Making Pots and Buying Kit...

Usually when I write a blog post I pick a theme to talk about or focus on one element of what I’ve been up to recently. But this past week has been such a ‘mish-mash’ of different things I wasn’t sure what to pick! So for today’s post I thought I’d put together some pictures I’ve taken in the past ten days and show you a ‘medley’ of the sorts of things I’ve been doing.

Above is a picture of me attaching a handle to a mug as part of an order. The white cord you can see is my ipod which I listen to while working! Below is a picture of some buttons I made for a different order. Here they’re shown drying out ready for firing. These are all stoneware and will measure about 1cm across when finished and will be decorated with a plain white glaze.

Below is a picture of some lovely new brushes I bought from a local art shop. I wanted some ‘hake’ brushes but they didn’t have any in stock so I got these ‘general-purpose bristle-brushes’ instead as a set of three. Since then I’ve already used them for glazing a batch of buttons and brooches and I’m really pleased with them. I’m keeping these for pottery only – I’d quickly ruin them if I used them for painting!

I found this little rush stool (below) from a local second-hand furniture warehouse for a couple of quid. It’s pretty bashed-up (and very 60s/70s!) but it’s the perfect height for throwing with my new shimpo wheel. I started off throwing with a chair that was too high and then changed to a fold-up chair that was too low. So this is my Goldilocks stool…

I’ve started making some smaller mugs which you can see in the picture below. These are freshly thrown and measure about two-thirds the size of a ‘normal’ mug – although I won’t know for certain the exact size until they’re finished. I have a couple of small mugs myself made by other potters: because sometimes it’s nice to have just a small amount of tea or coffee!

Below is a photo of these same ‘mini-mugs’ drying out. Since the last image they’ve been turned and I’ve added handles to them. These will spend the next few days drying out before firing. You may have noticed these mugs are sitting on my new wooden throwing bats! I ordered these last week and they arrived in a big parcel on Wednesday...

Below is a detail picture of my new wooden throwing bats. For those who don't know, these are circular pieces of wood that fit on the wheelhead. They’re for throwing large or wide pots that would otherwise be difficult to remove from the wheel without damaging or knocking out of shape. These bats are 12 inches across and made from birch wood. They're so lovely and new they smell absolutely gorgeous: it’s going to be a shame to get them dirty! They were pretty expensive too – so I’m going to make sure I take care of them and hope they don’t warp. (Sadly I’m not very good at woodwork otherwise I’d have made them myself to save money!)

Anyway, that’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed these pictures!