Pageant

LL and I took a trip to Henley on Thames today with a view to walking along the tow path into town and take in the sights of all the street decorations. Instead we arrived (by chance) just in time to experience the river pageant. Not the official river Thames pageant with the royal family at the head of the procession but a somewhat more amateur affair. It was a whole a lot of fun anyway.

Here's a selection of images I captured from our vantage point on the bridge...

Oh and happy 700th blog post to me!

On The Slide

Have just uploaded images on my latest and last (for now) pot the Webshots. This is a tilted pot, thrown on an angled 'bat' on the potter's wheel. It's quite difficult to get right but a whole lot of fun to do and the end result is in my opinion very pleasing.

Porcelain Green over Blue Grey glaze on a Stoneware pot.
















Please take a look at the General Ceramics folder (you'll need to go to about page 16) and let me know what you think.

Conjunction

There's been a fair bit of recent coverage regarding the conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter, so I thought I'd have a go at a night-time image across the roofs of neighbouring houses. What do you think?

Venus is the brighter of the two planets, with the Moon appearing above.










And you can read more on the Daily Mail site.

BST

Last night our clocks went forward an hour, into British Summer Time, bringing with it lighter evenings and the first outing of my short trousers and flip-flops (or thongs as the Aussies would say).

So I spent a good few hours today doing a few chores about the garden, having a bit of a tidy up before planting my first crop of seed potatoes, which should be ready towards early July. I had quite a bit of success last year and a whole lot of fun, finger's crossed for this year. In addition I've sown 5 varieties of Chilli Pepper, which are now in pots on my kitchen window sill waiting to germinate.

Judging by the weather we've had this past week, it looks like we may have a cracking summer in the UK. The flip side of that of course is that due to the lack of rain through winter, we have already been told hose pipe bans will be in place from early April. Oh joy.

Speaking of water, I got home from work on Tuesday to the sound of running water. Seems something nasty has happened to my toilet, which means that until the plumber comes on Wednesday I have to make do with using a bucket to flush. I'm just pleased this happened now, if it was going to happen at all, rather than when GFDU was here. I can just imagine the conversation: " Welcome to England. By they way we're so backward here, we have to use this to flush with." LOL.

Followers to this blog might also like to know I have uploaded images of three more pots to Webshots. You'll need to navigate your way to about page 15 for the latest stuff.

And finally the Royals continue their push for promotion.

24 March Reading 3 - 1 Blackpool

Here's how the top part of the Championship looks at present:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Southampton	39	23	9	7	72	35	37	78
2	Reading	39	22	7	10	56	34	22	73
3	West Ham	38	19	12	7	59	38	21	69
4	Brighton	39	17	11	11	48	40	8	62
5	Middlesbrough	38	16	13	9	45	42	3	61
6	Birmingham	38	16	12	10	60	41	19	60
7	Blackpool	39	16	12	11	66	56	10	60
8	Cardiff	39	15	15	9	57	50	7	60
9	Hull	38	16	10	12	38	32	6	58
10	Leeds	39	16	9	14	59	57	2	57

Ceramics

I've just uploaded images of my three latest pots, here. You'll need to find your way to the end of the album, at around page 15 but please take a look and let me know what you think.















Also today LL called me with two pieces of news: he's done well in his swimming class, passed the current level and will move up a class after Easter; and also he's had another tooth fall out. I'm not sure which in his mind is more important but I suspect the Tooth Fairy might have something to do with it LOL.

Elsewhere, the Royals have been doing well recently. They're now firmly in third, only two points off second place.

26 Feb Middlesbrough 0 - 2 Reading
3 Mar Millwall 1 - 2 Reading
6 Mar Reading 1 - 0 Portsmouth

Kite Flying

Thought I'd share this image of a Red Kite I took this weekend. I counted 5 circling overhead today, until that is I went inside to get my camera. Somehow via means of a sixth sense they just knew to make themselves scarce!

Lovely isn't it?

A Bit Chilly

OK so it's finally getting officially cold here now. We've had something of a mild winter to date here in the south of England but this morning was quite a shock to the system: At around 8 this morning my weather station in the garden was proudly telling me it was -8 degrees Celsius (that's about 18 degrees F). Brrrrr!

And you know what? Around 4pm it started to gently snow and hasn't stopped since (it's a mere zero degrees at present). Here's a couple of images, taken this evening.

View into the street.

Garden seats and table, complete with carrots (no, really) growing in a container.














Tomorrow we get to go play in the snow with LL. I suspect however GFDU will be wearing even more layers of clothes. We've got to four already LOL.

Bwahaha!

LL and I spent some time Saturday carving a pumpkin in time for Halloween. I'm not sure looking at this image which one is more scary...

I think he might go out tonight with some little friends "Trick or Treating." Or "Demanding with Menaces" as perhaps it might more accurately be described. To be honest at his age it's just innocent fun and they don't go further than a few houses in the immediate area, where all the children are well known anyway but you get my point.


Have a ghoulish (and safe) evening everyone...

Big Bang

It's got round to that time of year again when the UK goes mad on fireworks to mark Guy Fawkes' attempt to destroy Parliament on 5 Nov 1605. The anniversary of this event is celebrated with fireworks and a bonfire on which a "Guy" is usually burnt.

As is tradition where LL lives, they celebrate on the nearest Saturday a whole week early, don't ask me why, so usually around Halloween. It seems to work and a great time is had by all. Here's a couple of images from this evening...

Great fun.



29 Oct Crystal Palace 0 - 0 Reading

How Could I Resist?

Why can't more products have cool and descriptive packaging?

Tilted

I've just uploaded images of my final (for the moment) two pots. They can be found on Webshots here and as ever will be at the very end of the folder.

Now before you say they look rather wonky, they were thrown on an angled wheel head, as I've previously mentioned. It's pretty b****y tricky I can tell you. Having thrown a nice regular pot, the effect is that when placed to a level surface, the pot leans at a pleasing angle. If I return to ceramics, I think I'll give this another go...

Does My Hair Clash With My Shirt?*

*Or what happens when children are allowed to pick their own clothes LOL.

What a lovely day, with temperatures at 20 degrees Celsius in the shade in my garden. Not bad for early April. In fact an excellent day for playing in the park and then back home for toasted cheese sandwiches. Mmm.

Oh and I should mention I got another pot back from college this past week. It's Marbled Blue, my Stoneware glaze of choice at present. It will be uploaded to Webshots shortly but in the mean time, take a look at this:

Nottingham Forest 3 - 4 Reading

The Royals move to 5th on 66 points.

Cut-Out

I've just uploaded here, 5 images from 2 of my most recent pots. As always the latests pictures are at the far end of the folder.

Stoneware glazes used are Light Oatmeal and Fiord Blue with Blue/Grey. Unfortunately the Oatmeal seems to have run a little too thin and has pretty much burnt away. I'm intending to see if I might be able to re-glaze it in the coming weeks but since the clay has now vitrified, a second glaze may not take and instead simply run off in firing. We'll see and as always I'll publish the outcome.

Super

Apparently tonight's "Super Moon," where our nearest natural satellite is at it's closest to us for 19 years, will herald the end of the World. Or something like that lol. Thought I'd best post my own (poor) image quick before the whole of time and space goes up it's own you-know-what.

And should you wish to see some professional, in focus pictures take a look at the Daily Mail site.

While I'm about it, here's a picture of LL taken last weekend (yes, a bit late I know) when we went down to visit Dad and SM. If the World does go boom, this might be the last chance to see him lol.
















It's serious business eating Ice Cream, dontchaknow.

Wonky

Last week at our monthly West Forest Potters Guild meeting, guest Louisa Taylor demonstrated how to throw a pot using an angled bat. That is in effect puts the Potter's Wheel is at an angle of say 10 or 20 degrees, rather than being the usual horizontal.

Once the clay is centred on the bat, the idea is you can then throw a pot in the normal manner. The outcome of this is a) you learn not to rest your hands on the wheel head and b) the finished pot is beautifully thrown but leans at a pleasing angle.

Here's a couple of images of Louisa demonstrating the technique:

A wad of clay (seen on the left) is used to prop one side of the bat, while Louisa throws a cylinder.

Louisa proudly displays her leaning pot.
















And here's my own humble attempt from last night:

My leaning open bowl.












I threw two pots last night which are now drying and hopefully next week I can work on the bases before sending for bisque firing. It's pretty hard work I can tell you: the surface of the bat moves up and down at a disconcerting speed, while the wheel is rotating.

As always, once they are completed I will post some images here and also on Webshots. These will likely be the last pots I work on for some time- the college term ends in a couple of weeks and due to lack of employment (therefore lack of funds) I'm taking a break. Fingers crossed I get to finish on high note.

Blood

Three unconnected items to mention today:

I've just uploaded a couple of images of my latest work: it's a stoneware bowl with earthenware glazes applied. Crimson Blood and Turquoise so you know.  







Earthenware glazes as a rule give a different range of colours so it can be fun to experiment, provided a basic principle is followed. Stoneware glaze needs to be fired at around 1260 degrees Celsius (about 2300 degrees Fahrenheit) and earthenware clay can only be fired to about 1080 degrees C (1976 degrees F) without it starting to break down. This means you can put earthenware glaze on a stoneware pot and fire at the lower temperature without any problems but you can't fire an earthenware pot with stoneware glaze at the higher level. 

Unfortunately the Crimson is a tad thin in places but overall I'm rather satisfied. Please take a look here and I've been asked to point out that the latest work is to found at the back of the folder.



I recently purchased (on a whim) a toasted sandwich maker. Kind of takes me back to my childhood: I absolutely loved toasted sandwiches during my formative years and I suspect I might have lived on the things if I'd been permitted LOL. Anyway this one cost the grand sum of £5.47 (about $8.75). How on Earth do we make it for that price, let alone no doubt ship it half way round the planet and still sell it for a profit?  

Exploitation of the Third World work force? Discuss.

08 March 2011 Ipswich 1 - 3 Reading

The Royals move to 8th in the league on 54 points.

I was somewhat shocked (and saddened) to hear the news yesterday that Reading defender Chris Armstrong has been forced to retire from professional football at the age of just 28 because he has Multiple Sclerosis. Apparently he was diagnosed in 2009 and has continued to be able to play for the first team until now but feels it is right to stand down.

This makes me feel very grateful for my relative good health.

So Far...

Thought I'd post a sneak view of my current work in progress. It's now waiting bisque firing so fingers crossed I'll be glazing soon.

Seeing Stars

Please take a couple of minutes to wander over to my Webshots page, where you'll find some new images of my latest work. I've put a handy link here.

Visitor

Thought I would share these images of a visitor I had in the garden today. Isn't he or she lovely?

Nice to see you, Woody.

Upload

For the interested few, I've just uploaded some new images of my ceramic work to Webshots. To whet your appetite, here's a sample: