The Love of my Life

Well, OK, there are a few people I love even more than creating my ceramics, but it does come pretty high up the list ! Am sure all you creatives out there feel exactly the same way about what you do. What I do is all here - well most of it. Have bypassed the messy bit where I am up to the elbows in clay but once made, the pieces are left to dry, placed in the kiln and then (above) taken out 24 hours later when they are 'bisque' fired. That gives me lots of blank pieces to then decorate

So I get to work with my glazes on the bare pieces. I put different colour tiles up against each other to see what they'll look like, though I pretty much know by now what works and what doesn't.

Glazing the bisqued piece can be tricky as the unfired glaze colour bares no resemblance to what it will finally look like.


And then comes the exciting bit. Once the glazed pieces have been fired a second time and the kiln has cooled down, I can open it and hope and pray that it all looks as I'd imagined ... or even better.


There are three shelves which normally would be FULL of work, but here I needed to produce some pieces in a hurry and didn't have time to make a proper kiln load (which I hate cos its such a waste!).

And then I attach my bits and bobs to the piece - buttons, embroidery thread, wire to hang the little hearts up with, etc. And there you have it - simple! And I just love it. Just wish I had more hours in a day to do it, though! Sometimes 'normal' life has a habit of interfering.

New Work, New Gallery

We had a very rushed trip down to the Suffolk coast last week to the Gallery at Snape Maltings - they had rung me the previous Saturday to ask if I could show them some of my work with a view to exhibiting in their gallery. Fortunately they liked what they saw and asked me there and then to leave it all with them.



Some of the pieces were the Quilt inspired bowls, but others were new work which came out of the kiln last week, but still very 'textiley' in nature. Will post on this new stuff soon.



Whilst we were there they had a huge textiles exhibition going on in one of the many buildings on the site, but as I say, we were in a mad rush that day, and couldn't stop. We did manage tea and cake in their cafe though - we weren't THAT short of time.

Its a fabulous place - a lovely complex situated in a glorious part of the Suffolk coast near Aldeburgh, with shops, antiques, galleries, exhibitions, cafe, etc. You could easily spend a long morning or afternoon wandering around there. I love that my galleries are in such nice places, so that delivering stock turns into a pleasant, relaxed day out - usually. Next time we go, will take some pics of the place!