NEOS Catch-Up

Well.... its been a month since NEOS ended and I've only just recovered!

We all had a great week where the weather really was amazing in a rather idyllic setting...

Along with the usual selling, banter and business, I managed to get my first Raku work fired in the New Kiln.... after a bit of trouble with the burner, the chaps at Northern Kilns told me an easy fix and we were on our way!

This was the first firing, attended by the lovely Happy Accident Co who also helped out.
The pieces were at about 1000C when we took off the lid and proceeded to take out the pieces and pop them in the sawdust bin to reduce and smoke for 20 mins...

the pieces were then taken home to be cleaned.  I was going to take proper photographs of the finished pieces but.... they all sold very well!

C'est La Vie.....

only slightly cleaned...

inside the box you can see where the copper has reduced and turned red/ petrolly

drying out the pieces on top of the firing kiln...

nice and clean now!

difficult to see the copper flashes...

these pieces sold within 20 mins!

nice cracking... 

complete with casualty.... i dropped it!

Diary of a Set -Up

This week I have been preparing for my North East Open Studios show which opened today.  I am showing again with Gabrielle Reith and Aubin Stewart as well as Magnhild Hauge, Ane Smith, Philip Thompson and Susie Hunt.

Mill Farm is the purpose built, tranquil home of Painter, Susie Hunt who has generously let us show with her this year.

In exchange for the space we have cleaned, sorted, repainted and arranged to transform the space into a little Affa Fine paradise where we have a mixture of our own work spaces couples with mixed parts.  We have set up a lovely lifestyle wall mixing our products with furnishings.

Throughout the week we will be demonstrating and raku firing.... there will be more to come on that in the coming days!

Here is a rather shoddy set of pictures of the transformations....

Susie's paper stash...

Moving furniture around - we had already painted at at this point...

The middle door and a fresh wall!

pristine!

A small matter of 4 trips in the car - filled with stuff

Aubin and her family putting up the props

Tea trolley ready...

Gabi has already started hanging her work - me, i have 100 boxes!

Setting up all the raku paraphernalia 

Almost there - old drawers and charity shop finds...

unpacking the Delft

MORE boxes and moving about...

Late Friday night

Getting there.... i must leave space for 4 more!

Phil's monster trees and Gabi's children's t-shirts

Friday night with a tired baby Vaughan

The start of the monster postcard wall...

Small Stories getting sorted

more Monsters!

Aubin's works and the wall almost finished

After emergency trip from Mum with furniture - we're testing the layout

looking good!

Time for home....

A beautiful sunny morning and everything is great...

Finished Lifestyle Wall with extra furniture and rug - its a chill-out space for any visitors wishing for a rest!

Vinyl's up and shelving sorted

Figures positioned with ipad ready for visitor feedback!

Sun shining on everybody... phew!

NEOS is on from the 15th to the 23rd September - for details and opening times, click HERE!

Happy New Year.....2012 is going to be a busy one!

Well, it's only the end of February and things are already busy, and shaping up to be a good one in 2012.  

The Affa Fine quines have been chatting (when they have time!) and hopefully you will see some exciting collaborative 3d work this year.

Doric Delft is travelling far and wide with further stockists to follow...

The figure of Napoleon Bonaparte has been admired by many and the Oldemldrum Wargames Group is using it as their mascot and logo.

Finally, as if things weren't exciting enough, I have been lucky enough to voted Chairperson of North East Open Studios. Along with Han almost entirely new committee, we hope to make the changes to NEOS it desperately needs to make it more sustainable.

Sayonara for now...