Clay Day 20 - Jane Austen won!

Well, there was a bit a of a struggle with that vase I finished yesterday! The vase wanted to stay plain, but the ivy wanted to grow all over it, and even Jane wanted to stamp her mark on it! In the end, Jane won! It had to be done I'm afraid, so that it would fit in with my theme, but I tried to keep it as simple as possible. Sorry girls!


Just an outline of Marianne, with no hills or houses.

The plan was to coil a couple of matching vases over the next couple of days, one for Marianne and one for Emma, but a couple of days just won't be long enough, so I've opted for jugs/pitchers instead. I can slab build these, so it will be much quicker.

Just a week to go before the show!! I set up on Thursday morning, ready for the opening evening on Friday!

Later, on day 20
The start of a couple of jugs/pitchers.


Looking like a cauldron so far! Hmmm.... now there's a thought....

Everything is sorted - I hope

I ended up in tears today. I rang this morning to borrow the little kiln from the kiln repair man, and I was told that he wouldn't be able to come out until Wednesday afternoon to fix the wiring on my kiln - which would be far too late for a glaze firing, even if I managed to get everything bisque fired in the little kiln by then. He gave me a number for another electrician, who he thought would be able to come out tomorrow, but he couldn't come until late next week either.

So I cried. My lovely Scott even considered calling a man he doesn't get along with, because he's heard he's a really good electrician! In the end he called the kiln repair man again and told him I was standing on the ledge of a tall building, so he agreed to come out on Saturday! (I'm joking about the ledge thing!)

So, all going well I shall bisque fire on Sunday and glaze fire on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

In the mean time, I ordered some business cards (thank you for the reminder Cindy!) and bought some other bits and pieces that I needed for the show. I suppose deep down I had faith that it would be sorted out!

I still don't know what to do with this vase. I don't know why I don't know what to do with it, I just don't. I obviously had a plan when I started it, but now I've changed my mind. I was going to cover it in ivy. I still could, but Scott likes it how it is. I thought maybe I could paint ivy on it instead, with iron oxide?


Tonight or tomorrow I will start on a couple of Jane Austen vases, and make them at the same time to get them as similar as possible.

What clay day are we on now anyway? I've lost count!

Losing motivation

So, today I discover that Monday is a bank holiday and the kiln repair man won't be coming. I don't know when he will be coming. Any later than Monday and the show is definitely not going to happen. I was pushing it time wise as it is.

This is the vase I was working on. The vase part is finished, but I was going to add fancy handles today. Now I can't be bothered. Maybe later.


And that's it. I don't know what else to tell you today.

Clay Day 17 - a disaster

The only clay time I've had so far today is repairing the pot I broke this morning.


When your day starts this way, you know it's gonna be a bad day. And it was.

The kiln servicing man came today and found that most of the elements in the kiln were not working, even though they are in good condition. So he took a look at the wiring... it wasn't wired properly, and it's probably a good thing that it wasn't, because the wire isn't thick enough to carry that sort of current and it could have started a fire.

Now as it happens, the electrician was coming round today to drop off a fuse for us anyway, so the kiln servicing man waited for him, to explain the problem. The electrician was very good about it, and actually he's a really nice bloke, but he had taken some bad advice from a fellow electrician, and it was this fellow electrician who had done the wiring wrong inside the kiln, as he tried to convert it from 3 phase to single phase.

The conclusion of the matter is that the electrician is going to come back to replace the wire at no extra cost, and the kiln servicing man is very kindly going to rewire inside the kiln for me, but we will have to move all our furnature again and the electrician will have to lift up the floor boards again.

And I won't have time to bisque and glaze fire before the show.

But thankfully the kiln servicing man is going to lend me a tiny kiln, for me to bisque my pieces in. I will have to fire it every day until all the pieces are done, but then hopefully my own kiln will be working in time for me to do the glaze firing before the show.

That man is a life saver. Literally.

And now I'm going to eat my take away dinner (did you think I was gonna bother cooking after all that??) and then get on with some coiling, which I'm sure would seem much easier if I only had a bottle of Malibu...

ps. And then I dropped my dinner on the floor.

Edit: I've had a sleep and I got up again thinking I could start my day over again and it would be better this time. But the previous problems are still there. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to be ready for the show in time even if I use this little kiln. I have 5 days for firing at most, because the electric will have to be switched off when the wiring is re-done. The question is how much can fit in the little kiln? I plan to do a couple more vases and they will probably have to be fired one at a time. This is a disaster. Why is the whole world always trying to stop me from getting to where I want to be?

Edit: The solution
There is only one way round this that I can see. The kiln should be wired up properly by Monday evening. I shall have to stay up all night on Monday to do the bisque firing (I don't want to leave the kiln alone as it will be my first firing). Then the kiln will cool down during the day on Tuesday and hopefully be cool enough to unload Tuesday evening. Then I will have to stay up all night on Tuesday to glaze everything and load the kiln again in the morning. Then glaze fire during the day on Wednesday, and let the kiln cool down during the night on Wednesday night, ready to unload the kiln on Thursday morning, which is when I have to set up my table at the show. Talk about cutting it fine. It's not ideal, but I can't see any other solution.

What do you other potters think? Is this do-able?

Clay Day 15 and 16

Well, the vase is coming along... really slowly! I'm having to stop after every coil or two for it to firm up a bit, so I'm kind of working on it off and on throughout the day. I really had trouble with it yesterday. The coils seemed to be drying in my hands and it wasn't blending well. I'm making very short coils as I go along now and keeping the clay well covered in between. I think it must be the heat.


I can't decide what to do with this vase. I don't know whether to leave it quite open at the top and have ivy growing out of it, or whether to put a neck on it and have ivy growing around it, or just forget the ivy, add a couple of nice handles, and carve a Jane Austen design on it. I'm leaning towards the latter just because I don't actually have much of a "collection" of Jane Austen pieces - only a few tiles, and that's it! But I do like the ivy. Whatever I'm doing I'd better do it quickly because I'm running out of time! To think, I put off making a rabbit because I didn't think I would have time, and so far this silly vase has taken me four days!!

Clay Day 13 and 14

Phew! The last few days have been absolute scorchers! I can't believe the difference in weather since last week! It's really nice to have everything flung open to let the summer breeze through the house and to hear the birds singing. What a shame about the flies, kids, motorcycles, and Scott's music from upstairs!! :)

I tried to get another photo of the tiles I was working on the other night. This photo is much better. I'm not sure if it's because they are drying or because it was taken in daylight, but here it is.


And here is the vase I have been working on for the last couple of days...


erm... not much like a vase is it?! I'm hoping to do more this evening, but I keep having to stop to let it set a bit because otherwise it just flops around!

And that's me, up to date. Oh wow, I've just realised - I've completed two weeks!! Go me! :)

And now it's time for a sandwich before picking up my sister so that she can get the lawn mower out of the shed for me! Hahaha, what a carry on! Scott's gone out and I can't go in the shed - there's spiders in there!!

Clay Day 11 and 12

Well, it's true to say I have slowed down over the last couple of days, but I have not stopped completely. Yesterday I touched up some slipped areas on some of the pieces and prepared a few tiles for slip inlaying today. And today I have done the slip inlaying and have touched up the slip on the bird piece and given him legs!

The tiles are the Marianne and Emma tiles, but the design isn't showing up on the camera. I'm never as happy with the Emma tiles for some reason. Maybe it's not really a good design for slip inlaying or sgrafitto - her face is too small for detail.

The bird looks much better now. I was tired and being very lazy when I slipped his tummy before. This time I have paid slightly more attention to detail.


He's a song thrush. I think the US have a very very similar bird called the wood thrush, but they're not identical. The wood thrush has more white around the face and is a warmer brown I believe. Of course my bird won't be an exact likeness of either, and knowing my luck there is bound to be a keen bird watcher at the show to tell me so!!

Tomorrow... tomorrow I'm not sure what I'm doing. I really should have cut more tiles tonight but I am just too tired. So that's probably what I will do tomorrow. It's nearly two weeks!!