ceramic pieces made on the wheel

Hi

As promised, here's some photos of the ceramic pieces I made on the wheel in the term just gone. I did ceramics last year too, but just hand building, not the wheel. I did have a go on the wheel, but it was really hard! And I was having way too much fun making things by hand to stop, slow down and practise. This year though, I wanted to have a proper go at it. 

I was really nervous when I started that I would be awful at it. Like I expected everyone to be awful at it first, but I was afraid everyone else would pick it up and I wouldn't, that I would be the only person in the class not going anywhere. Weird old fear I guess. While it was pretty hard to get the hang of it, I figured out soon enough that it wasn't impossible. And actually it was fun. It's a really short course, so there isn't time to really practise and get right into it, but it was enough time to get a little bit better! I really liked what I made in the end. It was very satisfying to learn something new, something that had frustrated me before.

Last year I did a million experiments with glazes too, but this term I kept it really simple and only used glazes I knew would work, and tried to make a few of the pieces match each other. So I really liked what I brought home. There's so much more to learn, so far to go... and it's a tricky hobby to have because you need a kiln and glazes etc, it's not something you can easily do at home on your own. But I am really hooked on it. I miss it now that term has ended!

H.

sunflowers

I grew a couple of sunflowers over summer, but other than being good for photos they weren't that great! Hardly any of the seeds took, the few that did got eaten by caterpillars and the two that made it seemed to need a lot of water or they went all sad and droopy. But I enjoyed watching them unfold and open up. They lasted about a week and now they are all crispy and finished. I'll scattered the seeds and see what happens but I am not going to try very hard with them again!

summer

Summer is officially finished now and we're on to autumn. I love this time of year, watching the shadows get longer, cool air at night, and that feeling of starting to get excited about wearing scarves and cardigans. This was a really good summer. I was happily funemployed*, so staying home a lot, spending my time growing tomatoes, learning how compost works, taking photos of plants and shells, reading books, and looking at clouds. What more could anyone ask for? It's been a really happy time but now I am looking forward to the next season and to different kinds of things. I took so many photos over summer, and I never know which ones to post - there are so many it takes me ages to decide which ones to post, so then I don't post at all! I need to work on that this year, somehow.

Happy start of autumn everyone!

H.

*I totally recommend the book Funemployed by Justin Heazlewood. A great read for anyone in the arts in Australia.

some finished ceramic pieces

If you missed it, I wrote about learning ceramics here. I haven't made anything since the end of last year (class ended in December) but since then I have made homes for the things I made over the six months I was taking classes - planted things in them, found uses for them, made some little displays... so here's a few photos. I made lots of little things rather than fewer big things, so my house is now pretty full of tiny things like these. I gave a few away over Xmas too. 

It was a really fun course and I am going to try again this year, but this time I am going to try to learn the wheel. That will slow down my production of things I am sure. The wheel is really hard and the times I tried I was not very good.... so who knows why I want to try again.... I think because I like a challenge and won't be able to rest until I have worked out at least the basics. I don't think I'll be able to make anything fancy. I love gardening, so am hoping to make some larger pot plants. If anything works out, I will post a photo of it!

H.

This is a quick snap of a pin-up board I made from some of my photos. Have a good weekend!

H.

xmas paper

I made my own wrapping paper for xmas this year. I think it came out a bit more bonkers than I expected but it was heaps of fun doing it. I made a huge mess and got paint everywhere. It was just regular acrylic paint, diluted with water and splashed on with sponges and brushes. If was to try it again I might try a bit of restraint and maybe choose a colour scheme instead of going totally nuts with all of the colours. I say that now... but actually... it's unlikely!