I have loaded three kilns today!

Hello everyone. There was a nice surprise this morning. The polar bear I listed on my shop last night was already sold. It was one of the quickest records on my shop. I carefully packed him. He is on the way to Australia.  When Topaz, the posting dog, and I walked to the post office, I noticed that other side of the hill was blocked because of construction. That's why our road was congested yesterday. A mystery was solved!

I was finally able to go to the studio this afternoon. It was only two and a half hour, but solid session without break. I did some finishing and loaded two kilns. One for bisque-firing and another for glaze-firing.

This is glaze-firing. I usually fire my work about three times, but sometimes five times until the colours become the way I like.  I am still working on the large test chicken, but I like to see how the little chicken in this kiln comes out first.

Glaze-firing. Lightly loaded.

Then I forgot to take photos of the bisque firing kiln. I painted white slip on one of masks, as experiment. It didn't become bone dry before I had to leave. So I set the speed of heating up very slowly. Only 30 C per hour. The slowest ever bisque firing for me! I hope the mask will survive. (If there were moisture in clay, it could explode inside a kiln!) There are six grey clay pots for reduction firing, two middle-size masks and one cat head.

Then, after dinner at home I loaded the third kiln of the day. This is our own kiln. We are going to do bisque-firing.
 

The lower shelf

The top shelf

The middle space is for this chicken! She is still not completely dry, so I will add her just before going to bed, tonight. People on Twitter are doing #DrawingAugust; they tweet what they drew on the day. I have enjoyed seeing other people's drawings! I was admiring lots of them. Drawings are interesting because they show how the drawers see the world and their interests in the world. It is like borrowing their eyes to see their worlds. I don't draw in a conventional method, but I 'sketch' with clay. So this is what I did just after breakfast this morning, while I watched Pumpkin preening herself. It is hollow. I liked spontaneous nature of this one, so I will fire her.

Pumpkin 

 If you have noticed something on top of saucers in previous picture, and wonder what they are....

Two little feet

 they are two little feet for this one! My little earlier sketch of Pumpkin.

While we were loading the kiln in the garage, Pumpkin was curiously peeking inside the garage to see what we were doing. But when we finished and came out, she became happy and went back to the garden. Here she is! What a beautiful chicken!

Our lovely Pumpkin

Lunch with Harriet, and a litter of whippets.

Hello everyone. Today I had a relaxing lunch with Harriet Gifford, a film maker and painter. This morning I glued myself to PC to watch a webcast, so it was refreshing to trot down to the Westgate for lunch. We met at Cafe du Soleil, which is over the river Stour. The river is so clean, you can see fish swimming. This is the shadow of me over the bridge taking this photo.

River Stour

 And this is the bridge. You can only enter it via this bridge.

Today's lunch venue.

Harriet is smart and professional. She told me that she is the only one, who is still a professional artist among 25 classmates at art school where she graduated. We had an intriguing conversation in private. Time flew. Then she had to go back to Sidney Cooper Gallery where she works.

I trotted up the gentle slope to home, and also went back to work. After three, I finally finished, and wanted to go to the studio to load the kiln. But there must have been an accident or something. The road was backed up so much that I gave up and turned back. Instead I cooked Japanese dinner for my sweet Mike! (I rarely cook.) My plan was that after dinner we would go to the studio together.

When we arrived the gate of studio, it was already locked by security. I expected it would be open until nine. Apparently I was wrong. Never mind. Hopefully I will be able to go tomorrow.

Then back home, I had searched for my wedding and engagement rings for about two hours. Obviously I removed them together, so they went to missing together! I searched in bins, vacuum cleaner, drawers, laundry machines and all pockets. I even checked under the carpet and furniture. Mike joined me. After about two hours had passed, Mike said he would buy me new ones. Almost simultaneously, I found them in a hidden pouch in one of my bags! I was not sure if it was a good timing or bad timing! ; ) We got tired, but celebrated our successful search with a bowlful of Haargen Dazs; vanilla for him and vanilla and choc for me!

As my day work has kept me busy, I can't get down to the studio as often as I would like to this last week. To compensate it, I am making little beauties at home. My whippets have increased. Darker coloured ones are still damp.  Each has its own character. One is looking a bit side ways. Another is looking up. Two are looking down and three are looking straight. They will be fired at home later this week.  

A boxful of whippets!

My fingers forgot how to make little sweet rabbits!

Hello everyone. We had a lovely sunny day again today. You might wonder why I am always concerned about the weather in mid-summer. Because here in England a hot summer is rare, and the lack of summer is quite common. I often say there are three autumns and one winter a year in UK. This summer is the first real summer since 2006. I stopped buying summer clothes a couple of years ago, because there is no day hot enough to wear them. One of my summer dresses was still hung with a price tag.  A couple of linen tops have never been worn. So, if you find your English friends talking about weather too often, you should not think they are bores. Good weather is rarity here, and people tend to drop everything, and enjoy it. Otherwise we may not have it for seven years!

This afternoon, I set myself to make small whippets and rabbits. My fingers remembered how to make whippets, but not the rabbits. Some of you might remember that I used to make little sweet rabbits like this.

 
I neatly carved it out from the lump of clay. It was unusual and complicated method, but I made several of them. After about one year, I can't make any more. Shocking! My fingers lost memory. You know, there is muscle memory. I have tried several times this afternoon, but sadly failed each time.

So I ended up making this one. What is it?

She looks like one of Moomin characters!

Princess rabbit. 

It is difficult when I can't make what I like to make, but there was nothing I could do, so I played with it. 

In contrast with the rabbit, I enjoyed making whippets. 

The first one

So, I even tried a new posture. Pearl sometimes does this when she really gets fed up because her dinner or walk is late.

My dinner is late again!

When will she take me for a walk?

These are our last cherries in the garden. They are Stella, black cherries. I always pick them a bit too soon, so they have never become as dark as bought ones. I guess that's the point of having a cherry tree in the garden; eating them not as ripe as they should be! 

Still tasty!

Late morning, we took Pearl to the Kent University campus. Mike had some empty boxes in his office to collect. He collects some of clean boxes for me so that I could use them for shipping my ceramics. I do my best to keep the shipping charge low.

'I saw a little bunny on campus! Sweet, fluffy and a pocket size! I wanted to chase it, but I was not allowed! : (' 

Mike's shopping habit update:  Mike had a quarter of the melon this morning. I had another quarter with prosciutto - heavenly!- at lunch time. So we had a half. He went to a supermarket this morning, but he didn't buy any fruits!

More masks and mandrake in CO1 alarm!

Hello everyone. Here are more of my new masks. First, the man with huge ears. He has pale apple green eyes. I have used this colour for cats before, but it is the first time for humans. I like it.   

Huge ears

Next, another rabbit mask. As you probably know, I like making rabbits. He is handsome one.

I have spent about four hours in the studio. I took Mike with me, well, he drove me. He had kept a company for me. The first thing we did was to remove a battery from carbon monoxide alarm, which was beeping intermittently from some time last week. It is not very annoying, but still irritating. Nice to not to hear it. (In fact, it sounds like 'pi pi' in David Bowie's 'Fashion'.)  It is alerting that the battery is flat. I don't use a gas kiln until September, so Jane the technician told me to remove the battery from it. I held the step ladder, while Mike climbed it up and removed it. When he was detaching the battery from the alarm, it made ear-piercing scream-like sound, which remind us of Mandrake in Harry Potter's film! I felt something devilish living in it!

******************
We are still forging on with our own fruits.
  

We shared them between us before we went to the studio this morning.

Willow left a comment with wise suggestion about how to cure Mike's shipping habit. First in the morning, still in the bed, I read it out to Mike. He grinned. After a while, he went down and came back and told me that he put a melon from the fridge out to eat. He bought it a week ago. Now about a half past nine at night, the melon is back to the fridge intact.

After the studio, he quickly made delicious dish this evening. He shallow-fried six courgettes, a large garlic clove, and smoked bacon (added after a while) in olive oil for a while, then put a lid on, and cooked it for about five to eight minutes. Courgettes became mushy and made a kind of solid soup. He shaved Parmesan cheese on top. It was delicious so we had it before I took photos!. Easy, simple and effortless. My trilogy in cooking!

  

The best thing is simple. 

In the studio, I finished this mask. I am thinking to put white slip on him. 

Also, I have prepared this little chicken for the second glaze-firing. The body part still needs something more. I will finish her next week. 

Front 

Back

Creation on the hottest day of the year

Hello everyone. It was the hottest day yesterday. Canterbury reached 31c. My office room gets quite hot although I use a fan with all windows open. I managed a long webcast, about two hours, in the morning, but that was it. I went cooler downstairs and worked on a tablet. In the evening, while I waited until the bedroom becomes cooler, I had a clay session. The garden door was open, and Pumpkin the chicken was there talking to me, 'Foo, fewwww, cooo'. So I made this.

Pumpkin

After I finished it, it was still hot, so I made this, too.

What's that?

A chick with big feet!

Dogs were very lazy. They even didn't want to go for a walk.

Melting Pearl

Moi?

But at nigh when it got cooler, Topaz suddenly brought toys to me. So I played with her a bit. : )

'This toy, that toy, all are mine' game 

Summer heat has helped our veg and fruits in the garden. We started harvesting tomatoes. 

Each of us has to eat a bowlful of raspberries everyday. 

About four cucumbers ripe everyday. I make simple pickles, and eat them as savoury snack. Pumpkin gets large ones for snack.

Needless to say, we have loads of beans and courgettes. Mike cooks several courgettes in a large pan, and we have them with pasta or as they are wit Parmesan cheese on top over several days. We are still keeping a tab on beans, as I like them so much. Dogs get overgrown beans with their meals. Parrots also enjoy them. So we eat what Mike grows. But Mike keeps buying fruits such as nectarines and melons from supermarkets, and they get rotten because we can't eat all at the same time. A bowlful of raspberries and a handful of cherries from the garden are enough for one day. He even buys two punnets of nectarines, even though we are only two, big (Mike) and little (me!). He does this every year. How could I stop him? : O