Storm

The second glaze firing went well. Storm is now completed the way I am happy with. It is the joy to see her. She was commissioned by a lovely lady. I hope they live happily for a long time.

Storm

  

Hallo, Amsterdam!

Hallo, people in the Netherlands! My works are now available in European Makers Gallery, Amsterdam. How lovely to be able to show my work in such a beautiful city! Do pop in when you are in Amsterdam. The gallery is close to Rijksmuseum.

Ancient Japanese child

Ancient Japanese child

Storm

Storm

Young Faun

European Makers Gallery
Spiegelgracht 2a
1017 JR Amsterdam
 

In the studio

Hello everyone.  The bisque-firing was successful. I became so nervous to carry the storm head from the garage, aka the kiln room, to inside. I held my breath. That exhausted me!

Storm

One of the strands of hair seems a bit loose! I am hoping it will be fixed with glaze.

All others were intact, luckily.

These three whippets are commissioned. They came through fine, too. 

Today, I built a torso for a young faun. I somehow built a well-built mature man's figure, which would be more suitable for a rugby player than a young faun. With a thick chest and six pack!" What was I thinking? I had to shave most muscle and to pat it to rounder shape.

After shave - front

I changed square shoulders and bottom round. I had to shave off kilos of muscles! Mike suggested that I should start from a scratch, and/or make a new head for the torso. Not a nice suggestion when I don't have too much time at hand.

After shave - backside

After reshaping it, I added a goat tail. Then suddenly he looks like a faun! Sorry no photo today. 

*****

  

Do you remember that I made a trio of little animals over Christmas holiday? They finally finished. They were quickly snapped up within hours of their debut. So nobody has seen them together. Here is the photo.

Little lamb, goat and bunny

 And the last but not the least! Today's Pearl. It was windy today! She was happy to have a coat on. 

 And bendy Topaz.

Lovely lunch, rabbits and storm damages

Hello everyone. Today, we had a wonderful lunch with ceramic artist Karen Banks and photographer Paul Carr. They came to collect Angel. They are such nice people. We enjoyed their company so much! So far, all of the people I have met through my ceramics are really nice. Mike observed that people who like my work tend to be nice. I agree! I was spoiled by Karen. She gave me her beautiful work as a gift, which reminds me of herself; delicate, sensitive yet fun. I will take a good photo in daylight and share it with you next time!

Karen's website: http://www.karenbanks.co.uk/
Paul's website: http://www.fisheyecreative.co.uk/

A couple of rabbits are in my shop now. Two are already gone last night. They are really sweet. : )

Please look the right..

The big nosed one in my shop is in the middle, and, alas, the other cute one is missing from the photo. She is here. : )

I am looking the opposite way. This is my better side. :D

Bisque firing went successfully. I did finishing yesterday. I hope I can do glaze-firing next week.

It has been very stormy here in UK. We had some leaks from the flat roof to the entrance and guest WC on the New Year's Day. Luckily the floor is tiled so damage was limited to walls and ceilings. In comparison with those in flooded areas, we are lucky. Mike went up on the roof to investigate the next day. He couldn't find apparent problems. It seemed the gutter and rain pipe couldn't cope with the sheer volume of rain. He widened the the rain pipe which had some tar inside. We had torrential rain on that night. But there was no leak. Fingers crossed.

Leak! Soaked.

Smiley Mike goes to the roof with a trowel in hand.

 Pumpkin is as chirpy as usual. She trod water-logged garden, as if she had web feet! : D.

Pumpkin chases any sparrows with bread all over the garden!

 During the walk, we have seen more and more damages. Here at the entrance to University of Kent ground, at first I noticed that tree trunks on the ground, and wondered where they were from. Then all of sudden, ah-ha moment. The tall pine tree at the sign post is gone! It must have broken the wooden fence of the house on the right. The fence is gone, too!

About 5-6 meters of pine tree fell.

 About 30-40 year old pine tree was there when I was a student at the University of Kent. The pavement was designed for the tree.

The trunk is bigger than Pearl's head.

 All over the University ground, there were fallen trees.

It must have made big noise!

 The 'bomb pit' became a pond. It is usually dry hole.

And the leaning Leylandii had a hair cut. There are lots of tree surgeons around here and roofers are very busy. I hope there are a good stock of ridge tiles! 

The city council stopped here... eyesore

I hope you are safe and dry!