Busier than ever!

This year is flying by, I have no idea where it is going! I like to be busy but its starting to run away with me! A big part of the business is trying to sort out our trip to Hong Kong, which has been both a nice thing to do and a  bit of a chore. I like to research where we are going but that seems to lead you into all sorts of dead ends and decisions to be made! Thank goodness for Booking.com and Trip Advisor. I feel that I am an expert in all hotels in Hong Kong now. I find one I like the look of it seems to have all we are looking for when you read the description, so I am tempted to push the 'book now' button. Luckily checking Trip Advisor reveals the reason one of the hotels has space is its at the top of a steep hill and the taxi drivers refuse to take you up there!! Well if they can't get up there, I am not attempting it with my hip and my luggage!! Finally I think I have had a stroke of luck, a brand new hotel only opened 6 weeks ago in Causeway Bay, 4 stars and a rating of 9.5 PLUS they are doing opening offers. I contacted them and they have agreed to late check out, free airport transfer and buy one get one free in their restaurant, I have decided to go for that. Being new its at least going to have spanking new furnishings and fittings!! So now I have started on the itinerary to make sure that we get to see all we want to see!

My new camera is going well apart from having a pretty naff strap, I really fancied a scarf strap which is gentle on my delicate neck and has the added advantage of protecting my camera in my bag. I had seen them on Etsy and Folksy but they cost a fortune, the cheapest I had seen was £25 ! So that got me thinking that perhaps I could make one for myself. The biggest issue was sourcing the parts, particularly the bits that attached it to the camera. It had to be man enough for the job because I couldn't risk dropping the camera. So after extensive searching I bought a replacement strap off of eBay and used the parts I needed. The actual making was quite easy I used a scarf that I bought at Camden Market last week. It found it easy to stitch it by hand using the machine holes in the leatherette made by the original construction. I am thrilled with it !! 

Best of all it cost considerably less than the versions that I had previously found!!

I started a new project at pottery, I have a plan in my head and I am not sure if it will come out as I envisage it, but I'll have to wait and see!

I am making a little hamlet on a hill , the plan is for light from a tea light to show through the windows and I plan a slight dent to put essential oil on so that the heat activates it! It was a long more involved that I had appreciated, so I will have to finish it off next week. At the moment it looks a bit derelict !! There is a fair bit of refining to be done, failing that it will be 'rustic'!!!

Yesterday morning I went up to Ally Pally for the paper crafting show, it gets smaller each time you visit!! I am still in awe of all the talented people who have their wares on display! Its full of good ideas! In the end I found my favourite 'pound' stall and spent £12!! bargain!!

Last night started with this......

What can I say??? That bottle went, along with a bottle of port and half a bottle of Vodka :( It got messy, very messy!!!!

A very good night was had by all!! The general consensus is that two thirds of the ladies in the above picture  are far too old for shots and the after effects of shots, still nothing ventured nothing gained!!! 

Still some good news, clearly Christmas is just around the corner Morrison's is stacked with these boxes of loveliness!!

Hope you have a great week, I have another week of 'decrepidness' checking, with nurse, Specsavers and dentist all in the same 3 hours!! can't wait!!

My friend has made it back home along with her extended holiday she has a sore leg to remind her of Crete plus another week or two off work!! Welcome home Sue, see you at the Crooked Chicken next weekend!!

I have resumed my pottery classes.

Well after what seems like ages away I resumed my pottery classes! I was excited about going back because our pots had been finished over the summer and we would finally get the chance to see how they had turned out. I think on balance I am happy with the results but realise that going forward I will concentrate on preparing ideas to take with me. I am happy with the above bits, I like the colour and shape of the plate, but can see a little more effort is needed in the finishing! Its not as smooth as it could have been. The hearts are fine, but again I can see where in future I would refine them. I wanted them to go on my wall and two of the four have actually made it to my wall so that's a result.

Tom wanted a coffee cup which has turned out fine, again a bit 'rustic' and 'organic' (for that read wobbly and uneven!!) It hold a small cup of coffee which is what he wanted and as a bonus in case he forgets his name I have helpfully provided a label to assist him. 

A better shot of the plate, I like the way the frit has bloomed like flowers on top of the glaze. The bowl behind was made from coiling, a technique I am not very keen on, so that a bit wobbly as well. The spotty pot was made with slab work, that was easier to construct but not easy enough for me to consider making two more to make a matching set!!

Not sure what to make of this bowl, I went all free lance on this one combined to death lots of techniques which have given an 'interesting' result!Pink paint, white glaze and some blue frit, mmm not sure that its one I would repeat!!

This candle stick was nothing like this in my brain, it sort of evolved as I went on, as I said previously it was supposed to be an underwater scene with fish and gently waving weeds, it was a 50% success, the weeds turned out looking like earth worms BUT its turns out this is one of those pieces that have improved with addition of a good coloured glaze! 

It actually fits in nicely on my unit, so its a success!

This last week we made weird bowls, not sure how they are going to turn out!!

I think they would not be out of place in an air raid shelter, but I am prepared to be amazed once they have dried out and fired!!

We also did some little free hand dish things, you'd be amazed at how fiddly they were and I am still not sure I actually like the result. I have decided going forward that I will have a project something that i will prepare beforehand and then work on it during the lesson. In my head I have a little ceramic village on the side of a hill, with windows that will light up with a tea light. Trouble is it will not end up anything like that!! I can dream!!

I have still been fiddling with my camera and I am starting to master it a bit better. I was helped no end by a very patient bee like thing that was sitting on a rose, I think it was a bit dozy because it stayed there for ages and let me take loads of pictures!!

I took around 20 photos and all the bee did was womble around a bit and ignore me!!

I have also been back at the flame this week with a remembrance bead commission. It was good to be bead making again, everything else seems to have taken over at the moment.

I hope that they like their beads.

It seems to have been a very busy weekend, Tom is 'enjoying' Sunderland on the telly, I am baking a plum cake for pudding and Beth is swapping her bedroom around, I just hope she doesn't get fed up mid move, it could be a long afternoon!!!

Finally I wanted to wish my friend Sue a speedy recovery, only Sue could go on holiday and delay her return by ending up in hospital with a badly infected leg after a mosquito bite. She has had a few days as an inpatient but has been released back into the wild this morning, they are now waiting for the insurance company to arrange a flight home. Thinking of you Sue, hope you are back in your own bed soon .

Have a great week.

xxx

Its been an Emotional week !

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for us. Times they are a changing! Carl has started his new venture, a difficult time for all of us! Add to that a couple of my very good friends have gone away on holiday so its been an interesting week. I am sure that everything will be fine and for the better !! I am looking forward to my holiday later in the year!!

This week I was back at my pottery class, I seem to be super productive !! This week I have made a plate and a little planter and tea light holder.

The plate doesn't look that exciting, but it will all be in the glazing!! I rolled some ivy leaves into the surface to give it texture, I am planning on a simple glaze to show the pattern.

Next I made a little house and lean to area out of slabs of clay, I rolled out the clay and traced around the templates, I then had to let them harden up a bit so that I could 'stick' them together.

After construction I cut in the windows and a hole to slide the tea light in. Once it has been glazed I plan to put a small plant in the lean to part, perhaps a small succulent ! I am still loving the class and although next week is the last  one I am going to sign up for another few lessons! 

My 'pot/jar' was fired this week and now just needs glazing. I am pleased with it so far, its 'organic' (a catch all word to indicate a less than perfect design!!!) I am happy with it though!

The hearts have turned out well, they have been fired and await decorating and glazing, I have a plan for them !!

Next week is going to be taken up with decoration and glazing which I love doing can't wait to go back!!

I have also been catching up with my scrap booking, I usually have my photos printed by Snapfish. This week I was pleased to find that they have developed a new app for my phone and as a reward for using it they are offering 50 free prints each month for a year, which is a bargain!! I have already ordered both my July and August allocation. Its such a great deal I suggest that you consider downloading it!!!

I will be glad when this week finishes, looking forward to a weekend of chilling!

Have a happy weekend

xxx

We are nearly there......

August is just a few hours away, the start of the month where we will see lots of change! I am in limbo at the moment and I keep reminding myself that Skype is the answer to all my problems !! I hope it lives up to expectations!!

On the plus side we have booked a weekend away later in the year to sunny Scarborough. Its been a while since we have been there, we tried to get a weekend in Whitby but we couldn't find anywhere suitable for Dad who is coming with us. 

I am still doing my pottery course and I am still loving it. I find myself thinking about what I will make all the time. This week I finally made a candle stick. 

In my head I could see a beautifully proportioned candlestick, a textured creation with waving seaweed and stylised fish. In reality I have produced a chunky column with fish which are being threatened by rampant earth worms!! Who knows how this is going to turn out !! I was so full of optimism when I started the evening, I was so optimistic that I made a template for the column so that I could make a matching pair!! I really don't think there is any need to try and replicate this creation!!   

My other bright idea was to make puffy heart shaped wall plaques, I had no idea how I was going to actually achieve that, so with the help of my able tutor Elly, I set about rolling out my clay, I wanted to have some texture so that when it is time to glaze it there will be some interest on the surface.

After the first one, I was really taken by how satisfying it was to make, so I made a few!!

I padded them out using balled up newspaper, I hope they come out of the kiln in one piece!

I have also be up-cycling some t shirts. Now that supermarkets are all going to have to charge for shopping bags I thought I would try and convert some shirts into bags. It was a quick job on the sewing machine and they have turned out to be rather strong and useful creations!!

Beth has claimed this one as her own!! I have made little elasticated bags to store them in so they can be kept in my handbag or work bag. 

I have a few other ideas for the weekend so watch this space!!!

Have a great weekend.

Lots of Things going on.....

This week has been a long time coming, end of term, mums birthday the preparation and aftermath of the party. Its been a slog!! Its hard to believe that this is the second year that we have not been able to celebrate Mums birthday with her. She would have be 80 this year. It seems very strange that she is not here to celebrate. I am so glad that I have insisted on taking photos on everyone's birthday, it gives us something to look back on and track the changes.

This photo was taken on Mums 73rd birthday.

This year we went to Dads, it was a beautiful afternoon so I inflicted one of my Victoria Sandwiches on everyone!

I was actually pretty proud of this production !! During the week the council chopped down the once beautiful pink blossom tree, for years we had been treated to showers of pink petals every spring, it was a beautiful tree. Last year it suddenly stopped flowering, this year it stopped full stop, no flowers no leaves and now no tree :(  . It has however made a perfect cake stand!!

We decided to let a few balloons from Carl's party go to mark the occasion.

We set them free, but one was particularly resistant to leaving the garden , two shot off but the third went up to the eaves and then came back down a couple of times, in the end Beth had to take it down the garden and force it to take off!!

I have been back at my pottery course, inspired by my cups from the previous week I took some paper cups from work to use as templates and made three more cups.

I made this small cup for guess who?? Tom requested a small coffee cup !

The two cups in the background are the large mugs which I am pleased with, can't wait to get them cooked and then glazed!!

I also tried a bit of slip work on a bowl that made the previous week, I hope that will also look nice glazed up!! In my head I think this might look nice with a white inside and a nice sage green outside!! That said, I am sure I will change my mind a few times before the painting starts!!!

Have a great week, don't work too hard.

Well I have the finished product!

I was itching to get to my pottery class this week, I couldn't wait to see how all my bits had come out of the kiln!! I wasn't disappointed.

I am pleased with my big bowl, the glaze has smoothed it off beautifully and its so lovely to touch ! I am pleased with the colour, which in the flesh is a rich turquoise blue with darker accents. The dribbles down the outside are in evidence but not as pronounced.

Well the mugs are great not the prettiest of mugs but there is  huge satisfaction drinking tea from a mug crafted by your own fair hands!!

It has really inspired me to try to make a couple more. I really need a bigger size for me and Tom has requested a smaller cup shape for his morning cuppa. I like both colours but I really love the brown one so I am going to see if I can make a big mug in that colour.

This little lidded pot was made by using a textured rolling pin on the clay. It was fairly simple to make and I like the way the glaze has sunk into the shapes and has emphasised the hearts. 

The small plate came out well, I like the colour, BUT my eye is drawn to the blue spec that managed to land on one of the daisies!

I suppose that's character, a unique feature!

My head is buzzing with new projects to try. Last week we tried coil pots. Its not a technique that I am overly fond of now that I have tried it, I get the idea, but I couldn't seem to make it do what I wanted. In my head I wanted to make a narrow necked vase with a bulbous bottom I tried very hard but it wasn't having any of it! I could not make it get smaller at the top, it kept getting larger. 

The idea is that you make lots of sausages out of clay, you then keep them moist while starting to build the pot. You do a couple of rounds and then smooth the inside and outside, to shape the pot you then start to make the coils smaller something that wasn't working for me!

In the end I gave up and decided to flute the top and hope when its cooked the glaze will work its magic again! Can't see this one being anything other than a disaster! Lots of people have asked about the pottery courses, so take a look HERE for further details. The lady who runs the courses is called Elly Wall of Elly Wall Ceramics.

These weeks are going fast, Beth has already ended for the summer . Its amazing how fast her first school year has gone. She has packed lots into it and has made huge steps forward in terms of knowledge and confidence. I am sure she is at the start of a long career in her chosen field. 

Carl is at the brink of a new chapter of his life and in a couple of weeks he will be off to Hong Kong. He wanted to say good bye to his friends with a get together, so last night we went to that party. I have downloaded the photos but need to make sure that they are OK to post!!!

Have a lovely week

xxx