My new dog wall mask and Oare marsh

Hello everyone. We had a hot afternoon here in Canterbury. Late afternoon, I popped into the studio to collect fired works.  I had two kilns on, and both went well. There were three glossy chameleons, three wall masks as well as other things. I have listed one of them this evening. It is a dog mask. You would imagine I made a whippet. Not so, this time.

My new dog wall mask

 
The brown glaze has delicious colour! It is my new glaze. I love him! I don't know exactly which breed he is, but I feel he has a bit of terrier. He is on my Etsy shop now.  

Side view

I have also listed two more works. If you haven't checked my shop recently, have a look at my new works!

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Mike, who is in the middle of 10-day-leave, went to Oare Marsh, near Faversham, this afternoon. It is one of our favourite places for bird-watching. I would have gone with him if I hadn't been this busy with my work.

As he got his new camera, he took lots of beautiful photos of Oare. Oare is the stopping place for migrating birds. Birds land here to feed after arriving from the Continent, and before heading to the Continent. So we can see lots of different birds.

Very shallow water between Oare and Isle of Sheppy. 

Always wind-swept. Little egret.

Mike was happy to see several Avocets. I like them. They are elegant slim birds with turned bills. I have seen their chicks in a wildlife park. When they are very young, they have straight bills.

Avocets

Lots of waders

Surrounding Oare is an agricultural area. They were making hay. I call them Baumkuchen. Do you know this delicious German cake? I used to have them when I was in Japan. There are definitely similarity between the cake and the hay!

A mast of a boat in Farversham creek is behind the field

I would go there to see migration in early autumn. It is a lovely view of swallows and swifts feeding over the water. But today, I have to satisfied with the beautiful photos Mike has taken.  

Dog shampoo day and Mike's birthday present

Hello everyone. Today I took a day off from studio work, although I popped in there to check the kilns (I fired two kilns yesterday). I always go to check whether firing has finished. Yes, there are programmers, but best to check them in person. I heard the story that twice firing failed to stop for days, and all shelves collapsed.

We started a day with tidy up of the kitchen as we booked the annual boiler service. Sadly we have to remove lots of things before the boiler can be checked.

Then I had a busy morning. I had an hour of webcast to watch. It's a difficult result to swallow and digest. One day you gain and one day you lose. Let's hope gain is greater than loss.

After lunch, we quickly went to an errand; kiln check and dropped off  dry cleaning. Then we shampooed Pearl. She used to hate shampoo. She used to put nails down and pretended that she was made of rock. Now she has progressed so much that she reluctantly accepts shampooing as a part of the house rules.

Let me out!

 After rinsing her, we closed the door of shower cubicle and waited for her shaking herself. But she didn't. We opened the door, then she jumped out and shook herself to her heart's content. Yes, we got wet, too.

Drying on a bath towel

One of the good things of whippets is that you can towel-dry them. She becomes dry very quickly. To separate her from unwashed Topaz, we kept Pearl upstairs. Then she peeks from the staircase. Awww. So cute! Yes, she and Topaz were given Chewing Stix I bought today.

Give me chew stix!

After she got dry, it's Topaz' turn. Pearl went back to her also washed bed. She takes sleep very seriously. 

zzzz,zzzzz,zzz

  She also sleeps in odd positions. We used to think it is her, but after seeing other sleeping whippets on Internet, it is probably whippet thing!

I sleep like a girl.  (Why is your neck so bendy? All the better with fitting to doughnut bed!)

 
Then the door bell rang. It's Mike's birthday present from me! In fact, I have never seen what it is; I knew it is a camera (Mike told me!) Mike chose, paid and received it from a courier. His birthday is the 22nd, by the way. If he is happy, I am happy. (Marriage rule 1)

What's that?

DPD is like Japanese couriers. They come during the time slot of one hour they said they would. I am a satisfied customer!

It smells plastic!

Mike looks very happy.

la-lalala. 

Happy birthday. Mike (on the 22nd)!

Here is comparison with mine (right).

Bigger than mine

His has more functions and higher specs than mine. But it hasn't got GPS, so it was on offer, he said. All men like gadgets, don't they? I even don't know why you need GPS on a camera.

One little, two little three little Canon.... 

The one I took the photo is also Canon. We have three Canon. : )

Disused tunnel, dinosaurs footprints and crescent moon

Hello everyone. Mike is in the middle of his 10-day leave. So Monday is not really Monday to him. It is still to me, but one of my busiest weeks of the year have just gone; I can relax. I should be able to cruise until mid-September unless some major issues arise. They often do!

Yesterday afternoon, we went for a walk to the back of Kent University. One summer I used to take Topaz to this area almost every morning. But it is a deserted place, and there are lots of brambles which cut Pearl’s skin, so I stopped going. There is a public path alongside the old Crab and Winkle Line, one of the UK’s oldest rail lines. It opened in 1930, between Canterbury and Whitstable. It is the world oldest to carry passengers regularly and also the oldest line to issue a rail pass in 1932. The line literally goes under the University ground. Well, actually the University was built over its tunnel.  Because it was a steam train, there are several water reservoirs along the line. You can still see round ponds here and there. 

Disused Tunnel - isolated and desolated.

I also used my newish camera to film the walk for the first time. It’s wobbly and shaky. But I had a good shot of Topaz rolling on a certain stinky spot, and Pearl marking on the grass. Oh dear! ( They are good shots only because they stopped, so I could focus on them! )

While I was taking photos of these trees, Mike and girls walked away. 

The right side is the railway bank.

 At the lowest point, there is a stream. We could hear the sound of  a small water fall. This used to be Topaz's water hole.

Topaz' water hole.

Here is Pearl. Her shadow is securely attached to her, unlike Peter Pan's.

Pearl

 Sky was dramatic.

On the slope.  We have just turned back. Left side is the railway bank.

 There are only wild flowers there.

When we walked back to our car, we found dinosaurs foot prints around the campus. 

Then our nemesis, the seagulls flew over and threatened us, especially Topaz. They always target her. But this time, we didn't get dive-bombed. Thanks for that! 

As soon as he spotted us, he threatens us and making alarm calls on the building!

Back home, we were hoping to see some meteorites. Instead, Mike counted three satellites before it became cloudy! But we were treated with a beautiful crescent moon before dark.
 

 I feel special when the moon is especially beautiful. Some kind of magical feeling. The beauty of the night. 

Ice Baby bisque-fired for Perin and Kath's new baby

Hello everyone. Today, I would like to share the photos of Perin's Ice baby, just fresh from the kiln yesterday morning. I call him Ice baby, but he is a guardian for babies and children. The story about the first Ice baby is here. He and his friend are in my shop, if you are interested in him. When Perin and his wife Kath realized that they are going to be parents, he requested me to make a special guardian for their baby, due in January. I used a new wooden spoon to make his shape because I thought it symbolizes the very beginning of the a new person and also because it is Japanese custom to use new wooden tools for something good.

Ice baby for Perin's Bub

I made him while I imagined all hope and love the baby is going to receive from their loving parents as well as extended family and friends. With each tapping sound I made with the new wooden spoon, I pushed my good wishes into Ice baby. I felt each tap made the Ice baby potent.

Because of some Skype problem, I received Perin's wishes about what symbols they like to use for decoration several weeks later. I kept the Ice baby in the fridge to prevent him drying out. They wanted birds, feathers and flowers. So I decorated the body like this.

Feather on one side

Then I thought I finished decoration and left the baby to dry in the room. But the next day I added more on the other side. By then the clay was getting a bit too dry, so I could only scratch the surface but I hope it will be enough to retain colours in grooves, after I put some glaze.  

The other side

It has been so special to make him. I hope the baby will appreciate how much his or her father and mother would look forward to the birth once the little new life has become old enough to understand.

I will do finishing on him and hopefully he will be glaze-fired next week. All my love to you, the new lucky baby!

All firing went well!

Hello everyone. Good news! All three firings went well. There was a downpour while we had breakfast. We had to wait until the rain stopped before we went to the garage to open the kiln.

This is the top shelf. All critters including my 'chicken drawing' who was loaded into the kiln late last night, have survived.

Everyone is safe!

Then we noticed that there was someone else peeking. It's Pumpkin! She didn't enter the dark garage, but she had stayed there until we came out.

What are you doing in dark?

 And this is the lower shelf.

Mike threw two bowls. I threw two rabbit cups.

There is a greenhouse next to the garage. I noticed that suddenly lots of tomatoes are ripening! It is Mike's territory. He has looked after veg so well. Look at the tomatoes. They are the best ever. We cook them quite often to make a simple delicious tomato sauce. We don't eat bought sauce. You just don't feel like eating bought sauce once you make your own with freshly picked tomatoes. 

Mike's tomatoes

I made these two last night. Sorry about the quality of the photo. It's taken just now under artificial light

I keep creating without thinking or planning. It's a fun!

Last night's offerings.

Today was the first day of Mike's 10-day-leave. But I have been busy with my day work. Last two weeks were one of the busiest time of the year, for my work. Even so, we went to the studio; Mike is an honourable ceramic student (in Jane's words). I unloaded both kilns, and did a bit more finishing, but had to come home to return to more work. Never mind. I will spend a long time in the studio tomorrow!