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].

Autumn bisquing...

Ran another load in my gas kiln yesterday. There were mostly mid to high-fire pieces in it and a few low-fire bits made for some pals--am keen to glaze and send these off so my friends can enjoy them.

due to the heavy rains we've been experiencing over the past four months, I was concerned about the humidity in the air so I made it a slow firing, leaving my pilots on for several hours before gently letting the temp creep up to 1000oC. It took most of the day and I was SO lucky that just when it hit the mark, I ran out of gas.
Gotta love serendipity.

now to work on my test tiles as am formulating a few new glazes to work with over this next year.

hope you like the images here of what went into that kiln of mine. Shall open it this afternoon and post a few more images of what's to come out...pasta bowls and containers, mugs, plates, platters, soup bowls, and a few butter dishes.

And I got me a new website for my pottery & knitting designs.

ok, here's my new website:

www.sienbluepottery.com

it took some trial & error to find the right format to use so that I could edit & manage it all by my little self using loads of images, and I've finally got it up and running, phew.

i have always had a deep respect for designers of all sorts, and in these times of virtual nano-graphics, I'm impressed by anyone with the patience to put a site together.
it's taken me two years to get to this point but hey! couldn't give up.
and this is what I've got to offer while still keeping things simple:

you can have yourself a little visit, so grab something good to drink and check it out my pages on
pottery
knitting
illustration
pawz
...and my knitting patterns for sale & for free.

everything on it is a work in progress, except my pdf patterns for downloading.
i'll keep posting new ones as they come around each season.
this new website is so much easier to edit as a designer/editor/manager/domestic goddess;) love designing stuff so this has been a really fun n' tough cyber-challenge for me.

enjoy the showcasing of my work at your own leisure;)

Ravelympics 2010

And we're on to another event for this year: the Ravelympics 2010.
Just when I thought I couldn't possibly add any more to my list of 'things to do' I couldn't help but join in the fun of working on something with a two-week deadline! Gotta love your knitting.

Every knitter has a secret stash somewhere. Just give them a reason to go through it and we get all giggly & mooshy inside;) And that's how I came across my 'stash stuff' and found I have a gorgeous angora yarn, bought in Edinburgh back in Jan 2009 along with some Habu A-62 paper-moire, textured yarn, so here we go…a little bit of natural fawn-colored angora & some dark chocolate-henna yum-yum textures…

Knowing me, I’ll embellish the design I'm using to give it a twist and make the Habu spice up the angora.

So ‘knit away’ I shall with Winter Ravelympic furry!

Where's Noah?

Its hot, humid, 35C+ and raining!
We get a lot of rainbows in this area and today there are four I can see from the window of my bedroom. I took some photos but am not gifted so they didn't turn out to post here. Just shut your eyes and imagine...try to hear the sound of moaning cows about 600m away as they enjoy the cooling effect the rain offers them.

Tonight a few other artists and I celebrate the culmination of a show we've put on together...well, it really happens tomorrow but tonight we'll share drinks & finger food and lots of stories on why we do this to ourselves.
May there be many more creatives out there doing the same in their worlds. And may they go in two's.
Peace to all.

new studio, new kiln, new firing schedules, new shows, & new web site/design...and still testing it all.

ok, its mid November 2009 and I've got to admit I'm hopeless when it comes to bloggin' on a regular basis. Don't know how regulars do it. My days are filled with just that: daze. Last five have been early 5am's, kiln on by 5:30am to get some work ready for this weekend's show...and not even sure if I should try to uphold a standard to my ceramic pieces since I've had no time to consider one. I'll make the most of the show and sales on Saturday to try a new beer my husband has bought for me;)

Really, this year's been a bit of a blurrrrr, starting with a round the world trip to see family I hadn't shared space with in over nine years, then coming home to Oz to find a new direction and purpose to why I'm here. A few friends and family lost this year added sadness to all the sugar and making a June winter a different sort of hibernation. And now the mad rush to test clays, glazes and make my own mark out of it all over the next one to forty years.

Must get some rest for now. The mind is working on sifting new schedules to fit in a regular blogging habit. Only time will tell if this could be my new pass time.
Am also designing a new website, to be launched sometime next week at:
www.sienbluepottery.com/

Flue's up

I been waiting a long time once again to get my studio up and running... and now that the flue is in place, the gas fitter needs to install some parts--they're being ordered and I'm still waiting--then I can get the gas tanks. It'll be another week or so. Need I say more? So in the meantime am going to share some snap shots of all the progress made on my studio so far.

I know studios are almost never completed but if anyone has some fotos of a studio, any studio that they'd like to let me see just point the way in a comment. Thanks


we had to go up to Sydney to pick up the flue...

then I had to put it together and wait for my father-in-law to install it...

...the roof is being sliced for a good fit

...and this is my new space, waiting for me to move in.

new website: rcFerg

have a new website now:
http://www.wix.com/rcFerg/rcFerg

the past year has been full of great times and new creations for me. i've discovered some new potential in my cyber skills and decided to find an easier web format to work with than the previous one for my website. this also means i had to either keep my domain name or go new.
so am keeping things simple and will no longer be using the alias 'Brightsideknitter' any longer. it'll just be rcFerg from here on.
you can check it out and have your self a gallery visit through my pages on
pottery
knitting
illustration
pawz
and my knitting patterns for sale & for free.

everything on it is a work in progress, except my pdf patterns to download. but i'll keep posting new ones as they come around each season. this new website is so much easier to work on and edit as i'm the designer/editor/manager. love designing stuff so this has been a really fun cyber change for me.

smacked by a TV

where oh where have i been?

am waking up from a slumber caused by being smacked in the head by a huge TV.
my husband was lugging it onto the ute. it all happened so quickly.
as i decided to help him tie the nearly-1-ton appliance on the back of the truck its fancy
'gizmo-speaker-thingy' let me know it was unattached by kissing me right smart on the forehead. it flew down and put a shiner on my arm and then just hung from a cable.
gosh, it could have broken had it landed onto the driveway, darn...

all i could think of was "do i have a new hole in my head? did it hit my boob? are my toes still there?"

no new hole, boobs still sweet and safe, toes all there but needing a pedicure.

Clay stuff

Well, all I can add to my blog for now are some images of my potting ventures from times past. The recent rains have put a damper on construction for the kiln extension to my studio but there progress in site as of today. That kiln is going to go in soon.

Here are some of my pieces from days when I had a kiln available and set up...





from days when living in Taiwan.
A few from Mittagong.

Kiln travel

Yippee

After years, and I mean years of wanting to set up my potting studio with my very own kiln, the day has arrived. I found a second hand gas one, sized it up, bought it and then spent 14hrs getting it home over the Easter holiday. And now I own my very own gas kiln:) This is a big deal to a potter.


My studio is tiny but will do; am having a wee extension added just for this magnificent firing goddess. Work in progress and firings to happen within the next month. Shall post whatever comes out. So excited!

Am knitting in the meantime...

Delayed blogging...

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...but does this apply to blogging?

Welcome to 2009 in mid April.

Gosh! Life has taken its toll on me and in between a few panic attacks--whilst driving on the highway to and from Sydney, making them truly scary attacks--then having my left eye bruised and bleeding by my dog in his attempt to show me how much he loves me, and hunting for more equipment to stock up my pottery studio with while also completing a few knitting projects [you can stop now and take a breath], this sore-knuckled lady here has had a joyful but painful past few months. The only victim has been my blogging spot & website: totally neglected.
As for me and the above mentioned little dramas, well, was ordered to get some sleep. A lot of it.
And that's how've I've spent my Easter break, sleeping and napping like the 'ol lady I'm becoming.

But wait! I've not been idle. Am so excited about the next few weeks. Must tell you that I've found a pug-mill and the gas kiln I've been wanting for so long. Both second hand ones (can't afford new ones at the moment). Pug-mill already sits in my studio, yippee. The kilns been a huge task though. We're going to have to get organized next Friday to drive a rental: pallet truck with crane attached. And then its off to Sydney to lug the huge thing back home here on the south coast and squeeze it into our garage; the more exciting part is that within the next couple of months, after a few more weeks worth of work to earn some pennies, we'll be making an addition to my sweet little studio just for the kiln. Heidi-ho, I'll be reveling in my full-blown studio space then, making pots and sculptures and well, getting dirty;)

Have also knit four new sweaters since we got home and me poor knuckles are taking the toll.

Shall post fotos of both studio progress and knits in the next blog--but for now all I have on the brain is that gas kiln coming home to mama.

Allan Caiger Smith

Allan Caiger Smith
Originally uploaded by Martin Beek

Shetland Yarns

We just got back from our holidays in the US and Scotland where we were able to make our way beyond Down Under.

It was very special for me as I'd been away for too long and hadn't seen my family and friends in years. And while catching up with everyone during our visits, I put 'shopping for yarn' aside and replaced it with eating. Yes, eating. We enjoyed sumptuous meals, shared with special people from California to Hong Kong; ooh, my mouth still waters when I think of the apple pie and various cakes had in the Blue Mtns of Georgia, the stone baked organic pizza in Maine, and that Peking Duck in HK...

But back to yarn related topics. Fate had it that I would literally stroll past the sweetest yarn shop in Edinburgh, the k1YARNS shop on West Bow. While driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh we missed a turn and ended up parking just round the corner from this precious little shop. Its on a steep, curved lane that begs you to just visit. So that's what I did and voila! I found myself smack infront of k1YARNS. Amongst many, this was truly a highlight of our trip for me.

Gosh, had to go in. So I asked David to go for several smokes and check out the local coffee shops for a bite to eat so that I could spend a good half hour with yarn. And that I did. I found the last skeins of a shetland wool from the Isle of Harris. Apparently they've been bought out by a developer who isn't interested in maintaining the flocks or wool industry so this is the last of what they have to offer. I ended up getting myself some lovely dark caramel skeins, and a light tweed gray. Then bought myself more awesome Scottish strands from Jamiesons and so far, have made myself two jackets that I shall complete next weekend and will show pictures of them here for you to enjoy. They'll be posted in the patterns section on my website too. I've also got some yummy St. Magnus angora yarns from Orkney to make a scarf out of...but am considering joining them to some silk strands I have from Posh Yarns to make a lightweight coat/cardi to lounge around in. Ha! who am I kidding?! like I have time to lounge around...but it doesn't hurt to wish for it nor to have another knitting project to love.

Seasons Greetings to everyone!

Seasons Greetings to everyone! and may you have a most delightful and safe Christmas holiday. We're flying to see my parents and family in Atlanta the day after tomorrow so you can just imagine the energy levels that are busting up around here. Most of it is really me trying to leave things tidy for our housesitters, for the pets, and store away all my stashed wool... but being busy is a good thing, especially when it involves getting ready to see everyone I've missed and not seen for over six years now. Yes, it's been a loooong time for me, too long.

I'm including a few images of more knitted stuff that I've been working on over the past few months so that you can enjoy them while you too get ready for your Christmas tidings.

All the best for a great New Year as well.

Meet you back here in 2009.