Seasons come, seasons go...

it's been rather busy over the past four seasons here Down Under at the Sienblue Pottery. Am still teaching a variety of subjects at a few local high schools;  made it back to the US to visit myt parents and sister;  sold some of my ceramics at the craft markets in Canberra last October;  got my pottery studio roof fixed...only to then flood once more when the heavy rains set in again last month, but that's fixed now too, hurray!  And finally, I managed to stay relatively inspired and sane whilst managing my domestic goddess responsibilities.  Am sure you all know how that goes.
We've added/built ourselves a new redwood deck to our backyard and it makes a perfect place to lay the pottery work out to dry.  I also built myself a perfect wedging table to fit exactly in between my work table and the wheel.  It's varnished and water tight and slab-perfect.  Made up my plaster slab to size and now it's happy days ahead.
what more could a potter want?



well, I won't even begin on that subject, however I will say that you're first guess is probably that I want more, well, no, I want less.  And plans to hang on to only the fewer things that I can work with in my soon to be minimalist studio are happening this season.  I have a pugmill but found that I rather enjoy recycling and wedging all of my clay by hand on that new wedging table.  So plans to sell and pass on the pugmill to someone who needs it will happen when I return from my trip to  Tasmania at the end of this week.

am attending the Woodfiring Tasmania Conference in Deloraine. We'll be riding down on my husband's Harley -- a two-day trip plus ferry ride on the Spirit of Tasmania -- then it'll be ten days of focus time for each of us: I'll be enjoying a woodfiring workshop with Malina Monks, Jack Troy, Owen Rye, and Tara Wilson out at Reedy Marsh; David will ride to his heart's content every day around the pristine landscapes of Tassie's coastlines.

shall post more images of the event, the fun, the experience, the food, and what comes out of the kilns. As a potter and artist for quite some time now, it's always a pleasure to get this sort of chance to meet up with fellow artists and to have new conversations about what & why it is we do what we do. After living in a rather isolated area in the middle of nowhere along the Illawarra coastline for almost a decade now, it'll be a fresh break and such a treat to be in the company of many woodfiring experts. I work with a gas kiln and play around with both oxidation & reduction techniques; wood firing will be a first...and the dream is to one day set up my own wood firing kiln. Anyone listening out there??

may the force be with me:)

Resting fingers n' hands

you know those days when you just know that you ought to take it easy, pull out the chips n' dip from the pantry and make yourself cozy, well, today's one of them over here.

this Easter holiday break has given me more than I could ask for: lots of chocolate, way too much chocolate [so I'm actually sharing it], and sunny days while the thermo drops for us here in the southern hemisphere. geez it's cold.

have been potting away to ready for a few markets and also hoping to someday organize myself enough to list things on Etsy...

but this morning the chill set in and my hands just had had enough. with fingers curled tight and aching, I rubbed on the hand-lotion, let the dogs lick it off--warms up the tips a treat and gets the circulation going, and all done with tons of love;)--made myself a cup of tea and decided the house robe & pj's were staying on until tomorrow. gotta love holidays.

so will leave you with a few snap shots of my latest do's that are drying out for next week's firing. shall drive up to Sydney tomorrow to visit the NSW Pottery Supplies shop for a few finds & chat with their oxide experts. also received a bundle from Bamboo Tools so will play with them tomorrow night when I'm back in my studio.

for now, I've found some crackers and the Brie I picked up at the Cheese Factory in Robertson the other day, yum.

Some have fairies...I've got furries

while some may also include a kiln goddess into their firings...I'm blessed to say that I've got two "furries" called Zulu & Luna to keep the spirits high and the soul soothed.
[you can see my kiln goddess on the top shelf, just to the left in front of a bowl].