Three of the latest masks found lovely people!

This girl is going to a lovely lady in the US tomorrow.

And this girl went, with the last blackbird and chicken, to a lovely lady in the US.

I made a special box for them.

Blackbird

Pumpkin the chicken

Pomona now lives with a lovely young lady in Scotland. Pomona was the gift to the lady from her loving uncle and aunt for graduation. How lovely! 

A ladybird on the apple! 

Thank you so much!

Are you interested? I have pinned other masks on one of my boards on Pinterest. Do have a look!

http://uk.pinterest.com/midoritakaki/my-sculptures-2015/

Resting day!

It's unusual! I'm taking rest today. After three days of glazing and early starts, I was exhausted. I loaded the kiln about five yesterday. After dinner, I watched The Hobbit on TV. That's the first film or drama I have watched since the 3rd episode of Wolf Hall, in January!

I have also slept 11 hours. I have baked madeleines as our pastry chef was busy on the roof. Mike was fixing wire to prevent town pigeons nesting under the solar panels. That was my first baking in 15 years, I think! :D

Glaze-firing is done. Shelfie for you!

Glaze-firing - Lower shelf

Top shelf

Our family is sleepy as usual! Pumpkin is 11 year-old now, and she is happy resting and bathing. I feel privileged to be able to join her today!

Mike's courgettes have got lots of flowers this week. We will soon have lots of courgettes! 

Topaz is usual studio dog, but once a while Pearl the whippet, takes the role! 

Imagine how tiring to sleep for 20 hours a day! 

If you wonder what Mike looks like on the roof. Here is a photo.  

I was holding the ladder and waving to people passing below! :D

Have a great week, everyone!

Tapir line-up vs whippet line-up.

Hello! Wintry weather has set in. It is not too cold in comparison with other parts of the world, but the grey days have continued. Yet, I feel spring is not very far off. Daytime is getting longer; I can now walk the dogs one hour later in the afternoon than I did in December.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to do a bisque-firing. All those little ones in the previous post as well as several masks would be fired. I am also making tapir test pieces. I have made them in different ways to see which is the best method,

Are you in Tapir waiting list 2015? Once I have finished a few of them, I will make announcement of details, so please be patient.

A line-up for Tapirs! 

   This one has all toes. Sculpting toes was difficult.

They have a cute and funny round body shape without much distinction. Ears look spirited, though! I remade the ears several times to get them right. These unmatching pairs were discarded.  

In the meantime, whippets are also ready for firing! I used grogged semi-porcelain for them to get the most beautiful crackles on them. Oh, it was difficult! It was more like carving than building. You can see the right bottom one being carved.  

'We are also doing a line-up!' 

Did you notice the mini one? It's for fun! :D 

Pumpkin is not amused with the cold weather. One day she decided to 'dust' bath in fallen leaves as the ground has been saturated. 

'I like to keep my hygiene standard high!'

Everyone is waiting for spring! 

Out of sorts revisited, angels and Butchery Lane in Canterbury

Here in UK, we are having May Day Bank holiday weekend. Today, the second day of a long weekend, warmth has finally returned, thankfully. While I was in Japan, bank holidays could be on any day of a week.

Here in UK, all bank holidays are on Monday, except for Christmas. Even the Queen's birthday is moved to the nearest Monday, for the convenience. It is called the Queen's official birthday. To me, it should be celebrated on the day she was born. But I think peculiar British rationalization and unique logic of convenience rule here. So if they have moved Her majesty's birthday so that they could have a longer weekend, it was just the most natural thing for them to move May Day to the nearest Monday.

After I left Japan, the then Japanese government made an unspecific holiday to make a long holiday from late April to early May. Bank holidays used to be the 29th of April (the Late Emperor's birthday),  the 3rd (Constitution memorial Day) and the 5th of May (Children's festival). Now the 4th of May is also a bank holiday. Unlike here, in Japan, sadly workers still find it difficult to take a long holiday because of social pressure, so this was the a bit of a solution from the then government. Two countries and two solutions to make longer holidays.

Although I am not under such pressure, I seldom take a break from ceramics. If I do, I tend to get bored. I have to find something else to occupy my mind. Last night, I loaded the kiln and started bisque firing after finishing this chicken totem! I did some sgraffito on her body.

Out of sorts (2012). Sold  

About 18 months ago, I made this chicken, Out of sorts. An art tutor purchased her on the first day of installation of the MA show last September. Since then I have had requests for her from a couple of galleries. I had enjoyed making them, and I would like to expand on this series more.

My latest Out of sorts

I do a mock-up of loading, and take photos before taking them to the kiln in the cold garage so that we wouldn't have to spend unnecessary time there. When I did for this shelf, they reminded me of terracotta army! :D Mine are all hand-built from a scratch; everyone has his own character. They are angels.

Five angels and three chickens

This is as tight as I could load in this kiln. There is also a lower shelf with porcelain wreaths and a few wings. The tallest boy only had less than 2 cm above his head to the lid; mine is a top-loading kiln. Having said that I was amazed that this small kiln actually can fire as many as these.

It's full! 

********** 

Late this morning, we popped into Ecco to buy me a new pair of walking shoes. I have worn some Reebok's nubuck walking shoes for several years. But they are discontinued now, I had to venture to find a replacement. Well, I had to thank Reebok. Ecco has my size, 3.5, as a standard, and the pair I bought are very comfortable, light and soft. What else could I want? My dog walks would be much easier on them. (Our dogs pull a lot!)

Here are some photos of the city centre this morning. There were lots of European tourists, especially French. First, we decided to have some cakes before shopping. We found this new Turkish cafe.

Turkish coffee house with Turkish deserts. 

 From the window seats, you have a glimpse of the Cathedral.

Upstairs

******Edited 21/07/2014

We bought 4 baklava to take out. We were charged £9. We will never go again!

£9 for these! 

 ******************

It is on Butchery lane. It is a narrow lane with several independent shops and cafes.

The sign from the past is still here. 

Some shops still uses old signs. Charming! 

There is also Roman museum. You can see the excavated Roman mosaic in here. Canterbury used to be one of the important cities since the Roman period.  

Canterbury Cathedral gate is just there. This place used to be a cattle market. Tourists were queuing this morning. 

Cathedral gate

 On the way to Ecco, we saw these peculiar Morris Dancers. They are all in black and covering faces!

Next to them, ordinary Morris dancers were waiting for their turn. I love their cheerful costumes! 

We had fun today. I hope you had good weekend!

Chickens have returned, and a little bird called Ruth.

Today, I have finished my studio work before 7:30! That's early for me. I have wanted to update the blog for days, but when I worked until 9, I just couldn't have time or energy to do blog. My creativity peaks in early evening; obviously I work with that in mind. I do my other work, all administrative work related to ceramic business, packing and shipping in the mornings. So I could gear up for my creative time later.

I have made lots of 'people' this week despite strangely I have had two nightmares (too scarily to tell you here!)  and the return of the virus infection, which finally cleared two days ago.

Chicken is back!

I made a chicken similar to these, and showed her in MA show last year, but no general visitors had a chance to buy her because one of art tutors snatched her up during the installation. Since then I have been asked if I had more. So here they are!

'Do you think it's going to rain today?'  'We might need brollies.'

And these three boys are drying. I have made two more, so there will be five angels. They are relatively smaller size. I like their faces!

Angels

****

While I struggle with time management, there is a lady who is so good at it. I have wanted to tell you about a lady called Ruth. We met on Twitter and my pair of owls now live with her. She has a demanding a full time job, yet she runs her two Etsy shops very successfully. She also tweets funny things a lot, which I giggle, and blogs regularly! She even started decorating ceramic! How could she manage all? According to her blog, she has a routine for certain tasks. Amazing! She has sweet birds prints in one of her very popular Etsy shops. It is full of sweet birds and animals!I have enjoyed reading her blog. Her straight talking yet humorous writing is refreshing. We all know that it is not easy to keep focused on more than one thing. If you have Etsy shop and another work, her blog would be very inspiring how she copes or, in fact, thrives on both.

Ruth's bird print

 

Storm, Oracle and EarthBoundWomen

Imagine my delight when I saw this photo sent by a wonderful lady, ceramic artist, in Germany. She kindly sent me a message that the chameleon had arrived safely. She says the chameleon would stay there. How funny! I just imagine guests' surprises!

Now she lives in a beautiful loving home in Germany

I have been busily working everyday. 'What is the weekend?' is the world I live in. I prepared the work for bisque firing, and started this evening.  On of of my target this year is to improve efficiency of firings. To load the kiln as full as possible, and to start preparing work in advance while they are greenware are two things I particularly had in my mind.    

Top shelf

Although the kiln doesn't look full in the photo, it actually is. The arm of the body is very close to the lid. The lower shelf is also fullish. I forgot to take photos!   

Loading the kiln is sometimes tiring. This evening it was very much so because of this, Storm. It has been a headache to dry, handle and carry.  Literally I held my breath so many times, so I feel exhausted. The hair may not surviving firing. We will see!  

Storm

Oracle was finished yesterday. Her head is being fired, and her body is drying slowly. She is a large girl.   

Oracle

 She has a bird spirit on her head.

Oracle- details

Talking about bird spirit, Pumpkin the queen chicken, looks beautiful with shiny feathers. She rarely digs the soil now. She is 10, and she is definitely slowing down.  So Mike (main pig)  and I (assistant pig) dig for her once a while so that she could pick juicy white grubs! She thinks we are her pigs. 'My pigs came, and dug the soil for me. Find tasty grubs for me! Work, work! '

Pumpkin, the queen chicken. 

Mid-afternoon, we went to a PV of EarthBound Women exhibition at Horsebridge in Whitstable. Six female artists are showing their works; painting, ceramics and prints. They are diverse and so interesting to see them together. It will be on the show until the 18th. You should pop in and take a look if you are in Whitstable!

The Horsebridge in Whitstable

We had a good chat with the ever chirpy Harriet there. Glad to hear that she got rid of flu. She is geared up for her presentation next week! : )

That's it today.  They say it will be another warm day tomorrow. I might be able to work in the garden. That would be wonderful! Have great rest of the weekend, everyone!

Safe delivery and Pumpkin, the robin's little piggy

Just after posting the guinomi last week

Hello everyone. Let me share this lovely news with you today. The porcelain Guinomi I sent last week has arrived at a nice lady's house in Scandinavia on Tuesday. Thank you so much! This is the happiest moment for online shop owner. I usually mark the dates of posting and of expected delivery on my calendar. I always wonder if it has arrived safely. So when there are nice messages like this, I feel so happy!

Guinomi has been safely delivered.

Last couple afternoons I glazed my rabbits and whippets. Glazing is one of  the messiest things in ceramics. Today I had to sieve a glaze in the garage. Sieving glazes by hand is a long job which requires patience. Even though it was mild outside, I caught cold. Too late to think I should have worn a jacket. Perhaps, I had better improve our working conditions.

Although I had planned to do finishing 'Wind' for glaze-firing tonight, I will give it a miss, and will go to bed early. Cold is the last thing I want right now.

Misty morning

One funny thing we have noticed recently is that a robin follows Pumpkin, our chicken, around the garden. As soon as we let Pumpkin out of the greenhouse in the morning, the robin appears from nowhere and stalks her. Mike says the robin was thinking 'My little piggy came out. Do dig the soil more to give me yummy worms.'  I think he is right. She often harasses poor sparrows who have bread in their beaks, but ignores the robin who perches on a lower branch or the rim of a flower pot just above where Pumpkin digs. It's hilarious!

Robin's little piggy

Last night Mike finally fixed the problem with comments, which I mentioned in the previous entry. He found 'a magic code', very technical term in IT world, to put right the corrupted blogger template. Now we are back to normal.

If you have a similar problem, you can find the magic code here.

New website and a great day!

Hello everyone. Ta-da. My website is up and running. You might have noticed a new click menu below the blog banner. Address is www.MidoriTakaki.co.uk  Please check it out!

Yesterday I had a great day. Two works at the show were sold. How nice! 'Out of sorts II' is going to a good home of a wonderful lady. I happened to be in the gallery, so I had a great chat with her. 'Who's there', the wall mask, is going to a talented print maker. I think both are wonderful matches. I feel the relationship between artworks and their owners are like marriage. They have to like each other. They will live together for a very long time, too.

At the gallery, ever so helpful Hazel, the curator, was so kind to give me lots of advice. I am so lucky! Even though I have sold my works literally all over the world from my online shop, I am new to traditional art business, so there are lots of things I don't know. I am learning quickly.  

Out of sorts II (Sold)

Who's there (Sold)

I finished a sculpture for part 2 of my Clouds exhibition. I also finished a large whippet, which is going to a gallery in London.

Wind

She is a large one. 10 cm high, and 17 cm long

This is the clouds of this morning. How inspiring! They look alive. Or I dream I could hop on them and go to another place in another country.

From the garden