That Friday Feeling

I am beyond words with it all really. The kiln is on again, this time with the gold lustre (smells like a eucalyptus factory in the studio) the rays are receiving their gold eyes; random fact - did you know that Ian Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

The commission jars you see in the top two shots, one is finished tonight, it could all be a terrible tragedy when they eventually come out, I have been rather liberal with the copper oxide! Last shot of the tile production area, Kirstie flies back to Sussex tomorrow, she has worked so hard, I am not sure what I am going to do without her. I have another two days on the jars I think then a rapido firing cycle right up to Christmas Eve.

Sorry about the New Times Roman but my font button seems to have been taken away, lets hope it is temporary.

Corals Close-up

The kiln has fired and is already on again today.....not sure I can keep this pace up! Close-up shown here of the coral ray which is waiting for a gold lustre firing on Friday. It is very tactile and a good coral colour, I think it is going to right for it's destination.

Ginkgo Plate for a Honey Pot

I am so busy in the workshop at the moment that I have hardly time to post this, but I feel I must put something up. This is a very tiny saucer for an olive oil shop in Granada to have a look at.

I met Kristine Todd at her shop “La Alacena De Andalucia” on San Jerónimo in the city. It is a fabulous little emporium of fine oils and honey and this is where this saucer might end up. At the moment her honey is displayed on a tiny saucer with a small wooden spoon and many of her customers want to buy the saucer too. She has asked me to come up with something similar and this is it (not similar at all, but the shape and size is right). I imagine the design to come in all colours of the Ginkgo autumn spectrum from green through to orange, Grandada has them planted all over the city and right now they are dropping their leaves and they are so beautiful. You have to imagine the honey pot sitting on the plate, the stems are obscured and the fluffy fronds of the leaves frill out around the edges.

So Kristine if you can see this I will be in at the weekend! Shown here in the raw state the coaster waits to be fired twice and glazed and by magic this will all happen by Saturday, electric supply dependent!

The kiln is on tonight so there will be photographs tomorrow of the fruits there of. The working day is so long at the moment, I am in the workshop form 9.00 am to 8.30 tonight, but at least it is warm which is more than can be said for the rest of the house which is like a fridge. We had snow on Monday see Lala's post here her picks are great, and we have more tomorrow apparently.

Another Ray

A roundish ray in a square dish, carved into slip that was applied in the following order: Black (three coats) white (three coats) copper oxide mixed into white (three coats) black (two coats). When carving back the harder I press the deeper I go and the more colours I reveal. I think it should be an interesting result but at the moment this is it at the raw stage so the copper is not revealed in its true glory.
I am force drying it now in the lounge for a firing very soon. But hang on; is Seville playing football sometime soon? Because if they are then I will have to fit in round that as there won’t be enough electricity to go round, with all the televisions on in the village!

The Coral Ray

I have had a crazy two part weekend that lurched from one surreal moment to another and I met 3 bloggers! Lala from My Castle in Spain lives only a short distance from me as the crow flies (much further by car) she asked me over to Gyms Sand Pit for a blues night. There I met Tim Irving of Style Med.

However the first part on the evening I went to the Harley Davidson riders Christmas metal gig in a room small enough to be a lounge. But what made this venue all the more peculiar was that the room was accessed via a fairly normal looking door in a busy Granada shopping centre at 4.30 in the afternoon! The band was very good and covered 90’s hits at full volume; the attending were all Spanish and I felt very privileged to be there. Photograph by Ulpio below.

So with ensuing major hearing impairment I headed out of the city to a small village for the second part to the evening at Gym’s bohemian sandpit bar with the Blues band. I met Lala there and Tim Irving, they were so interesting, particularly having read their blogs for so long. All of them were just as I imagined, creative, lively and vivacious.

Above are my test tiles screwed and nailed to the walls by guile and cunning and the use of man tools!

From the Kiln

Top ray is white on black and a new way round for the rays, I think I prefer it to the black on white. The 5 bees are also black slip on white, I may add some gold luster to them.

Hot From the Kiln

Coral Ray

Top picture is a new large coral ray dish with layers of white, coral and black slip. This is a special order commissioned for a wedding anniversary and the clue is in the word coral.

The coral ray along (and the pair of jars) sparked off the colour swatch project photographed above because I wasn’t actually that sure how to make a convincing coral slip. With a load of new stains from CTM supplies I have been able to make a wonderful spectrum of colours and I haven’t finished yet!

I had a very female moment in the workshop today as I attempted to saw up batons and fix nails along its length to hang the little tiles on. I couldn't locate the hammer (one’s husband had it at the office) so I actually resorted to found objects ( I can't believe I did this) to substitute the hammer. If I say the words shoe and heal…does that conjure up the right image? Well it didn’t work, so don't try it at home.

The Commission

A little more today, it is slow but coming together. I have a pair of dogs to go on tomorrow! The kiln is on today so I have quit the workshop as the temperature is getting a bit too hot to work and I am off to Granada for a drink.

The Commission

Another quick shot of the decoration going on, here I am adding the jewels of white dots. More tonight I hope but I am glazing today and re loading the kiln so it depends on how well that goes.