Clay Day 3

Can you even believe that I have had 3 clay days in a row? No, neither can I! My counsellor will be so pleased!

Anyway, on with the show, and this first photo shows why I really should finish these tree pieces in one go...


I left this piece over night and when I got up today it had shrunk around the tube! I had to cut it to get the tube out, which is exactly what happened with the first Tree Fairy vase! You would have thought I would have learnt from that!

Anyway, I finally managed to free her. And here she is, waiting to dry and be fired.




And now it's time for a nap!! I'm just like a cat really... I like to get all warm and cozy and have a nap after any kind of activity :) Hopefully I will get more clay time this afternoon, but it really depends on how long I sleep for!!

Cheerio!

Clay Day 2

How lovely it would be to tell you all that I am having another try at the 28 day challenge, but the way my life goes, I just know that as soon as I say it something will happen to stop me creating! Not that I'm superstitious, just... pessimistic!!

Anyway, I'm trying to be positive about this upcoming exhibition, even though it's only 3 1/2 weeks away and I don't have any finished pieces yet! With that in mind, I'm going to try to be creative as often as I possibly can and hopefully that will work out to be every day! At the very least it should help to keep me sane, even if I end up not being ready in time!

So here is today's efforts.



This is a remake of the Tree Fairy vase. I still need to carve the bark and add the leaves and flowers. I was hoping to have this finished this evening but I had to go to my sisters house to have a bath and I ended up being there for ages just chatting! But that's a whole other story!

Clay Day!!

I must be the luckiest girl in the world right now, because not only did Scott allow me to buy a kiln, but this week he let me buy a wheel as well!


It needs a bit of a clean, but it's mine!!

Despite all this, I couldn't stop crying last night and I wanted to run away to a place where no one could find me - that's what happens when I don't get clay time. And I haven't had any clay time in ages. It just shows that happiness is not achieved by the things we possess.

So today Scott ordered me to get my clay out, and despite feeling under the weather himself, he gave me the space to play and didn't pester me for sympathy (although I did cook him a rather nice roast beef dinner, even though I say so myself!)

So I got to work on Freda. Her eyes have been driving me mad for ages. They still didn't want to go right today, so in the end I took drastic action...


... I cut them out!! If there's one thing I've learned about clay this time round, it's that you can't fear it. If you fear changing anything in case you make it worse, you will never be happy with what you have. So I gauged her eyes out and made her some new ones...!


Voila! A new pair of eyes, with a ready made top lid. Ok, gimme a break, I'm new at this!

The next step was to get them in her head...


... too late now, I might as well go all the way...


While I was there I thought I might as well hollow the inside out a bit...


... and then I popped her eyes in and stuck her face back on...


I'm much happier with her eyes now, but now I have to try to get the mouth right! Bah!

After dinner I wanted to work on something quick, easy, and that required less concentration. Here's the first piece of my "Woodland" collection, made with my new yummy brown clay. The leaves and flowers are painted with white slip (although it seems very thin) so that the colour of the glazes will show up better.


And that's me for today! I'm looking forward to more clay time tomorrow, although I'm aware that we have a lot to do in the house - we're moving a couple of rooms around upstairs and having a bit of a clear out while we're at it. Why do things always look worse before they look better?

Anyway, I hope you are all having a wonderfully creative weekend! :D

I think I've died and gone to heaven...

Oh my goodness. I don't even know where to start.

Well, I was having this conversation with Mariah, and she was telling me about a fantastic school trip she went on years ago, to a Victorian village where everyone was in period dress. She said she watched someone making horseshoes, and visited a Victorian sweet shop, and even went down a mine!! Well, I presumed it was a coal mine. It sounded amazing!

So I decided to Google "Victorian village museum" and found this site, and now I think I have died and gone to heaven. Not only is everything Jane Austen era, but it's only a flamin' clay mine!! With a tile museum and a china museum!! With workshops and demonstrations!!

And as if I even needed an excuse to go, I saw my counsellor yesterday who told me that I should to go to a class or something, as a one off, to feed my inspiration and creativity!!

Wooohoooo!!!

And at £21.95 for a ticket that lasts twelve months it's a flippin' bargain!!

Now I just need someone to come with me... you wanna come? :)

Calling all clay people!

Well, I'm back on my feet and raring to go (time permitting) but I have a couple of questions for you clay people...

What is kiln/bat wash? And do I need it? The bloke who sold me the kiln said I do, but my tutor said not to use it. So I'm confused.

Also, the shelf on the bottom of my kiln (oh that sounds so good... let me say it again) yes, my kiln, is broken, is that ok since it's just there to protect the bottom of the kiln, or do you think I should replace it? look:


(click for a closer look, and ignore Polo, he was just trying the kiln out for size)

And while I'm asking I might as well add a couple more questions...

Can you see that broken brick on the bottom right of the photo? That's on the top rim of the kiln and exposes some of the element. Do I need to get that repaired before I fire the kiln? Will it affect the firing?

And there are a couple of loose bricks. They don't come out, but they don't stay flush with the rest of the kiln wall either. Is that a problem? (you can see one about four bricks up from the bottom, just left of the middle)

Thank you in advance for your help!


The kiln gets wired up a week on Saturday! Yay! I hope it works! The electrician has been round to measure up and noticed a blown fuse in the kiln - so now I'm wondering if the bloke sold it because it wasn't working!!

Collection of the kiln - in photos

As I begin to type this, it is nearly 7.30pm. Collecting my kiln has litterally taken all day! I am exhausted, and I did none of the heavy work! My poor brother Anthony started work at 6am and had to drive to London and back before driving me to Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter) later in the morning.

The journey was pretty non-eventful, just Anthony making jokes about Robert's tan mostly! In the last few weeks Robert has got a new job working outdoors, and has caught a lot of sun! And quite frankly we've never seen him with colour! He looks permanently angry! Or as Anthony says, like he's been Tango'd!

Anyway, this was the beautiful scenery of where we collected the kiln from.



Getting the kiln on board was pretty uneventful as well, although I have to admit that once I saw the thing in the flesh I went into a state of shock - it was even bigger than I expected!!

I've been far more worried about this purchase than excited, which doesn't seem right somehow. Shouldn't I be zipping around as if I'm on drugs or something? On the way home I asked my brothers - "have I made a huge mistake?" and Anthony said "No. It's better to get a kiln you can grow into than a kiln you're going to grow out of" and that's what I keep telling myself.

Getting it round the back of the house is when the fun started! It was obvious that it was not going to fit through our tiny front gate! So plan B was to reverse the truck into our drive... which was a tight squeeze to say the least! (especially where the front posts are)


Thankfully the truck fit on the driveway, and with the tail lift pulled down the back of the truck was pretty level with the garden...


Is it a chest freezer? Is it a hot tub? No, it's Linda's kiln!
Without a forked pallet lift, this thing wasn't going anywhere!! Just look at the size of it!!


Once they got it to the back gate, we realised we had a problem...


At this point I'd just like to point out that I'm not quite as stupid as this photo makes me look! Of course I measured the gate! Let's just say that the measurements I was given for the kiln were not 100% accurate! There was only one thing for it - the gate had to come off!


But... it still wouldn't fit through! Anthony decided to see if the box on the side could come off...


... but he found that it was full of electrical wires, and not just there for decoration! So then we got a bit desperate...


But it still wouldn't fit through!! In the end, Anthony decided to remove the whole gate post on one side, but the screws wouldn't undo!! He had to rip the post away from the wall with a crowbar!


Finally, the kiln fit through!! The box was an exact fit through the hole that they had cut, but I just missed the perfect shot by a second! And they wouldn't do a replay...


Next was the struggle of getting it through the doors...


This was very tricky, and I have to say, when I was most worried. My main concern was that either someone would get seriously injured (not sure if I mentioned that this weighs about a quarter of a ton?) or that the kiln would get seriously damaged. Then, just as it was inside, completely out of the blue, my nose started bleeding!! What??? What's that all about??

Finally, the gate was fixed, and looking as good as new...


... well, almost!!


... and the kiln was in it's new home...


Phew! Just take a look inside!


Polo wanted to have a look too... He was a little bit scared... "It's a long way down!" he said. It is! I can't reach the bottom!


I'm sure I could fit about 8 Polo's in there!! Scott said I could make a pack of Polo's! Hahaha! (Polo's are a mint flavoured sweet (candy?) here in the UK)



Of course, now I have lots of questions too, which I am hoping you lovely blogging people will help me with! Just a couple to start with... do I need to worry about that broken shelf at the bottom? Do I need to replace it? And what's this kiln wash stuff that the bloke was talking about? Do I need that? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as always, and I hope you have enjoyed watching our fun!!

Finished and uploaded much later than intended, due to having to eat, a visit from Anita, and a phone call from my Mum!

Kiln day!

Well, today is the day that I get my kiln. I must say, I thought I would be more excited than this, but I'm finding it hard to get enthusiastic about anything with this lingering chest problem. Yesterday evening Anita helped me clear a space for it in our conservatory, which nearly killed me, and later today I will be travelling half way across the country and back in a van, when I'd much rather be in bed! I'm not sure this is what is meant by "suffering for your art" though :)

Scott keeps giving me loads of sympathy while I cough my lungs inside out, but I keep thinking "How can you feel sorry for me? I've just bought a whopping great big kiln!" Ahh, poor Linda, she's got a new kiln... ?

So in exactly 4 weeks time is the deadline for entries for the art fellowship exhibition. What better time to start the 28 day challenge again? After seeing how it helped Kathy to prepare for her show, it seems like a very good idea... I just need to get well! Being ill is so... inconvenient! But I shall give it a go... again. At least I have some incentive now.

And on the subject of the 28 day challenge, I have to say a big congratulations to Kathy for completing it! Well done Kathy!!

Photo's of my kiln to follow later today :)