throw

After a week of having a little vertigo which seems to have cleared up now I am much aware that it’s time I started to throw again.

Potters will immediately think of throwing pots on a wheel, but non potters will just ask “throw what?”

Yes, that’s the rub, throw what?

It’s been 6 years since I threw porcelain and after trying for a week or two with stoneware, I think it’s porcelain that I will try.  I love it’s softness and the fact that you are throwing with cream cheese.

Terrified, after 6 years, yes you bet I am.  Excited, after 6 years, yes you bet I am.

Will I have any thing worth showing to you in the next few days – not likely!

 

Mrs. Very Wobbily Pots.

ceramic museum again

This time it’s all about Bernard Leach.

Love him or Loathe him, you can’t Ignore him.

To many people he put the British Studio Pottery movement on the map.

Anyway onto the gorgeous stuff, the pots.

Two stunning pots by Bernard Leach, I love his images of the fish.

I found the tile piece incredibly moving.  And I don’t know why.

Perhaps it was the individual tiles each painted and then marked by the famous crossed S and line and dots of St Ives Pottery.  Each one a little masterpiece of art showing more of Leach than I think the shape of his pots did.

Perhaps you could touch the glaze and feel the age and the past through it.  Almost favourite tile is the Anagama kiln, the tile at the top, portraying the long history of firing that Leach and Hamada had been part of.  But favourite tile has to be the bottom one, a picture of a bottle.

Each one is priceless.

5 days to go

Just five days to go before we go down to London to see Ceramic Art London 2012.

So looking forward to it.

I just love looking at pots, and ceramics of all different sorts.

I went to a pot exhibition at the wonderful York Art Gallery when I was there last month.

There was a selection of pots chosen by Gordon Baldwin.

And what a collection of pots.

Each one with it’s own tale to tell and some of the most stunning were the medieval jugs.  What could those jugs tell if they could speak to us!

I took photographs, and will put them up over the week.

It was so hard to take photographs with the cases and the light, so apologies for really bad images, but I hope you get the feel of the occasion.

Medieval jugs

Crowan Egg Cups

A Crowan Egg Cup, I have two of these at home, under glass so cats will not knock them off the shelves.  It was so exciting to see a group of them and having held them know how they felt, and their weight and the silkiness of the glaze.

William Saite Murray

Lucie Rie.  The thinness of the rim always takes my breath away, I have held her work and it’s totally breathtaking.  And the foot ring, look how small it is, and it’s too deep and yet it all works.

Wonderful work by Hans Cooper, I find the bottom piece solid yet delicate, an all are so elegant.

More photographs later.

migraines and shows

I’ve had another bout of migraines, which are well, frustrating.

I wanted to be in the shed and throwing now the temperature is above freezing for this week any way.

As much as I love my buttons, and I do love my buttons, I want to apply for some shows and I need a little more variety.

So small pots it will be, when I feel up to it.

I have a few shows I want to apply for, but quite a few are already full up.  So I’ve been emailing to get on news lists for next year.

These things I will learn.

I’ve also re joined the CPA (Craft Potters Association) and should get news of events through them too.

There is one show I’d really like to do, really, really.  But I’ll have to wait and see after I’ve applied.

There is one thing I’m lacking, a CV with out huge holes in it.  I seem to have spent most of my adult life bringing up children and looking after the home, which is  still the most important job I could ever do in my opinion, but it does not really look that good in black and white.

Perhaps I just ought to include a picture of my Grandson………………

York 2

The day I chose to wander round York was not the best weather wise, it had warmed up since the day before but that was because of cloud and the odd spatter of rain.

The Shambles was where I walked up first, and then I thought I had to turn right somewhere to get to Petergate – wrong.  I did a detour and ended up back where I started off.  Petergate was straight ahead.

I finally got to where I wanted to each lunch and it was lovely to just sit on my own in a corner of a cafe and strangely comfortable.  For years I’ve had either children or Andrew with me and even at my university days there were often friends around.

Then I knew that I had to turn right and go past the Minster and follow the road round until I got to the Art Gallery.

When I walked down the little tiny street that brings the Minster in view I could see the Rose window, and then as I followed the road round the bells began to peel.

I had never head so many bells from the Minster before and as I walked past I was aware that the lower bells were causing a hum, like base notes that carried on, while the higher bells danced their tune.

Eventually the whole air was full of the hum that seemed to be just humming all on its own and it filled the streets and was more moving and memorable than the bells dancing above.

Eventually I moved down the road to the Art Gallery, not wanting to hear the bells stop, but preferring to  walk in their humming.

 

 

swapping

We all had a swap partner, though we only knew who we were buying for, not who was buying for us.

And the time arrived and all the presents were handed out.

I had a huge bag with plenty of bright pink tissue paper wrapped presents.

The first I unwrapped was a shawlette with owls along it, all with little jewel beaded eyes.

It was wonderful, no one has knitted some thing for me since I was a little girl.  And there was more to come.

Next a whole packet of yarn for a jumper for my Grandson, and the pattern, and again it was owls and lovely beads for the owl eyes.

There were chocolate owls and owl chocolates – I ate those – an owl needle gauge and owl buttons.

As you can see wonderful things.

And then the P/hop was next.

Sock yarn, some yarn I may use in my ceramic jewellery, and I forgot to photograph a small skein of grey silk that will be used on my ceramic brooches.  The idea behind the P/hop is that we all take something that we don’t need any more, and put it on the table, be it patterns, needles, books, or mostly yarn and fleece.  We all take some thing new away and then donate via P/hop to MSF (Doctors with out Borders).

And I did come away with some skeins of yarn bought from Natalie, the small gold one is to make socks with, teamed up with a soft moss green.  The grey is to make a shawl with two shades of gold yarn, and the orange was because I love the colours and it will make really cheerful socks on a winters morning.

can you hear me?

I have no idea if it’s me, or what, but I am finding that I can’t post comments on any Blogger blogs at the moment.

I have tried a few and they don’t like me telling them that I am from WordPress, nor do they like my web address www.susansharpeceramics.co.uk.

I’ve just posed on a Typepad blog, perhaps it’s just me.

So Sorry I could not chat to you Everyday Life, or Dog Daisy Chains and Paul The Potter

I wonder if it’s a problem with Blogger.  Maybe time will tell.

York 2012

I’m sure some of you will have realised that I knit as well as make things with the clay stuff, and this is about the weekend I’ve just had away in York.

Well the long weekend away at York was great, and I loved it so much that I’ve already booked again for next year!

There was much knitting, even more talking, and even more laughing.

It was good to meet up with friends, and to meet new ones.

I didn’t stay in the Convent with some of the  group but was a cross the road in a hotel.

It had a huge bed, I mean me, Andrew, and three cats could all have got lost in it.

The room was great and it was good to have some quiet me time after all the rush to get away.

The Saturday afternoon was when most of us got together in a large room at the Convent and had a great time.

There were spinning classes, crochet classes, making floof to spin with classes, and a tatting class, all sort of impromptu.

And regulars will know about P/hop, the knitting charity that raises money for MSF (Doctors without borders), well, this was this years grab some yarn and donate table.

And most of the yarn went, and what was left over we distributed to the local charity shops in York, so none was wasted.

And the last photograph of today is of Natalies bag.  Natalie runs The Yarn Yard and dyes the most beautiful yarn for us, as you can see.

We also had a present swap and I’ll post that tomorrow.  Plus some photographs of York, pity it was a dull day but York is so beautiful I’m sure it will look good.

 

Oh and I’ve done a huge update on the shop.  New buttons, brooches, and new hanging ceramics, and some hearts that could be used as gift tags.

i’ve been blogged

I have been featured in a blog

UKClayUsers Blog

ray finch – potter

Ray Finch, potter.

Just that potter.

One of the last of the great potters who have helped to make the British pottery what it is today.

Ray died today peacefully at the age of 97.

I met him briefly at Winchcombe Pottery a few years ago and once met, how ever briefly, never forgotten.

He and his work will be so missed.