Origami, glazing and walk in the woods.

How was your weekend? I had a good one! Yesterday morning, my friend, Sandra, came over to learn how to make origami cranes for her art project. I haven't made cranes for a long time, but I soon remembered how to do. We had good laugh, too. I probably distracted her from origami by my perpetual chatting! Poor Sandra! She needed six cranes, but we made eight together. It was fun!

Origami

After that I worked hard. Since Thursday I had been preparing for glaze-firing.What exactly do I do, you might wonder. I paint underglaze, oxides and glazes on my sculptures. Then I wipe some of them and wax them to make resist, and repeat all painting again until I feel there would be enough depth in colours. It requires concentration and attention to details. Delicate parts are likely to be damaged during this process. I can't remember how many times I have almost cried! I held my breath and concentrated on dropping glaze with a cocktail stick on 2mm gap between hair part and face part. I was exhausted by six' o'clock, and slept before ten!

These three are going to be glaze-fired tomorrow.

Angel - on commission. The clients like the hair to be strawberry blonde.

The first boy to be glaze fired

Hair is very difficult to do a neat job! 

Today I finished preparing most of sculptures before lunchtime and loaded the kiln! How nice! Then I had my first half day off of the month! We went to the Blean woods for walk.

Blean woods

I like walking on unofficial footpaths at random, avoiding people. Then I can feel the woods!

Scabiosa

 There are lots of various mushrooms, green chestnuts and some scabiosa.

Oak

 The most beautiful things was the the green light coming through leaves.

Beautiful green light

There are decayed trees. They go back to the soil.  

Really big decayed tree

We had walked about an hour. The woods has a steep slope, and when we climbed to go back to parking, we were tired. But you don't need to pity on us. The apple tart Mike baked from windfall apples was waiting for us! Yummy! I was so happy to have married Mike! :D Happy autumn, everyone!

Mike's apple tart

******

'They went alone! Pearl and I were left behind! I wanted to chase squirrels! I'm sulking....'

The body, the Blean woods and a pear tart.

Hello everyone. How was your weekend? I went to the studio yesterday; I spent four and a half hours washing glazing tools and sieving glazes I made three weeks ago. Today I made a body for the head I made earlier in the week.

The body for Putin head

I am experimenting three things with this. First, I made a body from a slab. It is a common way to make ceramic figures, although I prefer pinching. But I think I will use slabs more often. Second, I will fire the body and the head separately, and will attach them afterwards. This idea came from Charlene' blog, Clay & Persimmons, which is not only beautiful, but also informative. I love the tempo of her blog. It reminds me of an old Japanese tea room where the time flows at a different speed from the outside. Until I read it in her blog, I hadn't even considered the option of firing body parts separately. Third, I am using different types of clay for the body (grey) and the head (E/S40), as well as different firing (oxidation and reduction) for them. I hope they will dry nicely without any cracks.

I had been longing for walking in the woods, for a while. There are a lovely woods near here, just 3-4 minutes by car, but because either it was raining or I had a class, I could not manage it until today. I chose Topaz, the loyal pooch, and Mike as walking companions; Pearl got lost several times, so we won't risk it again.

The Blean woods

Leaves

I am definitely a woods person rather than a beach person. I get so much inspiration in the woods. I like walking alone, or with a dog. That is the moment all magic appears. The Blean woods are large. I used to walk with Topaz for two hours without being seen by anybody. I taught her a special sound for changing direction. So I don't have to talk and be recognised by other walkers. What fun to walk like that!

The Blean woods

This beech tree called me. I walked past it despite the call because it was a bit away from the path, but I had to go back to it. The call was too strong to resist.

Beech tree

Close-up, Beech tree

Topaz had a good run.

The Blean woods

Mike baked a lovely pear tart. Mike was given delicious Comice pears at work. It is one of my favourites. It uses creme fraiche, eggs among other things. It was so moreish, that we ate most of it!