55...A monster mushroom, a disaster and Le Chateau de Vascoeul

How to stuff a giant puffball

Take one Puffball as big as your head

Cut out the middle and stuff with lovely things

(in this case onions, chestnuts and apricots)

Tie up with string and smother in lashings of butter

Bake until brown......Mmm, Mmm

An infuriating week in the studio. Lots of help from my two students but a disaster of my own making.

Jade and Megan

Being distracted in the studio, I picked up the wrong glaze and spent a day brushing it onto this Bishops Pom Pom before realising right at the end that it was the wrong glaze.

Half done

It took us another half day to wash most of the glaze off again and the rest of the day to replace it with the right one. In the end however, the sculpture did not survive the firing. A couple of the petals pulled away from the side and stuck to each other in the kiln, this happens sometimes, and it is usually my fault as I have probably dried it out too quickly or unevenly. I would like to say I live and learn....but I don't. Ah well, it will look nice in my garden with all the others!

Megan painting cherry red

Happily this Poppy Pepper Pot which is a commision for a new client is coming along nicely. It is being painted cherry red before it goes in for its bisque firing and it will be glazed with a translucent blue glaze which will make the red come alive.

James and his tile

In the middle of the week we were visited by a warmshowers guest (www.warmshowers.com). This is James who had cycled over from Durham and is at the start of a 2 year tour. After leaving us he went east towards Strasbourg where he will pick up a well known cycle path that follows the Danube. Then on through Eastern Europe..Turkey where he will pick up some work on a farm, then onto Iran and China! He is raising funds for charity as he goes and has a blog documenting his travels which we will be following with interest. His budget is £5 a day. He is only 24 and a really nice bloke....we wish him well and a Bon Voyage.  www.therideround.com

Pineapple Lily at Chateau de Bosmelet

Over the weekend we had some guests staying with a car so it was nice to be driven around to see some new places. We popped up to the Chateau de Bosmelet where I had an exhibiton last year with the 5Ways Artists from Brighton, and it was nice to see one of my sculptures being displayed in one of the lovely rooms in the chateau. Afterwards, we went onto the Chateau de Vasceoul which has an annual exhibition of an Internationally well known artist. This year it is Corneille.

Madame Citron

Around the grounds are some fabulous sculptures by artists such as Dali, Bracques, Volti and lots more;

Bisexual dragon and children

La Vie en Rose

The weather this weekend has been biblical. We are flooded at the back of the house and discovered two roof leaks......Oh joy.

However we were rewarded with plenty of rainbows...I saw this one when sitting on my kitchen doorstep.

My blog is one year old this week. I have enjoyed writing it over the last year and I'd like to take the chance to say thanks to everyone who has left nice comments and encouraged me to keep on writing it. It's a great way to keep a journal and so I shall move on into year two and hope to take you all with me. Thanks and Merci a tous.