100 days of lockdown and still finding reasons to be cheerful!!!

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Who would have thought back in January that Covid 19 would have the impact on our lives that it has done.

I decided in March to start a blog, chronicling good things that have happened to me that day. Some things were to do with the pottery, others the house or garden, family, and Jubilee Park - but I vowed to stay positive.

So far we've:-

• painted the pottery inside and out
• redecorated the conservatory
• redesigned the porch to use as a utility room
• grown loads of veg
• supplied online shops with a few pots
• been involved in a student's PHD thesis on Iron age pots
• experimented with new styles of pots and firing techniques
• removed thistles and docks in Jubilee Park
• helped reform the willow sculptures at the Park
• watched the birds around the house
• read loads of books - the best being "Cupcake" and Madame Saddayako
• knitted cardigans, hats and shawls
• learnt how to hold zoom meetings
• become more IT savvy
• had lots of barbecues!!!

I have to admit though, I really want to start doing fairs and exhbitions but that seems a long way off so our next project is to paint the showroom in the pottery and get rid of some water damage.

Recycling clay

Today Gerry spent the morning recycling clay. We recycle about a quarter of a tonne each year. We keep all the scraps of clay, whether it is from turning or breakages (or even mistakes) in a large bin with water added. The clay mixes with the water and becomes very sloppy and soft. Then Gerry empties the clay onto a large plaster slab and allows it to dry out to a throwing consistency.

He puts it through the pugmill but has to mix it with a fresh bag of clay otherwise it would be too "short" and hard to throw with.

It's a messy job, but worth it if you have the space.

Lockdown veg!

In the past we have grown a few vegetables but not successfully. This year we have nurtured a vegetable plot - probably because we have more time on our hands and have weeded and watered everything regularly.

We have had a plant swap in the villages where residents could take their unwanted plants and seedlings and swap them for something else. We split a lot of perennials and herbs and in exchange brought back a couple of courgette and tomato plants, and sewed some spinach beet seeds, lettuce and rocket, beetroot, french beans, broad beans and kale. We've looked after them really well and are now reaping the benefits of our hard work. (Let's face it - what else can we be doing?)

    

  

A two year old has a go!

This is to show that pottery is fun for everyone - even when you are two years old. You need a bit of refreshment though ......

Back to school .....

My yearly trip to Hutton Cranswick Primary school was yesterday. Every year I get asked to go to the school to make some owls with the year 6's. The school emblem is an owl and the school likes to present each child on leaving, a pottery owl which they have made, as a keep sake from their old school.

It was touch and go whether it could be done but they had a small class of 17, so I managed all right. It seemed so normal and calm in a year that clearly isn't.

A knotty problem.....

Today we have been cleaning up and repairing pictures that had not seen the light of day from our loft for ages.

This is one which I really like. My brother made it for me - we were both involved in the scouting and guiding movement. He tied all the knots himself and mounted them into this frame.

Over the years the labels became detached- certainly a knotty problem to put them back in the right places.....

A project finished.......

And finally, Gerry's reproduction of the Prunay Vase - an Iron Age pedestal pot is finished.

This project has been on going for about 2 months when a PHD student asked for a potter to see if a pot could be made to replicate one found in France from the La Tene culture of the Iron Age.

The British Museum has done lots of analyses on how the pot was made and came to the conclusion that the two colours of the design were achieved by a process of oxidation and reduction firings. Gerry has questioned this as the pot fabric of the pot shows no evidence of black reduction anywhere other than the outside pattern. To Gerry it looks like the black was painted on top of the red slip applied to the surface of the pot. The British museum said that this could not be possible because there is no step up from the red to the black.They suggested that the red part of the design must have been shielded in some way- but with what? If a wax had been applied it would have melted before any reaction would have occured.

So what is the answer? If anyone knows, we'd be interested in hearing about it.