Shipping week!

Hello! Is your preparation for Christmas going well? I have been down for last 3 days with headache. As soon as most shipping were done, I got bugs. Typical! It wasn't too bad, but I had to lie down. So I took this as opportunity to read; His Dark Materials by Pullman. My first book of this year! I have just finished Northern lights It is gripping and I enjoyed travelling another world with Lyra and Iorek, my favourite character in it. The headache has finally subsided. I will be back to action tomorrow. 

The little Lamb with a toy rabbit in the pocket went to a wonderful lady in London. She told me there was already space under the Christmas tree for the lamb! How lovely! She would be truly loved.

This week the last crackle glaze whippet and the last chameleon went to their new loving homes. Next summer I will make a few smaller goofy chameleons again!

Chameleon - sold

Largest whippet - sold

Cuteness 100% lamb - sold

I usually pack my work in double box or double box effect with infill. I shake the boxes to check if inside moves. If it does, more packing would needed. If not, I will take them to reliable Royal Mail! And from there, they will travel all over the world. Amazing!

Preparation for Clouds, my exhibition

Hello everyone. I had another sleep marathon today! I have stayed a whole day in the bed, got up about six, and did a bit of work, then it's time to go to bed again! We have done a bit too much yesterday. First in the morning, I re-painted masks at home, then I went to the studio to re-paint Cloud and a mask and started re-firing them. Mike took an afternoon off to help me for preparation for the show. After lunch, we went to an acrylic display showroom in Faversham, an old city with a creek, famous for the oldest brewery in UK. I bought several display units there. Back home, I had to lie down and have a nap; I was too exhausted. After a dinner, we went to B&Q to get materials for a mounting board. Then we touched up thin parts of glazes on three chameleons. All went to refiring. Mike cut the wood to the size and painted. Phew! What an action packed day! 

I refire my work several times; this is the longest process in my whole creation. I can't do it in a rush, just have to take one step at a time to create depth in the colours.

One of the masks came out was such a beauty, it perked me up! I have experimented this bronze-gold glaze. I am very happy with it. He has such strong stare. I felt I was drawn to him.

Other refiring went well, too!

Before second refiring

After

Before second refiring 

After! No more long Johns!

And this is the mounting board Mike is making. 

First coat of paint

Last, I like to share the photo of a visitor to our garden. A squirrel. He drives our dogs crazy. Topaz barks like a mad dog, but Pearl squeals like a piglet! As you can see, the squirrel doesn't care! Dogs are locked in the lounge so that they can't see this fluffy one. Then Topaz found a big ginger cat licking her fur in the front garden! 

'What wrong? Squirrels love hazelnuts. Everyone knows it!'

 


 

 

Progress in the studio and fun at home with new chameleon.

Hello everyone. Although I skipped going to the studio yesterday due to heat, I spend one to two hours there almost everyday. It was cooler today, so I felt more comfortable, and I was able to think.

I am doing the finishing on the big ears. He looks a bit distressed!

Big ears

Large 'Out of sorts' was bisque-fired. I will take time to add more colours on her.
 

Out of sorts - bisque

 Inside the head is as crazy as before!

Out of sorts 

In the garden, we are having bonanza with raspberries. Birds are eating them, but there are still plenty for everyone.

From the garden

I have just finished this boy. Yes, I have spent my evening making something at home. It seems mad to make something with clay after having spent three hours in the studio, but this is my relaxation! Meet this chunky little fellow. He has definitely something to say!

What?

Me?

 

Chameleon left Canterbury

Hello everyone. It has been a lovely weather here. The best part is low humidity. In Japan where I am from, summer is dreadfully humid and sticky. Even so, the house becomes too hot with windows closed for parrots and dogs, so I decided to stay at home in the afternoon.

In the morning, I popped in the studio to start the kiln, then went to post office to send the chameleon to a wonderful lady in Australia.

Smiley chameleon

 She came out of the kiln last Friday.

On Sunday I enameled her eyes and fired her again. 

She is flying to Australia.

Yesterday I also showered parrots. They love showers, and I used to shower them frequently until I became student. They enjoyed so much that I will shower them again next weekend. We also washed cage grates in the garden, as well.

Wet Beaper. He is good at whistling and mimicking microwave

Then we found more and more chores to do! I finally turned up the rims of my summer trousers I bought in March! I had thought there wouldn't be any occasion for them this year until recently. I don't like sewing much. I only do, when I have to. It took me about two hours to turn them up. Next time, I would buy narrower trousers! 

We had late lunch in the garden. We cooked tempura from vegetables from the garden. The most delicious one is runner beans, Succulent and tender. 

Runner beans

Fruits are ripening, too. Most cherries were eaten by wood pigeons, but we covered some branches. We should be able to harvest about 20.  

Our fist cherry

We have lots of raspberries. They are Pumpkin's favourite. She jumps from the ground and harvest some by herself. When she lands, there is heavy thud. It's funny! She is a heavy chicken!  ('How rude to call me a heavy chicken!')

Our first this year

Crocosmia is in buds

Lavender is in bloom.

Olympics and firing

Hello everyone. Mike and I had watched Olympics on TV to the hearts' content in the weekend. We enjoyed judo and archery. By Sunday we suddenly became semi-experts on them! I started practicing Judo on Mike. He obligatory falls with a funny expression. That makes me laugh. My father gave me a half an hour Judo lesson when I was about 8. Since then, I have never done anything, but, boy, I or my body, to be exact, remembered! We don't do sports, but sports are fun and addictive. Just like music, it is in our instinct.

On Saturday, I vacuumed the lounge where we watched TV, three times; partly guilty and partly too much dog hair spotted on the floor. But Sunday, I had been completely hooked on the sports, so kept watching on TV as well as PC. But, we had planned to do glazing, so in the afternoon, we did glazing in the garage. It took me five hours to glaze everything. When we filled the kiln, it was already 10 o'clock at night, and temperature was 12C, which is 54F. Chilled and knackered. We went to bed straight away.

Commissioned work. He is travelling to US.

Today, I posted the white rabbit and a chameleon commissioned for a American lady to the post office. After that, I intended to work normally, but couldn't. I split one of two PC screens on my desk to three, and streamed judo, archery and swimming. I tried to work on the other screen. It was very difficult to concentrate. Japan had a good day on Olympics. We got our first gold, and added two silvers and three bronzes. Yeah! Team GB also did very well on gymnastics, hockey and other sports.

I only wish I could take two weeks off now, but there are so many important economic data coming up this week, and company announcements next week, I must keep up with the news. It's shame. After the closing ceremony, I will be off four weeks. I will spend on making more ceramics. From October I will be a postgraduate and would not have spare time to make for my shop. Besides, we aim to use solar energy to power the kiln, so we should do many firings during summer although English sunshine is elusive even in mid-summer.

Tomorrow morning, I will wake up a bit early, run to the garage and will open the kiln. It will be exciting! I hope everything comes out alright.

Little wee things I made over the weekend.

Summer arrived here in Canterbury today. Blue sky, half sleeves and straw hats. Ah, bliss!

I had a busy weekend making lots of little things to be bisque fired this morning. If the clay is not dry, the chance of it exploding inside the kiln increases. We don't want that. So, we make sure they are bone dry before firing. So, what I made over the weekend are small and/or thin-walled ones for quick drying. 

More of chopstick rests - chameleons, rabbits and sun fish

A bigger hound.

Last week, I also made more chameleons and other creatures, although I forgot to take photos of them. I also spent long hours developing a new line - a funny container. I hope they will come out alright. We will open the kiln tomorrow morning. I feel already excited!


After a week of ceramics, I returned to my day work this morning. I was able to catch up with all news by five. Doing ceramics caused me back ache, which was mostly eased after a day on the office chair. It's pity that my first day back to office is the beginning of summer. But, I have lots to digest this week. After work, I will do glazing in the evenings. We will have another hectic week. 


   
  

A new chameleon commissioned - before firing

Hello everyone. Mike and I went to the Clay Cellar this morning to buy pottery materials. The Clay Cellar is about 70 minutes drive from our house. It was a nice, clean and tidy shop with very helpful Lindsey answering all our questions. She told us that she makes tools, and yes! there are lots of them. We will definitely go back to get her special hand tools when we need one or two. There I found a small poster about Singing Soul Art gallery in Cranbrook. We have never gone to Cranbrook, and Lindsey told us it would be only 15-20 minutes drive. So we went. First, we had a lunch, panini and coffee, at an Italian cafe. Mike had cooked ham and Taleggio, and I had Parma ham and artichoke. Bread was tasty ciabata. We enjoyed our lunch. After that we popped in Singing Soul Art. There were about 10 people having a lunch. But we were able to look inside. The gallery was run by Marie Prett, who makes interesting circus themed ceramic sculpture. There was a large black English bull terrier, who must be a model for Marie's work.

Pearl sleeping 

After than we bought a large macaroon at a bakery and had it with tea in a flask. We headed back home. We have been out for five hours. We were worried about Pearl who had accidents several times in past, but she was patient this time. Phew.

After that, I started ceramics. I cleaned up the commissioned work for Josie. It is a chameleon. I am slowly drying him inside a partly sealed plastic bag to avoid any cracks appear. I am hoping that I can bisque fire him on Sunday. After an early dinner, I start making chopstick rests. Finally I was able to use the rabbit mould I made several days ago. There was a small trouble to start with, but after I adjusted the mould, I was able to make three from it this evening. I will show you them later.

New chameleon for Josie

New chameleon - side view

What a tiring day! But I am contented. We have done a lot of things. (Oh! I forgot it but we shampooed Pearl, and washed her bedding too!) Mike was very tired, and I think he is already asleep. I will join him soon. Good night, everyone.   
              

Whippet knife rest, Fish Man and Chameleon paper weight

Hello, everyone. The last time I updated, I told you that I got a cold, and we were going to a ceramics material shop in the weekend. Well, my cold got worse, and we had to cancel the trip to the shop. I had to stay indoor to stay warm (it was a cold day although we are in July!). So, I sat on a hot water bottle, and made a small whippet knife rest and a rabbit chopstick rest.

Whippet knife rest - before firing

It took me a long time to make this piece, so I can't imagine my making a set of six. But if we find the way to make a mould from it, we might try 3D mould, which is an unknown territory to us. I might use it as a paint brush rest, if we can't make a mould from it.

We made a mould from the rabbit. I would love to show you, but the mould is still wet. (we have had cool rainy days). So, once it has become dry, I will make samples. Then I will share photos with you. It should be ultra sweet!
                                                          *************************

Chameleon paper weight SOLD

On Sunday, when I woke up, my head ache was all gone, What's better, I found lovely Sandra purchased another chameleon from my Etsy shop. How nice to start the day! Thank you very much, Sandra! I made him as a paper weight to hold papers for customers' details at my little show last autumn. People noticed him when they wrote down their details, and they seemed to love him. I have kept him in my cupboard after that. I am so pleased that he will soon join Griffin and Graham in US. I like him a lot. He has got a cute smile on the lip!

I have got lots of my pieces in my cupboard. Strange to say, I get so attached to them, I need some time with them (alone!) before I put them for sale. It is sentimental, but I guess the time is so important to me.

                                            ********************************
We also put several of our items on ebay. Longer than two months have past since we listed our ceramics last time. The wall mask and a natural ash glazed Guinomi (Japanese Sake cup) were sold. Since I have never shown the mask anywhere else, I will share him here.

He is Fish man. SOLD 

He is one of my imaginary being. His story goes like this; 'Fish man is a half man and a half fish. He lives alone in wild deep ocean. He doesn't like humans or ships. He adores mermaids, but they never come closer to him. He likes swimming in the woods of silky seaweed. He could talk with turtles. They exchange stories once a while. Turtles know a lot of things happening in the ocean. He has a secret treasure hidden at the bottom of the ocean. Nobody knows except for him what it is and where it is.'   

New chameleons, sheep and rabbit from kiln

Hello, everyone. Yesterday morning, we woke up a bit early, because we were excited. We were going to run a glaze firing in our kiln for the first time. If you remember how you felt in the morning of your first school trip, our feeling was very similar to that. We packed the kiln the night before. I double checked all bottom parts of the pieces were clean. Otherwise they would get stuck on the kiln shelves.

Inside the kiln at 1198c.

Kiln controller

Switch on! We kept going to the garage to see how hot the kiln went up. It has to heat up slowly. Anytime I went there, I was listening if there were any bomb! sounds, but nothing. The kiln reached target temperature at 1240C about lunch time. We still went back t the garage to check how cool the temperature came down, in turn, or together. We were just like two excited children laughing and running between the garage and the house in light rain!

It didn't become cool enough last night to open it. So we waited until this morning. Yes, we woke up a bit early again this morning. Ta-da! Everyone was safe. Kiln shelves were also safe. Here are some photos I took this morning.

a snap shot of sheep and rabbit

It was our test run for our glazes. We fired a few new pieces and re-firing pieces. It went well. The white glaze above was a bit thicker than usual. So some of details were buried. I textured the middle sheep, and decorated him with iron oxide. They look like sugar coated. I will take photo individually tomorrow.

   

My new chameleon, no name yet!

Oribe glaze was low, and slightly thick, I wanted to see how it would fired. You can see he looks stunning!

He is a character!

I love him!

I also run a test on my new chameleon chopstick rests. It was success! They look so cute! I want one for myself, too! Bigger ones are for adults, and little ones for kids.

'Mimi, do you like them?'

They are doing synchronised swimming!

They look like this before firing. They look Japanese traditional sugar deserts!
 

Chameleons and sunfish chopstick rests

So we have had a happy day. There are much more to glaze and decorate. Next sunny day will be our second glaze firing day!

How about a long walk on the beach instead?

     

Sunfish and chameleon chopstick rests on the making

Hello, everyone. Jubilee weekend finished. French Open finals are on (We watch), and European championship has started (Mike watches England matches). There have been lots of events recently.

We have managed to fire another bisque this morning. Mike was supposed to throw some saucers and bowls to fill the top shelf, but allergy on his hands hadn't improved enough to throw, so suddenly I had to make something. Something which would need short time to dry. Ah-ha! Chopstick rests! Friday evening, I made several small sprigs, and we cast them in plaster. We have seen others doing this in ceramic classes, but this was our first. We had to check on Internet for details, but we managed to. Ta-da!

What are they?

Chameleon and Sunfish

I thought they look almost good enough to eat! Mike kept saying that they look so sweet!

My chopstick rests design

I had thought once the mould is made, it would be very easy. But it wasn't as easy as I imagined. It took me a bit of practice to improve my technique. in fact, I had spent about 8 hours making these little sprigs, including drying time. By 10 o'clock in the evening, I had produced enough to fill the kiln shelf.

Our Friday lunch - Mike found asparagus were a half price at local farm shop. So here is the picture of yet another asparagus lunch. And happily yes, I kept losing weight, too. My target is the weight when I was 24. Another 800 grams to go!

Asparagus, avocado Parma ham and lettuce salad

 
 

New models from kiln - sheep, chameleons and a fat bunny

Hello everyone. It was our first kiln opening day today. Since this is our first firing, everything is new to us. I was calm so that I wouldn't get too disappointed if anythings went wrong, but Mike was a bit like a child waiting for opening presents on Christmas day. Mikes thinks that firing used most of the energy from solar power, so it probably costs us some tens pence. Not bad.

Gladly it was a success. Nothing was exploded.

No causality!

Grogged white stoneware became pale biscuit colour. They look almost good enough to eat. 

Two of chameleons need a rest after being cooked.

We have frequently visited a small field of sheep last summer. There are lots of sheep in UK, although not as many as in NZ. I observed them, and took photos of them. So the images were burnt inside my brain. I digested them and now I am making my own interpretation of sheep. Mike insisted that I should make tufted ones. So one of them has a tuft on the head.

Since last Friday, I spent several hours making models everyday. I have a strong urge to create. I am oblivious to what's going on around me for sevral hours.I could hear MIke talking, but doesn't understand what he says. he still talks though! lol