Stocking Up

A couple of days ago I had one of those days: where every time you try to start something you discover you can’t because you don’t have the stuff you need. It kept happening all day so I realized I’d better do some stocking-up this week.

One of the main missing essentials was canvases. As you can see in the photo I managed to treat myself to a few in the end. These are all square, ‘deep edge’ canvases from Windsor and Newton. Sizes range from 8 inch to 10 inch to 12 inch squared. And the great thing was they were all on sale at half price! So I might go back to the shop for more. The square size is something I’ve been drawn to lately as a compositional idea. It probably comes from the way I’ve been cropping photos for this blog (and my shop and flickr account). And it’s really good to have a selection of sizes to choose from too in case you feel the urge to scale up or down.

Getting stocked-up on materials and equipment for me doesn’t mean just visiting the art shop though. From a local bead shop on the island I bought a selection of brown and grey suede thongs, which I use for threading my pendants. These seem to suit my glazes and the style of my pendants the best. And then from my local kitchen shop I bought a couple of little wooden mustard spoons and a large pastry cutter in the shape of a heart. I’ve already used the pastry cutter to make some new ceramic heart decorations (which are currently drying out ready to be bisqued). As for the mustard spoons: I’ve been looking for those for months, so I was very excited to find them. They should help me work out the dimensions for designing a new set of mustard pots I plan to make.

So there you have it. Re-stocked. I suppose that means I don’t have any excuses now…!