Which pots to select?

Today we had to choose 6 pots for a selected exhibition at Water Street Gallery in Todmorden, in West Yorkshire. It's a prestigious gallery so we didn't want to put our "gift items" up  for possible inclusion. The title of the exhibition is "Earth Works", so we decided on pots that had a stratified appearance:-

 "STRATA"  - mugs that have a layered appearance.

"LANDSCAPE" - a bowl reflecting the colours of the landscape.

 

 

 

 

  "YORKSHIRE WOLDS" - a moonvase, depicting the landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds.

 

Starting early!

 

This is my 6 year old grand daughter on the wheel. She is concentrating really hard and had obviously listened to Gerry about resting her arms on the edge of the wheel!

And this is my 2 year old grand daughter - still concentrating, but needing more practice!

Challenge completed...

Well - that's it! A whole week of eating just food from Britain...

We celebrated tonight with fish and chips from  Stuarts in Pocklington - and some of the English wine called Madeleine Angvine from Laurel Vines on the Yorkshire Wolds. It was very good - quite a soft taste, but something we would buy again.

BUT IT HAS BEEN HARD....

 

 

 

To take something from Jamie Oliver's book ""Jamie's Great Britain -130 reasons to love our food" - , "Britain today is blessed with flavours, influences and ingredients from all over the world. Over our long history, foreign armies, visitors and immigrants have brought ingredients, cooking methods, and radical new flavours to our tables. And like magpies, the British Empire of old explored and traded its way around the globe, bringing home the most exciting spices and glittering dishes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over time these things have become loved and revered. So much so that we can think of them as our own".

 

 

Gosh, I've missed some of these things and am going to have a slice of pineapple now, dusted in brown sugar put under the grill and caramelised!

 

Back to doing jigsaw puzzles....

 This is a jigsaw we are busy doing - it's of a toy shop - 1,000 pieces. We have a jigsaw exchange in the village telephone box and we got it from there.

It has made me think about the origin of jigsaw puzzles. I found out that the first jigsaw was made in 1762 by a cartographer called John Spilsbury.  He mounted one of his maps onto wood and cut round the countries, and then gave it to the local school to use in their geography lessons.

It's taking a long time and Gerry has decided to start making some stock in the potttery - confident that the shows we have booked will go ahead this summer. So - I don't know how long it will stay on our dining room table!

Original art work?

 

We've finished decorating our office and decided it was about time we bought a new filing cabinet. So we started emptying the old one and getting rid of rubbish.

In one of the old files we came across loads of drawings that Gerry had done to make into emblems to press onto the pots - mainly mugs.

The emblems were hand drawn and then carved into plaster in reverse, so that when the clay was pushed into they came out the right way round! These made the embossed emblems which we became renowned for.

Originally Gerry hand carved the emblems into the plaster himself but then found out that they could be engraved onto a plastic plate onto which the plaster was cast.This made the task much easier.

These are two pictures showing how the emblems were made, and a dish with the Sanctuary Knocker on from Durham Cathedral.

New lockdown experiments.

We have been experimenting with applying a ceramic transfer onto our pots. We have been asked by a company to put a logo onto some little pots. The pots are quite fine and would not suit an embossed logo made out of clay like we normally do.  

 

We had asked for some samples to experiment with. The transfers were cut out from the sheet and soaked in water. This removes the transfer from the backing.

The pot that Gerry is going to put the transfer on has been glazed in a white shiny glaze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transfer is slipped from the backing and smoothed onto the pot. 

It is then put back into the kiln and fired to 750C.

  

We are quite pleased with the results. The actual logo would be a black emblem so the temperature will not be quite as critical.

Starting a new challenge!

 Yesterday we started a new challenge - to eat just British products. I read in the Sunday Times last week that we only produce 55% of the food we eat - despite us having some of the best growing conditions in the world.

We even import broccoli,  and other seasonal vegetables. Why?

It's not that difficult, though we are finding ourselves still drinking tea and coffee with our meals. I don't like milky products and don't think beer, cider or water is a good alternative. Fresh fruit is difficult with apples being our only option  as even pears seem to be imported. However during the summer we froze a lot of the fruit growing in the garden - plums, apples, rhubarb, blackberries and cherries - so will use this up.

We  went on a walk to Bishop Wilton today and bought some wine from their community shop which is made from the vines grown in East Yorkshire. It was quite expensive so will keep it for the weekend....