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.

Life's ups and downs

It has been a sobering week for me.  NSW Blue Mountains are just to my West about an hours drive and a large part of them were subject to bush fires this week and although no longer threatening houses the fires are still burning.  See this link for more details: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/firefighters-in-control-as-blue-mountains-bushfire-threat-eases/5044770

We had some unusually hot windy days for October resulting in total fire bans but the fires were already a problem.  While my friend Sadhana was being very calm about it all,  it must have been of great concern to have to pack precious things ready to flee and to prepare to stay if possible.  It is good to stay if you are fit and have a good place to shelter as the fire storm passes over.  It is often the embers from after the fire has passed that ignite the homes so if you can stay safe you can then get out and extinguish the embers before the house starts to burn.

My husband and I live close to a bush reserve and our home was singed by a bushfire in that reserve.  This was in 1994 and it was only quick action by a Rural Fire Service team and the neighbours that saved this house.  We moved in 4 months later with the damage still to be repaired as the owners selling the place obviously just wanted out.  The RFS were from out of the area and took a wrong turn.  They were heading for the other side of the main road where 100 homes were lost but they saved this street and stopped the fire spreading to surrounding streets behind us or the count would have been much higher.

this image was taken from our verandah yesterday showing how the smoke still in the air gave an eery red glow to the setting sun.

The other event near us was the removal of 3 huge gum trees from another neighbours back yard.  These trees must have become stressed during the drought allowing them to be infested with termites and borers.  A large branch fell and narrowly missed my neighbour.  The Tree Preservation Officer from the council agreed that they all had to be removed and not just lopped.  Apparently one large branch over hanging our roof was only just hanging on as it was hollowed out inside.  Still distressing for both our neighbour and ourselves...  many times the Little Ravens have nested in those trees.  I'm sure I heard them fly over and moan at the loss the day after they were taken down.

this is the last of them about to come down.  The tree loppers needed a large cherry picker to get to them.  It has changed our landscape however our homes are now safer.

this is how I felt while all this was going on...

and this will be me when the fires are out and our neighbour grows her replacement trees

these Christmas angels are in a bisque firing and I hope to glaze them tomorrow.
Take care, stay safe if you are in the bush this summer... and some good rain would be nice :)

Upcycling and a stall on Friday

On Friday 18th October, I , along with two other Port Hacking Potters will be having a stall in the foyer of Sutherland hospital on the Kingsway at Caringbah.

We will be selling some of our own work but also selling the Left Overs from the Empty Bowls project we were involved with a few weeks ago.
It was very successful - see here: Port Hacking Potters Empty Bowls Project
or on Facebook : Empty Bowls Project

I had some recent pieces that had a few problems but were still OK so I decided to Up-cycle them..

They should find a new home - we will be there from 9.30am to 3pm.

Making a Load

I am in the process of making enough pots to load a kiln on my own. It is a fairly large kiln and I have usually shared it with others in the past.
As I fire to 1280C for my porcelain and the stoneware I use can also go that high I am making a mix of items with both clays.

I have some jugs, some bowls, some Christmas tree hangers, some tea light holders and a couple of teapots so far.  I hope to have some slip cast platters too..

trying out the new Graffito paper on leatherhard clay ..

these are textured with wall paper and then the prints added

I tried a new coloured porcelain casting slip..

Made it too thin and took it apart too soon -  will try a single piece mold next time.

So a bit of decoration coming up too...

Remember I have a Facebook page: Anna's Ceramics

and check out the other studio potters posts on Mud Colony blog who also have a Fb group of the same name.Hope you join us :^)

Wordless Wednesday

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.