Summer Rain

The Cooktown Orchids are out again. Pennefather Beach north of Weipa will be a blaze of colour - the orchids are on the low shrubs beside the beach growing unnoticed until they flower.

Firing today - looked like a hot rainfree day but we are getting the odd shower just to make my life difficult with a leak down the chimney right above the damper. Not fun sitting there redirecting the flow but at least its only for a few minutes while the downpour lasts. Fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse later this afternoon - don't fancy the flames and water mix!
............well that didn't quite go according to plan - kiln is choking and I can't blame the burners so phone call to my helpful kiln man thousands of miles away and he, like me thinks maybe the flue has collapsed inside. 800C after 9 hours is not normal so its pointless wasting more gas until I can peer down that flue. He assures me its quite simple taking the back off so I am quite the fixit kiln-woman these days. Hopefully I can get it up and running and meet the Wednesday deadline for a local parting gift to make the removalists.

Burners.......

I hate cleaning burners......and I have two to pull apart and clean before I can get my glaze firing done. Was hoping the pressure would blow the rubbish out but it didn't happen so the bisque firing took longer then normal. Haven't fired since November so no wonder the rust etc has caused problems. At least its not all four I have to tackle so I shouldn't complain. I did complain though about the gas going up in price - so expensive up here - bought my last bottle in November and there was a price rise then and now its gone up again.

Have been sieving kaolin for my porcelain and putting the little bits of coloured kaolin and rock aside. I should have been cleaning but out came the mortar and pestle to grind it to fines so I can hopefully get a glaze. Kept some of the sand and ground it as well so perhaps I can have a play with it all and get some surprises - or disappointments.




I wonder will he sleep through tonight!!!

Teething......

There are teething problems with the little person in our house - 4 hours lack of sleep will play havoc on the pottery front today, but I can't blame that on these two finished teapots! I still can't quite believe I actually fired the teapot on the right and put a handle on the thing without the glaringly obvious fault. This was an end of year effort so it speaks volumes about 2009! And that other strange unfinished attempt for the 2009 Sydney Teapot Show - ah well I did have one that actually made it down there - sometimes you have to wonder at the creative ideas that emerge from addled brainspace!

The temperature and humidity is soaring up here and the rain is dropping in short bursts giving minimal relief so potting outside under the awning is quite something - they call this crazy condition associated with prolonged summer heat 'mango madness' Still I have some teapots ready for the bisque - lots of bauxite will be splashed about so the kaolin will work its magic on the shino and glazes and handles are in the right place this time.

Farewell to the Fashion Genius Alexander McQueen

He was an incredible artist and will be missed on the runways

Working......

Michael Kline's 12 to 12 plus walking here
finally got some hands dirty. Little hands also made their first pot. Now I have to get down to business and stop procrastinating. Yesterday was a dry day so all pots are trimmed and a few jugs even have handles but today is different - humid and the odd shower - am I looking for excuses here?

Nature is full of surprises - tucked away amongst the paperbark roots was this multi-coloured mangroove seed (I have never seen one with such a varied palette), standing tall while its mates were gathered on the high tide line in a jumbled mass.

Mark Hewitt

"The world is filled with a lot of junk, its really nice to use smething that's actually made by someone you know and who cares deeply about the place where they live and its history and its geography and its ceramic culture. You know this is the manifestation of that love and experience and its just my gift to the world and this is just what I do to try and make a better place."
Mark Hewitt.

No work, new slab

I have been very quiet on the blogging front - life's little complexities have meant the clay has had to take a back seat. Still I am finally getting a bigger slab in readiness for a new shed - the latter coming next year when middle son returns from his overseas jaunts. Hopefully cyclones stay away as my poor old shed is just holding together and a big blow might see it sail off across the ocean!

The dogs have loved this dust bowl to play in and are not happy with the meshing restricting access. Monday sees the pour so it will be interesting to keep two dogs from laying their marks across their favourite area.

Next week I will be glazing - famous last words - but I am hopeful I can spend some time throwing some colour around for some patient customers. Family always comes first so I will happily give time up for them, so we shall see what happens - even the clay can't match that passion.