Thats nice

Welcome to my newest followers.  I hope you will leave a comment from time to time - I appreciate your feedback and get a thrill when someone is kind enough to leave a note.

This afternoon I started on my shellac Wash back design - I'll let them dry again and do some more later...

I am using Keanes Porcelain - drew the design on with pencil then coated with Shellac and left it to dry over night

Here you can see the difference between the washed one in front and the untouched one at the back

I also have a Facebook page: Anna's Ceramics and another blog for my more serious stuff:
Anna's Ceramic Portfolio
thanks for dropping by :^)

Local Paper and some piercing

Our local paper ran an article on the Port Hacking Potters' day at the Royal Easter Show which was great publicity for our Group and nice acknowledgement for the team who put themselves out to get up Very Early in the morning to share our craft with the Public.

I'm not so keen on the Header though.. still it reads well and lets people know we are an active group :)

I'm quite enjoying the piercing I am trying at the moment - of course while I enjoy making the holes and patterns, the glazing will be a challenge..

I added some more swirls and leaves after this photo was taken...

Next will be a couple of vases with a shellac resist pattern.. hmnn fuzzy photo, must have moved :(

have you checked out Mud Colony this week?

if you are on Facebook I have a page there too... Anna's Ceramics

Clay on Display @ The Sydney Royal Easter Show

I wonder if we will have to change the name of the Sydney Royal Easter Show if we become a Republic one day?
Along with 9 other members of the Port Hacking Potters Group we manned the Feature Display, "Clay on Display"  for a day this week.

Each year the Show organisers promote a particular craft and this year was our turn.


The idea was to show off our techniques and encourage the public to consider taking classes or at least appreciate what goes into making a finished piece of clay work.

The central display was organised by the Australian Ceramic Assn and then the huge stand was bordered by a work space where a pottery wheel was setup and tables for hand builders and one for decorators.

bowls decorated by Therese

my own pieces being decorated with scaffito and piecing

There was also a Competition Section which I entered with one of my pig sculptures

Revenue Lineup at the Show

and my friend Therese was happy I had talked her into entering her lovely bowl:

Therese looking pleased at winning a Highly Commended red ribbon and it was sold too!

as it won a Highly Commended.

We all came home tired but pleased with our efforts to promote our Art.

I'll be sharing this post to my Facebook page and also over to Mud Colony - the bloggers group.

Happy St Pats and a quick meal

St Patrick's Day today - Hope all my friends with Irish connections have a good day :^)

We spent 4 hours driving there and back to visit my Dad so just had a quick meal tonight - corn and carrot pikelets.

I do enjoy using my own bowls at home..

and they are OK in the microwave to melt the butter - this is a blue slip inlay, Shino glaze and reduction firing.

Sitting at my computer the other night and found I had a companion - much quieter than Truly's ferret :^)

Check out the other pottery posts over at Mud Colony
or join my Facebook Group, Anna's Aussie Ceramics
 :^)

Looking green

This week I have picked up my teapots and a couple of little vessels from the community kiln.

this one's mate is in the hands of Australia Post, winging its way to Studio @ Flinders who run the Melbourne Teapot Show.

The design is slightly different to this one but made in the same way. A painted underglaze design based on the flowers of the Illawarra Flame Tree with a little scraffito detail.  They were then glazed in a pale celedon and gas reduction fired to 1280 degrees which vitrifies the clay and makes them non-porous.

I also had two little tealight holders in the same firing -
one already has a new home to go to, this is the other one:

In the mean time I am helping to organize part of the 'Clay on Display' feature at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.  The Port Hacking Potters Group will be there on Friday 22 March - call by and say 'hello' when you check out the Arts and Crafts Pavillion.

Off to Mud Colony now to see what's happening in other studios and remember I have a Facebook page, Anna's Ceramics and a Fb Group, Anna's Aussie Ceramics.

*whispers* in the bisque

 Here is the lid of one of my teapots.  Stoneware clay, wheel thrown, black underglaze and a scraffito pattern.

Here is number two, the pattern is based on some drawings I did a while ago of the flowers of the Illawarra Flame Tree flowers.

Here's a copy of the water colour I made based on my drawings.  I hope the pattern translates well on the teapots when they finish their journey.

Remember to check out Mud Colony this week.

decorating started

a sneak peek
one completed one to go.. and then the firings so still crossing fingers

Camera Shy

No images of my work this week.  Only just got the computer back online after being down for two days :^(

However, I will be posting images soon of my very first effort at pierced work - two little tealight holders underway.

Very wet and windy here today so my teapots are still at home as I didn't want to risk taking them out in the heavy rain and wind to get them to the community kilns.. later in the week all being well.

 One good thing about the weather is the boost to the plant life - even my Ixa which grows in a large pot on my open balcony.

The Bangalow Palm trees are loving it!  Two lots of older flower stems with loads of red berries and more flowers unfurling!

You can still go to Mud Colony and see what other potters are doing this week...

Teapots? In March??

Just received an email reminding me that I should have some teapots made and ready to send to Victoria by 18th March! Yipes... might need some help on this one...

In the mean time - those little boxes have been decorated:

I hope those dots fire OK. I used black engobe - an earthenware one.  What was I thinking? The rest of the work is stoneware clay..  I was mainly thinking the black should stay and not fire out forgetting it was an engobe which I think would be made with an e/w clay base?  suppose I could fire them as earthen ware and the colours will stay bright. They don't have to hold liquid so it wouldn't matter if the clay hadn't vitrified...

I think I give my guardian angel an awful lot of work...
the other day I went to wear my butterfly brooch and it wasn't where I usually put it - hanging out the washing this morning I found it on a blouse I had just washed - well how's that for product research - not a scratch and the clasp is fine too, ha ha...

I'll be adding this post to Mud Colony so hop over and see how the other ceramic artists are doing this week.

February already

I had hoped that somehow this year would slow down but it seems to be rushing along already.

Today I went back to a community gallery studio where I can meet up with other potters, experiment a bit and just play with clay for a few hours.

The most awkward thing is deciding whether or not to risk leaving your pots there til next week, all wrapped up or transport them home hoping you don't have to do an emergency braking...
I chose the later this week

As you can see only little pieces but I'm seeing what happens when I try altering the shape and then I'm stamping the sides.  The round one will stay round and I might use some tissue prints for decoration.

Earlier in the week I finished off the flowers on the lids of these little jewellery boxes: 

 

The image is a bit fuzzy, must have moved the camera :(  these are yet to be coloured with underglazes before being bisque fired.

I'll be sharing todays post over on my Facebook page: Anna's Ceramics plus  at Mud Colony and also at Artists in Blogland.