claim that I am bottle-conditioned. I'm certainly conditioned to a certain bottle. Speaking of which, it's just about that time!

05 August 2012

The Ken and Cousin Vernon Show(s)

"THE BARRELS"                                                     


After taking some of the photos of the lads drinking cider, I stole a few random video moments, keeping the camera in my hand by my side. The subjects are all over the place, from local gossip to wartime stories, but it's the language and the music of their Gloucestershire accents that really gets to me! Turn up the volume!

"TUTORING GEORGE"                                            

"CUTTING HAIR IN KOREA"                                  


"VERNON GETS A DOG"                             
 

"THE BLOKE THAT MOVED TO KEMERTON"



"A MISUNDERSTANDING...and a KIDNAPPING!"


02 August 2012

A Lovely Cup of Tea

I got back home last night and I'm still feeling rather weary after a long but uneventful journey. I've got plenty of photos and videos to sort out, but this seemed to be a perfect one for today...or any day! That's Toff speaking to Parry, who gets a bit of tea twice daily. How's that for an English bird?! Make sure that your volume is turned up...