Still here!

Hello, sorry for the long absence. It's so easy to get bogged down in daily life that blogging gets neglected. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I haven't disappeared and I am still making my pots.
Christmas was a good opportunity for Jenny to sell lots of her decorations. However, despite being more prepared than the previous year I still think that we need to start getting ready for this earlier in the year. I reckon we need to have stock in place by the middle of October and then spend the following 2 months marketing it.
I terms of my pots I've tried to take my work in a new direction. I seem to go through the routine of trying new clays, decorative techniques, glazes etc only to be disappointed when I open the kiln. Of course all this experimentation is incredibly time consuming as well as costly. It can be very frustrating to feel as though you're never making progress. However, each one of these disapointments yeilds a small lesson and I now feel like all these small lessons have begun to add up. I'm beginning to feel more in control of what I do and as a result I can plan my work with a greater degree of control over the final outcome. That's not to say that there wasn't some disappointment when I last opened the kiln, but rather there was more success, or at least, results that I'd aimed for.

Let's see if I can continue to capitalise on these successes.

Pottery shop now open!

Well, it's taken a while, but I've now added a shop to my website. I'm sure there'll be lots of teething troubles. I'm still unsure of the shipping rates. The shop has a facitliy that allows me to link shipping rates to a carrier's table of charges. I've spent quite a bit of time working on this, but still don't feel that it's accurate. My main concern is that I don't over charge people for postage.

Taking the photographs was also a challenge. However, I'm quite pleased with the results, given that they were all done with a cheap compact camera and a roll of wall paper for the background!

Let's hope people like my work enough to buy it!

www.henhousepottery.co.uk

Results of yesterday's firing

So here are some pictures from yesterday's firing. The pics aren't great as I used the ipad and poor lighting, but you'll get the gist!. I'm really please with the plate on which I used 3 glazes and also the mug, which had a blue underglaze. I'll certainly be doing that again. The biscuit barrel should have had the whole rim glazed in one colour I think - I'd hoped that the red would run more into the cream, but hey ho! Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results. The glaze fired well to just below cone 6. Both clays (red and white) behaved and there was no bloating. I gave the glaze a 45 minute soak at cone 6 and I'm sure this helped settle the glazes. They're very glossy and smooth.

Here we go again!

Ground hog day once again! A new glaze, a new set of hopes. Is this the corner I've been hoping to turn? I really love making pottery, and that in itself is incredible given the amount of disappointment that it seems to bring me. I just don't ever seem to get the results that are living in my mind. Of course there are the occasional pieces that bring a pleasant surprise, but on the whole I seem to make frequent trips back to the drawing board after every new experiment.
So, to this batch of work. I've returned in the main to the white stoneware clay that I've used previously, as it fired predictably well, unlike the red stoneware that bloated at higher temperatures. However, saying this there are a couple of samples of the red clay body - the biscuit barrel in the foreground to name one. I've included these, as this next firing is only going to cone 6 and I'm optimistic that any bloating will be insignificant. The main cause for excitement are the new glazes I've invested in. I've bought some brush on glazes that promise amazing effects! I haven't gone mad and spent a fortune yet, as I've made this mistake before. So, this batch are all in just 3 glaze combinations of red and white. The firing instructions are straight forward, so I might not screw things up too badly...but now I've said this my immediate thought is 'pride comes before a fall!'

The long and winding road.

This week I I've felt myself becoming increasingly frustrated. I know exactly what I'm working towards, but due to my very limited time combined with the very slow process of making pottery, I feel like it's taking me an age to achieve my goals. I've included some pictures of the items that I've been making this past week. They're now ready for bisque firing, but that won't happen until next weekend now, as I'm at work all this week. It'll then be another week before I get them glaze fired. I only manage to get an hour or two in the studio in the evenings after my work and family commitments and I've been getting irritated this week about it. It's not good, as I want to make something of my pottery, but if it's going to cause friction both inside me and within my family then it'll only make the road rougher.
As well as making I've also been trying to lay the foundations of an internet shop - Etsy. I've made the shop, but there's only one item listed on it (I had to list one to open the shop). I had been concerned that it would take me months and months to build up enough stock to fill the shop. I put this issue out to some other crafts makers who suggested I make a range of one off items which I then photograph and list as made to order. I can therefore fill the shop without having the problem of making a storing loads of items. Now it's been pointed out it seems obvious, but sometimes I just need someone to state the obvious.
I've also begun to lay the foundations for a workshop that I want to run in the spring. I've found a really good venue, but need to have further discussions with the owner over the dates. I've also organised hire of 6 wheels. I hope to run the workshop for beginners. the idea is for people who've always wanted to try throwing pottery to come along and spend a day learning the basics. I envisage this as the type of day that could be bought as a gift for someone. early days yet, but I'll post more as it develops.

Bad firing

Well, it comes with the territory - getting used to disappointment. I'd really hoped for a lot from this glaze firing, but ended up disappointed. I included a few pieces made from the keuper red clay that I posted previously, alongside a load of Jen's porcelain favours and decorations. I'd also popped in a couple of the soup bowls with the hare design. These had been thrown in a white stoneware and then decorated with brown slip.
Anyway, the keuper red ware all bloated really badly - rendering it unsaleable. The white stoneware bowl decorated with brown slip fired ok, but the brown slip vanished! Did it run? I really don't know - I know that it's meant to be a semi transparent slip, but to completely disappear? These hare bowls were therefore not as I'd wished and I really wouldn't want to sell them.
I guess , from what I've read, that the keuper red bloated because it was over fired. I was told that it was ok up to stoneware temperatures even though it's labelled as an earthenware clay. Clearly not the case. I'm happy to fire to lower temperatures, but the only issue is that Jen makes porcelain ware that needs firing to higher temperatures, so sharing a firing is more sensible. I'm waiting for advice from potclays at the moment.
It really is disappointing. You just think you're making progress and then you feel like you're taking steps backwards.
I still have a lot to learn.

Motivated

As the title says, I'm really fired up about the possibilities of the work that I'm doing at the moment. I'm working furiously to try and get the work ready so that we can get a firing in at the weekend. It's frustrating that I have to spend my day working in the real world. I could get my pottery done so much quicker if work didn't eat up all of my time! So, I'm spending every evening until 11pm in the studio. I just wanted to put a blog post on, as I'm aware that blogging seems to be done in fits and starts and I'm determined this time to post regularly.
Last night I managed to slip 8 bowls inside and outside, slip and handle a set of my new style mugs and then add names to them with some small printers stamps. I also managed to slip two large vases.
I did have a bit of a disaster at one point. In my rush to get on I grabbed a pot of slip off the shelf and immediately gave it a really good shake to mix it up. unfortunately the lid wasn't on properly and me and the studio ended up covered in cobalt blue slip! Fortunately, all of my work was under plastic and most of the slip hit me and the wall!
When I have had time to look online I've been scouring the web for ceramic decoration that appeals to me. I really loved the work of Terri Kern as it reminds me a lot of the type of illustration work that I loved when I was at university.

Crazy chicks want to get their noses into everything, I keep having to chase them out of the studio before they manage to get their beaks into anything.