Birdees

Well I had a nice sojourn making my wee birdees. It's so cold and damp just now that I had to take them inside the house in order to dry them up a bit..

I have a number of different ideas for them, some require some burnishing so I've invested a whole £1 on a piece of rose quartz to get going- my spoons tend to stain the white clay I use.











I have also enjoyed using my sketchbook again and practicing what I teach!
I'm spending a lot if time drinking tea and staring outside at the wee birds who come in and visit our chicken...










I'm outside right now experimenting some more... I'll keep you updated
M
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Work in progress...

First proper day in the studio for a while, been playing around with forms for a project... It's amazing how much a random nail mark on soft clay looks like an eye!












M






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New Year - Moving On......

Well, its been a busy January....

All things change, Ive been very busy getting on these past few months but I've not really blogged and told you all the news!

Its been a month of transition too.... for years now, I have balanced by more creative, making life with a part time teaching job - after applying for a promoted position and the prospect of full time work, I have had time to reflect (after not getting the job!) on what exactly I'm doing.

Its a daunting prospect, so, a couple of weeks ago, we picked up this wee beauty:

Shiny Van of Whiteness

After realising that its been some years sine i actually had passengers in the back of the Clio, and that the back seats were down more than up... AND that no matter how hard I try, I cant get a gas bottle, metal bin, sawdust, pots, shelves and... a raku kiln , in the back!

On the plus side, it has roof bars, should we need to take the canoe out too.....

I rejoined the Scottish Potters Association too - its been 6 years since I renewed my membership and I wanted to reconnect with new folk who worked in clay - dont worry, I wont be building a wood kiln and growing a beard anytime soon (I jest)

I also managed to get a last minute place in their residential weekend in March - it involves a Ceilidh, so look out!

I absolutely SUCK at application forms and my terrible knack for procrastination is worst when I have a paperwork deadline... however, I am perusing forms that involve porpoises, tiles and castles..... hmmmmmmmmm

One big job for the year was announced this week. i am officially the Educational Artist in Residence for Fabric of the Land in 2014....

I will be working with the Creative Learning team, St Machar Academy and the great smART Consultants to get the 3rd year interested in Art and Geology....

In October 2013, I completed another project with smArt Consultants.  Along with Walker Road Primary in Torry, we produced the table centres for the 2013 Art and Business Scotland Awards.... it was a terribly posh occasion but the kids were the stars of the show!... heres a video to show you how it was done...

Ill keep you posted on any more developments!
M

Raku...again!

Well these past few weeks have been busy to say the least!
This week has been the final week of the Grays short courses and traditionally, the foundation class gets a wee Raku taster before Christmas. Due to the workshop being so busy, unfortunately none of their work to date has been glaze fired so they were looking forward to taking a piece home at last!
Wednesday evening was perfect for Raku; crispy cold, no wind and dark....



All set up and ready to go.... Lets hope there's enough gas left.



Ladies warming up by the kiln



Not long to go now.

Teacosy Success!

Good news last week came from Smart Consultants as I have been accepted into Teacosy for 2012!
Sad news is that this will be the last in its current form, it goes to show if you have great innovative ideas, they will be popular and imitated throughout.........
Teacosy will be in the Cowdray Hall again this year with the opening and exclusive preview on the Friday evening with the full day trading on Saturday.
I've been very busy with the short courses this week so stay tuned for photos of our raku firing and recent work....

Short Courses and Other Stories.

Both my foundation and intermediate Ceramics classes at Grays have been going well. The foundation class have been working with soft slabs this week and have produced a lovely range of work. The intermediate class are working on a surface decoration project which includes the use of coloured slips and considering alternative surfaces. This has happily coincided with head tutor, Simon Ward's most recent charity project where he hopes to make around 100 cylindrical vases which will be decorated by Grays Staff and students, exhibited and then sold with proceeds going to the RNLI. I thinks most of the ones decorated tonight are already sold!







































These pieces will be bisque fired and the clear glazed so therefore the colours will be much brighter. the dull grey clay will change to a cream colour so some imagination is required when making these pieces.

Knee Deep in Snowflakes

Short Courses and Christmas Prep......


My foundation Ceramics class at Grays School of Art have produced some lovely pieces during their first project so i thought I would post them here! It was a simple pinching project but they certainly took it to a fine conclusion...

Every year i say I need to start earler but it creeps in ever so quickly.... theres not enough hours in the day to do everything but I have finally finished the porcelain prep so now its time to get out the earthenware......

What they will look like finished.... hopefully

October Commissions

Its been busy lately, Ive been slowly finishing work for a big public art commission at Banff Hospital. The lead artist was Lynne at Curious Cranberry and I made 16 large porcelain tiles for wall hanging which were adorned with photographer Nicole Gildea's images of the local area.

It was a long haul, firing tiles of this size is a minefield of cracking and breaking but we got there eventually, below are some of the pics of the making process ...

Starts off with pristine flat plaster bats

The surface has to be damp or the clay will dry too quickly on the surface and cause fissures

Use cottling clay to build a dam

Slip has just been poured in

Leave to dry till it holds its shape

Leather hard and wiped to soften sharp edges

I use a drillbit to get the holes correct - the clay has to be at exactly the right hardness for this to work

Finished pieces

A Story of Banff

After the tiles were finished I was working of a another retirement commission, this time for Mr Dave Cordiner who was an art teacher at Ellon Academy.  Dave has many interests and his colleagues wanted a few things on his person as well as his distinctive shoes.....

Dave likes his badmintion and his Apple products......

A blue holdall and a printing roller was also requested