19...A week in January

The valley obscured by clouds

Well, as you can see the January view from my studio window shows how wet it has been this month. And yet, the locals around here still instist on telling me how much it rains in england..cheek!

Anyway, I have been constructing Thistles this week. Once I have the internal shape thrown and turned I have to model the component parts and allow them to dry just a bit. Then each one has to be placed onto the body and arranged so that it falls naturally away from its ajoining fellow...you need fairy fingers for this.

Once the top is finished, the first set of leaves can be attached. This is the most important row as it sets the pattern for all the proceeding rows, it sets the size too.

At some point on day 2 or 3 the last leaf is attached and the sculpture gets put to one side to dry for several weeks...it is very weather dependent, high or low pressure makes a lot of difference to how long it takes before it can be biscuit fired.



Hannah's snowman

Some potters have little kiln gods or lucky charms which sit on their kilns to ensure a successful firing but I have a little snowman made by my goddaughter. His arm has fallen off on one side but I love him anyway.