Sunset Inspiration

Just some of the wonderful colours which inspire this.

Special memories of 'the walker' leaving his footprints in the sand will always be in my heart.

Chickens and a firing at last!

Our chickens are growing and are such a hit we have to make miniatures so this is the little flock sitting on the table. Sadly a few have hit the tiles and not survived. 'More clay' is the afternoon's catch phrase and these little bits of nothing are easy to make and not as breakable as the 'dines'.

Just a couple of things from this small kiln load - managed to unload and then head to the shops and had a few sales - paid for gas - so it was worth it. Tourist season is upon us but they are reluctant buyers as they have to traverse rough roads and worry about breakages and space - a premium when you come to these out of the way places.

I loved these low bowls. I have to think about what I sit on the bottom shelves as they never get the heatwork like the rest of the kiln so I usually use my Derek Smith glazes and throw a few extras to experiment. I will do a few more like this I think.

This was one of the favourite beakers (yunomi's - now I read a blog where a potter said he wasn't Japanese so didn't feel he had the right to call them this - so I think I will stick to calling them beakers as well!). I did intend to match a lot of the beakers from the last firing with these pressed plates but of course time was short I decided I just couldn't stand the time and effort thinking about glazing but this result proves that you should sometimes stick to what you originally planned. The pressed plates all ended up with bauxite and shino but they beautiful too. I will make more pressed plates now as I decided not to take the beakers down to sell because I think they deserve the accompanying plate. Now I need time to play in clay............

340 grams Exhibition

My two dilly made it to Gulgong in one piece for the 340 grams Exhibition and are sitting beside two delicate translucent bowls made by John Tuckwell. He certainly managed to use his 340 grams well as his bowls look as if they are paper thin and large in comparison to what I ended up producing. This is why I love the net - I can sit so far away from John yet enjoy his beautiful pieces and read another interesting blog.

Clay Energy would have been great to experience and I did want to get down there this year but now I will have to plan ahead and really make sure it happens in 2 years time. Hopefully there will be lots of images posted by all the visiting potters on blogs and facebook sites so those of us who couldn't make it can trawl our way through and enjoy the experience from afar.

Finally loaded my kiln today and maybe I will get those burners going tomorrow. There are a few dinosaurs and some other very strange pieces to excite one little potter. We were out there again today making a 'long neck' - it had a few modifications and little additions of kaolin so I'm not sure if it will survive the night!

Weipa goes to Sydney

These are some of the pieces which have journeyed to Planet. Hope city life embraces them!

I am so fortunate to have inspiration overload up here and the raw materials on hand to use and make these pieces unique. Southern Ice gives such a beautiful translucency to the forms and works so well with bauxite. I still have to make up my local porcelain using raw kaolin - unfortunately its still slightly tainted with the bauxite but I am sure I will get an unusual workeable body.

The southerners and pots

The southern cold drove the family north to enjoy our Winter - cold wet weather and sick kids don't lead to an enjoyable time. The little ones are playing with hoses instead of sitting in front of a fire so it's been a fun time for Nona!

I quickly did another load before they came - a mix of shino pieces, cups and beakers - the latter a favourite for cool drinks in our hot climate. Its Winter and we are still getting 30 degree + (90F) days so pottery is a must for keeping your beverages cool! Went on a bit of a jug making spree as there have been requests for beer jugs from a couple of the local home brewers - trouble with my jug making it moves from large to very small and its the smaller versions which take over and press my creative button - and they don't require handles - all the better when things are drying before my eyes.
This beaker is in the local porcelain body I have aging - couldn't resist taking some out and trying to get it working - still finding it stiff and not as plastic as I was hoping but hopefully that bacteria will work its magic and give me the body I want.

I am off to brave the Sydney cold next week and enjoy the workshop with Takeshi Yasuda. I should come home stimulated by my exposure to the galleries etc down there but I know the cold won't be pleasureable as I am totally shorts and t-shirt and barefoot!!!
I have been enjoying the discussions on the australian ceramics thread - for someone like me who sits a long long way from city centres its great to hear the many views bandied back and forth. I must admit I am drawn to those who are comfortable working away quietly in the shadows but staying true to their love - I am a little lost amongst the Art crowd - give me my beach any day! The cyber world is great for someone like me to touch base with the ceramic world but it does sometimes eat into time and takes away from actually working the clay.

Camera and pots!!!

My photography is always a struggle - especially with the reflective light bouncing off the shino and my wonderful blue black 'Milky Way' series but now the camera has failed me. Remoteness makes these things all that more difficult as the nearest 'hospital' is in Sydney so I will be walking my beach without this constant companion.
Porcelain 'Milky Way' dillyThe images never do this wonderful glaze combination justice - there is so much refracted light it hinders the contrast especially on the porcelain body. Sunlight works magic and I so wish I had the equipment to capture these works properly.

The little shino basket, glaze rolling back off the underlying bauxite over a local clay mix.
Shino, bauxite and a 2 glaze green always works to capture the local monsoon colours.
Beakers - these found some good homes - shell marks highlighted with the bauxite and multiple glazes over a local clay mix create interesting responses.
Local clay filled with its abundance of iron works so well with two little soy pourers.
Southern Ice Porcelain, beautiful and impurity free, and I go and add something like bauxite to change that crisp whiteness but it works so well, the transluscency accenturating the bauxite markings. When the camera returns the dilly forms will find their way to the paperbarks just on sunset - 'dilly inspired porcelain basket with its found woven soft coral handle sits quietly amidst its fragile surroundings, reflecting on the past indigenous women who gathered along this pristine shore for thousands of years leaving only their footprints - if only we could do the same.'
My AvantCard postcard - "CallingAllArtists.pdf"

What a week!

Its been a week of constant work - can't believe what has been accomplished but it proves when the brain is in a good space hard work seems effortless - although I must admit running with countless whellbarrow loads of dirt did have the aches and pains coming to the fore.
Still the pottery area is now almost doubled and the pending slabs for a new awning over the kiln look all that closer to being achieved.
Now to some of the pottery - this little bowl was thrown out of the local kaolin - dried too quickly as I was impatient but I still decided to fire even though it cracked in the bisque. I love the striated marks on the clay and the shino has taken on an unusual hue. It was thin so I now wished I had thought more about what I was doing and added some extra layers. Still it has me intrigued as I now want to work out what I should add to lose the cracking but retain the wonderful imperfections - and I really want it to be a local component. I realize I need to pick some more knowledgeable potters' brains for some suggestions. I have made up a porcelain body using the local kaolin with all the additions but after this bowl I would love to pare down to the bare essentials. In all of this I have to try and pay for my experimenting so have to put the time into the necessity work as well, but my brain is a little in overdrive!
Oh that shino - it just has to be my favourite glaze and over the bauxite I am transported to my source of inspiration - that beach I walk nearly every day - although there is a crocodile alert so its walk at low tide only until he is caught.