Sunday Ceramics link up

A new link up is now open for Sunday Ceramic posts.  After the finish of Mud Colony another potter, Kim Foale has decided to offer a link each week.  Thanks Kim.

I'm still not back into my studio - hope to get there later this week.

This does mean I have been enjoying some pottery books though.  The first from our local library is by Simon Leach of the famous pottery family..

His book "Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook" includes two CD's full of video clips on all the basic techniques from throwing lids to making teapots or fluting vessels.  Its available on Amazon.

I purchased this one from Amazon with a gift  voucher from my son:

 

I've admired Jane Perryman's work for a long time and in this book she introduces other potters who also work without glaze.  

I'm thinking some of these techniques will suit my pig sculptures.

I have an appointment with the gallery in the city, Limelight,  to take some more of my work this week.

Here is a sneak peek: 

See you over on Sunday Ceramics..

2014 clean start

I've had no internet for a few days so I've spent my extra time cleaning cupboards.   Its too hot to go into the studio and it also needs a good clean.

Its amazing what you find at the back of cupboards you haven't looked in for some time...

This broken plate and damaged sugar bowl were part of a teaset which belonged to my mother.  I had put them aside with the thought I might get them repaired one day.  Having Googled the design and maker, "Pearl Delight" circa 1940,  while delightfully pretty was not unusual so I decided it is not worth keeping broken and not worth the expense of repair.  I still have the cups and saucers and a nice little milk jug as a reminder of my Mum.

The next cupboard I tackled contained some souvenirs from a trip to the North Island of New Zealand.  I think they would look very nice if they were framed together and put on the wall...

The top two came from a gallery in the town of Russel called Entrance Gallery and I'm pretty sure they are by a potter called Kathy Baird, though the small one doesn't have a signature.
The bottom right tile came from Morris and James Pottery and Tileworks in Matakana. A lovely mix of glazes to create this landscape view.
 

It was a great holiday and now I have some very spick and span cupboards and a nice reminder of our visit way back in 2007.

I'd like to see the South Island one of these days.

All the best to you all for 2014 and thanks for following my clay ramblings...  you can also find me on Facebook, Anna's Ceramics....

Happy New Year 2014

Best wishes to my followers, may 2014 be a truly great year for you and your family and friends.

I think mine will have a few challenges.  Among other things I will be the Convener for the Port Hacking Potter National Competition and Exhibition which is held every second year at the Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery.  We are hoping to introduce a new section this year and it would be great if we could attract a new sponsor for that section.. You can see images from the last Competition HERE

Winner Open Wheel Thrown.  Kathryn Mitchell 2012

 (Kathryn Mitchell Ceramics of Qld - now based in the Isle of Man).

This will be the 48th Competition so it has a long history.  It has been a stepping stone for many emerging ceramic artists who have gone on to big things, one of note being Gail Nichols who won a prize in an early competition while she was still a student.  

close up of my 2012 entry - a trio of wood fired vases

The good thing about these events is the interaction with ceramic artists from all over the country.  We had one winner from Western Australia and another from Queensland in 2012.

We also have been honoured with the outstanding judges.  In 2012 it was Greg Daly and this year it will be Patsy Hely.  I think it fitting that they both work in the National Capital, Canberra at the National University which has an outstanding ceramics department.

So it could be a big year for me as there are family things planned too...

In the meantime, I'll have to start some new series that I can enter myself.  I have no expectation of a prize but I think entering a competition like this helps to extend your practise.. so not sure yet if it will be wheel or hand built. (I might just add that it is not a curated competition and the judging is undertaken with each work  numbered (no names)  so all work is judged on merit) Stay tuned...

After a very hot start to summer and bushfires all around the outskirts of Sydney, we had some good coastal rain so my garden needs some attention.  My Native Violets are loving the conditions..

Happy New Year all..

maybe I'll see you on Facebook?  https://www.facebook.com/AnnasCeramics

Merry Christmas to you

I'd like to wish all my friends, online or off line, a very Merry Christmas with lots of good food and fine company to share it with.

Here is a little Christmas Tree votive for you.  I might make some more of these next year.

See you on Facebook too - https://www.facebook.com/AnnasCeramics

Mud Colony - morphs to Facebook

Mud Colony has been a wonderful inspiring linkup of many potters across the globe who in turn have been inspired, friended and prodded along in the most gentle comradely way by the energetic Adriana Christenson.

The blog link will be finishing this week but you will still be able to go there and trawl the archived postings of the past couple of years. HERE.

Most of us have also made the transition to Facebook and the Group page also called Mud Colony.  I look forward to keeping in touch with my clay friends there.

In memory of the fun times here are some images that relate to Adriana and the Mud Colony colonists...

Adriana and I in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

A holiday in Noosa where I also met up with Ellen Appleby

Ellen at her exhibition at the KARI Gallery

meeting up at Gulgong - Ellen, Anna, Adriana, Sadhana and Kim

wonderful handbuilt work by Sadhana at her exhibition in Paddington NSW

my little pig amongst the participatory installation at Gulgong

What we do - blogging on our Mud Colony odessy, Adriana, Sadhana and Marian

Anna, Ellen and Amy at the Kerrie Lowe Gallery in Newtown...

Will we fade into the Sunset?  No we are just moving over to the Facebook Group.. See you there :)

and here is a glimpse of the work I had on sale yesterday at the Port Hacking Potters Group stall in Cronulla.

Hopping Frogs and Acrobats

What a lovely day I had yesterday meeting up with the very talented Tanya of Hop N Frog Pottery  who creates gorgeous Australian themed pieces from her small suburban studio.  Tanya also made welcome another very talented Ceramic Artist from Qld, Ellen Appleby of Ellen S Appleby Ceramics who was in town to attend the opening of the Christmas Show at the Kerrie Lowe Gallery who are now stocking some of her work.

Tanya's beautiful work is not limited to frogs and lady birds - just look at her whale and that "Alice in Wonderland" teapot!!

After we reluctantly left Hop N Frog behind we took a quick tour of the Archibald Prize at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery before it was time to go to the Kerrie Lowe Gallery.

It was a very cool night but as usual the team at Kerrie Lowe Gallery gave everyone  a warm welcome.  We were amongst the first to arrive so had a chance to look around before the crowd arrived.

Here is Ellen admiring works by Amanda Shelsher; Mollie Bosworth; Elaine Bradley and Cathy Franzi

Ellen's own work looked stunning - as you see here

those are her exquisite bowls and acrobats on the lower shelf

and just behind those green insects on the middle shelf are her bud vases

and then to finish off the night we met up with Amy Orsatti  another ceramic artists who blogs..

and speaking of blogs - do check out Mud Colony where lots of blogging ceramic artists have been collecting for some time now..
(thanks to my dear patient, non potting husband for the photos).

Drying clay

After getting back to making teapots to replace the ones I overfired, I'm now waiting for them to dry. Drying clay with attachments like spouts and handles needs to be done slowly so they are lightly covered now and I'll take the covers off tomorrow.  Hopefully they will be ready to pack in a bisque firing by Wednesday.

To help to inspire my decorations I picked these Native Violets from my garden..

I placed them in this tiny little wood fired bottle which I purchased while on my Mud Colony odyssey earlier this year at Robert Baron's Gooseneck Pottery.

I'm testing some more Graffito paper, this time in Teal and it was so hard to Test and not put it straight onto a teapot!! 

There are four tiles which will be coasters if the firing goes OK.  I wonder what the Teal will look like with a glaze over to bring out the colour..




If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen this next image of my own tiny bottle.  This time the decoration is tissue print.

Here is a link to my Facebook page  - Anna's Ceramics

And I also threw this pot earlier to help fill the kiln.  A little different to my usual style, this one is decorated with some sprigs with a seaside theme.






Only a few more posts to be included with the Mud Colony blog.  The end of an era on the 5th December but we will be sitting there in the ether to go back and have a look any time.
But this week, check us out here: Mud Colony

Next!!

Well as my followers may already know I had a misfiring recently and so I've got myself together and started remaking.

Hope I get them through soon as I am making some Christmas type pieces...

I'm working with some different clays, porcelain, stoneware and paperclay..

porcelain I am piercing to turn into tealight holders..

took some time out to go to the movies with my husband and then we sat and watched the movie nature provided at the nearby beach.

throwing teapots again - always make a spare lid..

and a spare spout or two..

this is thrown with recycled paperclay...  makes me think of Clarissa Regan who is a marvellous thrower who works with paper clay and fantastic prints she makes herself..

Here is a link to Clarissa Regan's blog: http://clayalchemy.blogspot.com.au/

Bat Mate and frogs

First of all "hi" :)  to my newest follower, so nice to have you drop in..  I do visit my followers blogs from time to time though must admit I spend Way too much Time on Facebook these days, but I do enjoy a bit of a story too so blogging is still up there for me..

Oh, before I forget, if you found me via Mud Colony, the delightful administrator, Adriana, is cutting us loose in December so do click on Follow in the side bar so we can keep in touch here.

This was my special tool this week..

Yes, an eye makeup brush with a small spongey bit on the other end...  just what I needed to get into the tricky bits around my Christmas tree hangers..  I will show these if I can get them through a firing successfully. I had to redesign them after I realised bits got in the way of where the string would go.. guess that is why we do prototypes.

My all round very best favourite piece of equipment has got to be this 'Bat Mate'.  Have you seen them?  Just a circle of material like thin chamois.  It sits on your wheel head, you place your bat on top and away you go!!

even if your bat is smaller it still sits there..  this one has holes for the knoggins which my wheel does not have.

the bat stays there while you centre and throw...

when finished just lift up the bat as you normally would - I use a wooden tool with a bendy bit on the end

whack your next bat on and away you go again...
and wait.. the best bit...

The clean up... super easy, take it off and rinse it out...  no clay pad to get off, no recycling of clay pad!!  I love it.  Now I rarely throw very large vessels but given the way it clings to my bats I'm sure it would cope. It comes in two sizes too.  I bought mine from Blackwattle Pottery here in Sydney.

Two more good things in my day, my son is home for a weeks' break with his oldies

and then I discovered the tadpoles I transferred to my lily tub have survived, yay!

 you can also join me on Facebook, Anna's Ceramics or my Fb Group, Anna's Aussie Ceramics.  And have a look at Mud Colony while there are still current posts..

Cuerda Seca Workshop

Today I took some time out with my pottery friends from Port Hacking Potters to do a Cuerda Seca technique workshop. 

This link explains the process in a simple way: http://palandri.com/mark/clayblog/?p=289

Our teacher, Sandra, was very friendly and her husband backed her up as our host for the day.  We all took along some food to share in our break and just like the loaves and fishes there was plenty of food on the table.

We chose our own designs and practiced with a black paint on paper first. Then we chose our tile or plate bisque ware, transferred our designs (I used carbon paper) and started the process.

Here we are at the end of the day:

and here are our designs.
All in earthenware brush on glazes so I am looking forward to seeing our colourful results.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting more clay friends at the Eveleigh Markets for the 'Clay Day' event organised by the Australian Ceramics Assn.