Pouring mud

this week I have been doing a little slipcasting and decorating.  Would have done more but first day I was frightened by a snake near the door to my studio and since then the  skys have been leaking like a flooding drainpipe!

At least I enjoyed decorating these two...

slipcast stoneware (buff) with underglaze decoration

slipcast stoneware (buff) with underglaze and tissue print decoration

Posting this over to Mud Colony and to my Facebook pages :^)

Nice to use ones own pots

No college classes this week and a holiday weekend so I felt more inclined to take a bit more time over meal preparation.  I made this mortar and pestle set a couple of years ago and find it very useful to make pesto.  I have some basil and rocket growing in the back yard and along with some parsley, pine nuts and parmesan, hey Pesto!

I've also started to put together my jewellery pieces:
My first Steampunk inspired necklace plus a heart shaped one:

I'm off over to Mud Colony now to see what everyone else has been up to, Oh and you can find me on Facebook too - Anna's Ceramics or my Group page, Anna's Aussie Ceramics.  See you later :^)

There goes Term One!

Well my class is now on the Easter term break so I'll have time to catch my breath and write up my assignment (just a little one fortunately).
We had some tests of Eygptian Paste. Not my favourite material - others seem to get some lovely results with it but somehow I'm always disappointed in my results.  These yellow ones look OK at first glance but I might have handled them too much as the backs are very rough.

The bead hanger has been coated with kiln wash and also the wire and then fired in an electric kiln to about 900 deg C. The three in the middle were fired flat. They are usable but not as nice as some I have seen others make.  They are quite thin.  They were easy to smooth off with a wet stone.

These bits and pieces have been underglazed (well, not the ones with blue prints on) and glazed and back to be fired ready for the start of Term Two.

Have a Happy Easter everyone and don't forget to check over at Mud Colony to see what others are doing this week.

Not my own work but interesting

This morning I was installing a mini exhibition on behalf of the Port Hacking Potters Group (follow link to learn more about the group) to celebrate their 50th Anniversary as a community group.  The photos that came out of the woodwork are just great.  Then as now, potters love a bit of fire and smoke - raku and pit firing were very popular.

The exhibition is at a local sub-branch library and the pots on display along with the groups history come from a collection normally held at the main Sutherland library.

Here are a couple that probably date back to the 1980's though one seems to be dated '73.

 

Signed: R Keane

Signature is hard to read; could be LS with two vertical lines through the lower curve of the S.