Jugs revisited

I 'm revisiting jugs today

I made this one while a student - a bit of sloppy glaze on glaze work there too :(

this afternoon I threw a couple of different sizes and hope to get back to trim and put handles on tomorrow

and sometimes a ball of clay just wants to be different - well it happens to me :^)

Remember to check out Mud Colony or drop by my Facebook page - I had a give away there this week.  I hope the brooches arrive safely at their new owners places.

morning walk bonus plus Facebook

This morning I went for a walk and on the way home could not resist picking these nasturtium flowers plus the fluffy one - they are garden escapees on the edge of a reserve so I felt OK about picking them.

 I had intended selling this vase on my next stall but it was just the right size and I can always make another one.  It is porcelain with black slip.

I'll be linking over to Mud Colony and you also might like to know I am having a give away on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AnnasCeramics
Enjoy the rest of your weekend :^)

At the Cronulla Spring Fair

Over the weekend I took part in the Cronulla School of Arts open days as part of the Cronulla Spring Fair.
It was a big event with the main street closed off, stalls all the way around both sides of the street, music, slides and rides and a vintage car display.

The Cronulla School of Arts is one of the few that is still owned and operated by the members and not taken over by the local council.. quite a feat in this day and age.

The Port Hacking Potters are one of the longest standing groups in the collection of craft groups that make up the School of Arts.  There is also a very active theatre group which puts on some great shows during the year.  It was their 50th anniversary this year and they were giving tours of 'back stage'.

As you can see from these historical photos, the School of Arts has been going a lot longer than 50yrs.
Groups with displays included the Spinners and Weavers:

Inke and friend sat in the window and drew interested onlookers

the Lace Makers had some activities for the young ones

some beautiful patchwork on display 

and then there were a few potters with work for sale...
we didn't sell much but it was mainly about letting people know we are part of the activities...

From bowls to bottles

As my followers will know, I have made lots of bowls this year for the Empty Bowls project (which by the way raised almost $8000).

Now that that is finished I have started on bottles :^)

that one on the right is better than it looks in the photo.

I'm thinking the two on the left will be glaze decoration while the one on the right will be a combination of my usual underglaze and print...  maybe some yellow and black??

Saturday and Sunday I'll be over at the Port Hacking Potters sale in the Cronulla School of Arts with a couple of other members of the Group.  Call by and say hi if you are over that way..  check their blog for more detail here: http://www.porthackingpotters.blogspot.com.au/

over to Mud Colony now to see what others are up to..

Tadpole rescue

those of you who are also my Facebook friends will remember I was trying to rescue tadpoles this week.

It came about as I had decided to relocate my water lily plants from a fibreglass pond in a garden, to a large pot.  As my husband was the one who drained the water into plastic tubs I was unaware of the tadpoles until he told me there were wiggley things in the bottom of the old pond.

site of old pond

On investigation I discovered the wiggly things were tadpoles and quite large ones too.  We mostly have little grass frogs nearby and in the 10 years that pond had been there this is the first time there have been tadpoles.

tub full of water lily plant just shooting after winter nap

This pot was part of a water feature with the old pond, now full of water I am hoping the Nandina and the red leafed plant (name of which escapes me just now), will start to get roots so I can replant them in the garden.
the pot was thrown in two parts, joined and decorated with terra sigulata slip before being pit fired.

Now my concern for the tadpoles is that in the old pond they could have just hopped off into the garden once they had turned into frogs.  Not so easy from a large pot.

There normal habitat outside my fence has dried up in the last month so no chance to return them to the wild at this stage.  The best I can do is give them a stick to climb up and hope for the best.

the water lily pot is a commercial one and probably imported but was purchased from an Australian company.  I'll have to top up the water slowly so the leaves can grow and float on top.

Not much on my own clay work this week so hop (pardon the pun) over to Mud Colony and see what other potters have been up to...