I have been busy posting new critters from the previous firing. Thanks to Royal Mail, all packets have been safely arriving.
There are lots of tapirs! Large, small and tiny. She is a large baby for a special lady.
Tapir baby
Tiny babies were all snapped up from my shop before I had a chance to tell you about them.
Tiny babies
Also a big family of tapirs have gone! All Large and Small tapirs are on commissions. I will list Tiny ones on Etsy when I make oorders. Next will be in early autumn.
A family of tapirs
I had also made one lying whippet for a lovely lady.
Whippet
Whippet
And here is Otto, the aardvark. A nice lady has commissioned me to make an aardvark. She loves them so much that she even went in their enclosure at the London Zoo on her birthday. I have never met them in person but I liked their look. The lady is very pleased how he came out. How nice! He is a character!
It has been a busy month so far, and no sign of slowing down yet. Bisque firing went well.
Bisque-firing top shelf
Bisque firing lower shelf
The glaze firing had mixed results. The clear glaze didn't flux, again. As a test, I dipped one spoon in a different clear glaze, which did well. So I am going to use the other clear glaze. It is frustrating when glazes don't do well in firings. I used to have fits when I used to make pots with glazes on!
Glaze-firing lower shelf
Tableware and all spoons didn't go well. Good news was that all animals were successful.
Glaze-firing, top shelf
So that was Sunday lunch time. I also found Ice Baby, which should have been completed, didn't go well and has to be re-fired. So disappointing. Then I pulled myself together, and I started sanding the masks. Pieces of hair fell away as I touched them by mistake whilst sanding. Anytime that happened, I let a little shriek out. Mike in a next room, observed 'From disaster to catastrophe.' In the end, it took me a full two hours to repair the fallen bits. As I needed to fill the kiln, I made new spoons, too. This time, I painted black cats on them. That made me a bit cheerful! And all were re-bisque fired yesterday.
These hair is tricky! They tend to fall away with the slightest shock!
The bisque firing went well, thankfully despite the cold weather. Now I am preparing for glaze-firing. Ceramics is such that it doesn't necessarily go as I planned. It makes me a very patient person.
I have been busy in the studio: preparing for glaze-firing and making new work from morning to evening. As the day is short, I do all preparation for firing first to make the most of the daylight although it can be gloomy all day.
Here are a few pics of those ready for firing!
Antetare WIP
My first aardvark for a lovely lady. The model is Otto in London Zoo.
Otto the aarvark -WIP
A herd of tapirs! WIP
I have aslo added a couple of new works in my shop. A bronze glazed wren, a large crow and a whippet. Check them out!
I hope you had good holidays. Mike had 11 days leave and returned to work today. As for myself, there is no such things as leave or holidays. Even so, I took a few days off at Christmas (cooking and eating, and then recovering from the feast), and again about New Year Day (big cleaning and celebrating). I have also spent several days preparing for the Tax Return. I have been at PC for 7 hrs to reclassify expense entries. It was too long. I hurt my neck (dizzy) and broke the mouse (not clicking). Tax return is evil.
The bisque firing, which was the first firing after changing kiln elements, went beautifully on the 29th. Mike does always a good job. I am so glad to have married him! :D
Kiln shelfies!
Left is lower shelf and right is top shelf.
Close-up on lower shelf
Mike changed the elements.
All came out beautifully!
Most of them are for commissions.
They all await on the shelves to be glazed. (I'm working on them!) I am excited with the tapir tableware items. They are my first samples.
Less than one week to Christmas. I'm a bit surprised how quickly time has gone, especially I have been unwell for most of December so far. But I'm finally on the mend. I hope I am not starting jinx! Whenever I said I feel better, I got ill again in the past. I hope this time I nailed it down!
Quite a few works have gone to new homes since the last post. Thank you so much!
Aya have gone to a lovely lady. The model is one of my school friends. She was a book worm, and we used to talk about the books we have read during breaks. Now she is an assistant professor in literature in Japan.
Aya
The girl with a shield bug has gone to a lovely gentleman. She is my first piece with an insect. I am not very keen on them, but I have admired the beauty of shield bugs. Besides, they are stubborn. They don't know how small they are. If you try to move it, it will put its feet down!
Girl with a shield bug jewellery
The fourth crow has flown to a loving home. After making a few for the first time, I loved them so much. I made more. They look cool on wood mounts.
The large crow on the right has gone to a crow lover. The ones on the highest and lowest mounts are still available.
The little lamb is so sweet. I squealed when I made her. Wouldn't you? : )
Lamb
I have finally made a Newsletter sign-up form online. I am not frequent sender, but I'm aiming at 3-4 Newsletters in 2016. If you have left your details at one of the shows, you are on the list. Please do sign up if you would like to hear up-to-date event news.
