After throwing four earthenware plates with my usual red D'arcy clay and getting them trimmed I was happy to clean out my wheel and start work with grey stoneware. I did have fun painting the plates with my coloured slips because there were no restrictions on what I did to decorate them. It's been quite a while since I applied bands of colour and brushstrokes…
Look at what my son Steve has made for me! A skookum cheese-cutter. When I make slab plates in bisqued forms I need a nice sharp wire to cut off the excess clay at a 45 degree angle. Walter Ostrom showed us how to make plates and platters in this way when he taught the 3-week Summer course at ECIAD back in 1993. I've been…
I fired my kiln with only a partial load this week because I can't keep the airport Crafthouse shop waiting any longer. This afternoon Alan took photos of the latest work to emerge. There are two pieces by Eric Metcalfe using a new bold combination of turquoise, red and black on Naples yellow. They're quite striking! He'll be donating…
It's good to get back to routine. Just lately I've been trying to get a group of twelve jugbirds ready to take out to YVR. They were ordered before Christmas but I warned Crafthouse that I would bring them in in January. To help fill the kiln we picked up a platter and a plate from Eric at the Western Front on Saturday, en route…
This is just a quick little blog to wish you all a happy Christmas day, wherever you are and however you celebrate it. I like to go for a walk and find pretty Wintery berries and evergreens to make a little decoration. When we were children in Shroton I remember being taken to Everley corner to pick masses of holly to take to the church…