Update on my custom tools

They are finished and in the mail!

Simply gorgeous.

Troy Bungart

You've got to love the look, touch and smell of well turned timber. How cool would it be to have your own pottery tools, custom made in exotic timbers, with the grains highlighted and just the right curves and edges for your pottery making needs? Troy Bungart (http://bungartstudios.blogspot.com.au/) makes this possible. I found him on etsy and I have now ordered some tools after much drooling over the types of wood and the possibilities of tool shapes.

I have no photos to show you yet and I'm not sure about the legalities of posting other people's images so a photo of the tools will have to wait. In the meantime here is some wildlife found in our back yard:

A dragon and a dinosaur!

Animals for friends

Do you know someone who collects frogs or owls or elephants? Not the real thing, but miniatures in ceramics, or wood etc? A while ago I made an owl for my aunty who collects owls. It has been on my mind to make an elephant for someone I work with as she collects elephants. Then I thought why not make an animal for each of my workmates, depending on their interests. So at the moment there is a cat with underglaze at the studio waiting for clear glaze and a second firing. Here at home I have just made an elephant and an owl:

I am still undecided on whether to colour them or just clear glaze them for that lovely stoneware white colour I am loving right now. I think probably the latter as my shaky hands makes underglazing quite frustrating for me. Expect an update.

Julia E Dean

Sometimes there is a piece of pottery that I MUST have. And when it is both for aesthetic and functional reasons all the better. I ordered a mug from Julia E Dean in the US and it arrived this week, packaged safely and making its way across the seas to Australia. It was proudly shown off at the pottery club before it could get into my kitchen to be used for its intended purpose. Here are a couple of photos I took but for some better shots check out the mug and other works in the collection (as well as other equally beautiful collections) on http://www.juliaedean.com/#!about/c1hvh or go straight to the etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/juliaedean?ref=pr_faveshops

 

Studio animals of a different nature

Ok so these animals don't come into the studio but they are outside in the paddock usually staring towards the studio if it is time for their evening meal. Can you pick which one is the grandfather and which one is the granddaughter?

The fish bowl challenge

Are your pottery exploits carried out at home? Or do you have to travel with your unfired goods to the nearest kiln by car. I fall into the latter category. I liken it to an episode of Top Gear where they have to drive with a bowl of goldfish on board, most likely the point being not to spill a drop of water on the way. I have found it helps immensely if you have a passenger to babysit your goodies, although who wants the responsibility. Last night I managed to get a hand sculpted cat to the studio. Its tail had already fallen off once before the trip but it arrived safely. I was lucky in that I had a driver and I was free to hold the fragile piece myself.
Well here is something to show for the evening. I turned this bowl then added the chickens. Something I've been wanting to do for ages. Can't wait to glaze and fire it.

Forgotten pots

I realised that I had given a couple of my bowls to my mother without taking photos of them so I am adding them to the record now. The first was made using a cookie cutter.

The next is another in my range of bird bowls, with a different shaped bird. Soon I hope to make a bowl with a row of chickens.

And while on the topic of birds, here is Roxy enjoying the rain we have been having after weeks of 40 degree (Celcius) heat.

(That is not my arm!)

Studio animals

I often see photos of potters' pets in their studios, and inspired by Gary Rith's recent photos of his wrestling cat and dog, I took a snap of Jayne's new adopted dog Luka wrestling (playfully) with her other dog Stella in the new studio.

Last night I achieved two successful pots on the wheel out of three attempts which was a big improvement on a few weeks ago when I only achieved one success out of four. I envy those who can just get on the wheel and know that an actual pot/bowl will appear before them rather than some warped or lopsided sort of thing.
Thought for the day...I AM on holidays and I WILL get back to hand sculpting clay.

Yes I'm still around

Hmm. Last post May 2014. What can I say? I've been "busy" with other things. Not much pottery to show. Our old premises became unavailable and a new studio is still being built. It is a work in progress but the wheels are plugged in to power and the kiln is fired up. I discovered some items I had neglected to photograph!
So here we go...
An addition to the "collection" I began some time back. I still have plans for more.

A baby owl I made some time ago. Not sure why it was forgotten. Maybe I couldn't get a decent photo of it before I got my good camera.

The makings of another "collection" of which I'm sure there was another one. Expect more.

Ok, now this one has a story. It began as a bowl shape, got lost in the move to the new studio, was forgotten about (by me) before being found in its new form missing about half of its original self. I was going to smash it but Jayne encouraged me to clear glaze and fire it. I actually quite like it as it is now, like some sort of relic.

And of course there will always be more chooks.